Primary Bed Renovation: ORC, Week 2

Since every single wall is getting vertical shiplap panels as a part of this renovation, all the walls need to be set to attach the panels — which means right away, I took on one of the larger elements of our Scandifornian-inspired primary bedroom removation: building a half-wall ledge behind our bed.

I’m not a huge fan of traditional headboards, and I swear every time I see a photo of a built-in ledge on a wall it stops me in my tracks — so I’m incorporating one in this room to serve as both a ledge for artwork, as well as a headboard-esque situation.

I drew a basic outline of the look and layout in Week 1’s post. And as a reminder: I share fun time lapse videos of all these steps on my Instagram — saved to an ORC highlight!

It’s been so fun flipping through other guest participants’ ORC Fall 2022 renovation plans, demo days, and beginnings.

While I could have probably just attached this “wall” through the existing drywall, I knew I’d need to move the electrical boxes forward, and I wanted to make sure I really matched the wall studs up perfectly with the ones behind the new half-wall — so if we attach heavier sconces, etc. they’re solid. It may be overkill, and I also just like to make things harder on myself — but I’d rather go this route and feel good about it than worry I got something a bit off.

I pulled the existing drywall off (and saved the larger pieces for patching other parts of the wall — I always try to minimize waste with my projects and keep as much construction debris out of the landfill as possible… reduce, reuse, repurpose!

I used foam board mostly as a spacer so I wouldn’t lose a 1/2” of the ledge (it’ll already be pretty shallow), but it also doubles as a bit of extra insulation. There are a couple gaps because it was either that or buy a second board and have the majority of it sitting around.

My dad taught me a bit about framing when we were building some for the bedroom → bathroom wall, and this one is pretty straightforward, so I marked on the base board where the studs were, cut all the stud boards (also repurposed from removing a wall in the bathroom!) to the same length, and attached so they’d line up with the existing studs.

DIY DAD TIP | Cut one board to the correct length, and use that as a template for the other studs — guarantees they’re all the same length and all is level!

I attached the top board inside to make sure the studs were all lining up correctly. Then, I alternated attaching the new half-wall to the back wall on top and through the studs. I had to make my third trip to the hardware store in 2 days to get screws that would make it through to the original/back wall stud. Gave the the ‘ol @cassmakeshome “dad shake” and this thing is SOLID.

Attached some fresh drywall — had a little wardrobe change because the Packers game started #gopackgo — filled in the back wall gap (I ended up wanting it a bit shorter than I originally cut the drywall for!), patched the seams (I love inside corners, but outside corners are a doozy!) and it’s ready for a shelf and paneling!

Also! The sconces I had in mind for over our nightstands also arrived and they’re even better in person. I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to use them in this space yet — I have a couple options and even though I love the look on my design board, I need to see them with everything set up!