We finally got to renovate our guest bedroom. Here's the "after" photo of the finished room. I mounted the GoPro camera on the wall in one corner of the room and set it to take a picture every 60 seconds. The edited time lapse video has about 180 pictures out of the total of 900 or so that were taken. There were times when I forgot to turn the camera on and times when I forgot to turn the camera off - but overall I'm pleased with final outcome.

Step 1: Time Lapse Video Made With GoPro Camera

Step 2: The Plan

Main Objectives

Clear out all unnecessary stuff (mostly books and magazines)
Paint ceiling, walls, and trim
Install bamboo flooring (laminate)
Install new baseboards
Upgrade all electrical
Decorate

The "before" photo above was taken shortly after the renovations were started - the old baseboards have been removed and other miscellaneous items relocated to other parts of the house.

Step 3: Painting Ceiling and Walls

Ceiling - No serious preparation required to paint the ceiling so I started out on that while we cleared the unnecessary material from the room. I went with color changing ceiling paint to make sure I covered the entire ceiling with minimum effort. The paint goes on pink and dries white. Only needed one coat plus a little touching-up later. I painted around the existing ceiling light fixture as the new one was larger in diameter and pretty well flush with the ceiling. Paint roller and small brush used for the ceiling.

Walls - I decided to replace all baseboards so getting rid of the old ones was pretty easy as damage was not a concern - a long crow bar pries them off without requiring too much stooping. I also decided to paint all trim the same color as the walls. This is a lot easier to do and it works great to bring visual cohesion to a small room.

Preparing the walls for painting - what we did

removed switch and outlet plates
removed old electric baseboard heater (see Caution note below)
removed window curtain rod supports
removed door lockset
removed old baseboards
removed all screws and nails that supported pictures. etc.
removed smoke detector mounting screws (reinstalled later of course)
cleaned vinyl window frames
scraped and sanded off hard paint ridge that was left at old baseboard and wall intersections
removed or hammered flush all nails left in walls after removing the baseboards
filled all wall holes with premixed poly filler and lightly sanded smooth after drying
swept and vacuumed floor

We went with a light paint color as we wanted to rely on our decorating efforts to highlight different aspects of the finished room. And, as mention earlier, we painted all trim the same color as the walls to avoid too many broken visuals in the small room. Not wanting to watch the first coat of wall paint drying we got on to replacing the old outlets, wall switch, and thermostat with new ones. We also replaced the ceiling light fixture with a pigtail light fixture to temporarily provide light during the renovations. CAUTION - best to get qualified help when working on the electrical parts of the renovations. (As a bare minimum - do the work during daylight hours and turn off the main electrical breaker switch for all procedures.)

The time lapse video shows me painting an old homemade hutch to make it better fit in with the decor of the finished room.

Tools and Materials used for painting and painting preparation

paint
stir sticks
paint tray with replaceable liner
paint roller with extension and roller refills
plastic bags to cover wet paint tools and tray when not in use
small paint brush
paint pad (optional)
poly filler (to fill holes left from nail etc.)
spatula for poly filler application
sandpaper to sand poly filler and old rough painted areas near baseboard
screwdrivers - cordless drill/driver helps
vacuum cleaner and broom to clean dust/dirt from near walls
hammer to remove nails and to dent holes in drywall before filling with poly filler and to drive-in or remove nails left from tearing out the old baseboard
step stool or ladder
crow/pry bar
electric heater if old room heater is removed for upgrading (if work is done in cold months)
pigtail light fixture and wire nuts (optional)
wire nuts to cover bare wires for baseboard heater while heater is disconnected

Step 4: Flooring - Preparation and Installation

Preparing the floor for new laminate flooring

Other than painting the plywood floor around the bed, the last serious floor covering in the bedroom was a foam backed carpet. When I removed that carpet a few years ago the bed was then a water bed and I didn't take the trouble to move it when tearing up the old carpet. So with this renovation a major effort was necessary to get the old carpet up from under the bed area as the foam underlayment was stuck pretty tight to the plywood in a number of places. A spring loaded floor scraper was my tool of choice here. The spring in the handle reduces shock when doing heavy and quick pushing and scraping.

Perhaps the most important aspect of properly laying laminate flooring is making sure you create a space between the laminate and the walls. All wood expands and contracts (moves) with varying degrees of moisture content and temperature. If the space left is too small the flooring can buckle which of course is a major problem. Instructions supplied by the flooring manufacturer should clearly indicate the amount of spacing needed.

I used a table saw to do both the cross-cuts and rip cuts but a jig saw can do the job as too. The edge of a rip cut can usually be hidden under the baseboard.

Tools and Materials used to prepare floor and install bamboo laminate flooring

bamboo laminate flooring - the flooring selected has an integral cork backing
floor scraper to remove any stuck on foam and to detect protruding nails
hammer to drive-in or remove nails and to draw/drive flooring segments in place
vacuum cleaner and broom - having a clean floor is paramount for good installation
table saw to cross-cut and rip flooring to size as required
jig saw to cut out notches in bamboo
pull bar and tapping block - pull bar allows pulling pieces of flooring together when you can't use hammer
spacers to keep bamboo away from the wall and allow for expansion of the flooring
measuring tape
hand saw or oscillating tool with saw blade to remove enough vertical door molding to fit bamboo under it
trouble light to help with work in the closet

Step 5: Baseboard and Electrical

I cut the baseboard pieces right in the bedroom with a plastic miter box and handsaw. This saved me from multiple trips back and forth to the garage to use the powered miter saw. After cutting the angles and test fitting, we painted the baseboard pieces (in the kitchen) before installation. With this approach we didn't have to worry about getting paint on our new flooring. After nailing the baseboard pieces in place I filled in the elongated gaps between the baseboard and wall with paintable caulking. Once nailed in place (I used a nail gun) we covered the nail heads and caulking with a quick brush of paint.

For the most part, replacing the electrical components (3 outlets, 1 wall switch, 1 baseboard heater, 1 thermostat and 1 ceiling light) was done in between other work as drying paint and other circumstances dictated. (See Caution note in Step 3.)

Tools and materials we used for baseboard and electrical

primed wooden baseboard
pneumatic nail gun and nails
miter box
hand saw
painters caulking and caulking gun
wall switch and switch plate
3 duplex outlets and 3 plates
1 baseboard electrical heater
1 programmable thermostat
1 ceiling light fixture
screwdrivers
pliers
wire nuts
cordless drill/screwdriver
non-contact electrical tester
receptacle tester
utility knife
painters caulk
caulking gun
rubber gloves for smoothing out caulking

Step 6: Decorating

Our decorating approach and theme chosen

Even though we considered this a major renovation we didn't want to incur unnecessary costs when it came to decorating the room. We kept the bed frame and mattress (originally a water bed as mentioned earlier) but bought all new bedding material including pillows, sheets and blankets. The repainted homemade hutch was outfitted with some solid color plates and a dory model made by my father. We mounted a sea scene painting done by my brother and we kept a seascape painting by a professional artist. We included a "cat" vase that was a gift from our daughter and installed fresh flowers. New brass plated door hardware and a mirror were also added. We kept the bedside tables but added new lamps.

New items bought and/or relocated to decorate the bedroom

lamps
mirror
bedding
model dory
paintings
plates for hutch
door hardware
flowers
cat vase
plant and plant stand
waste basket

Step 7: Removing the GoPro Camera From the Wall and Video Sweep

Time to get rid of the time lapse camera that was mounted on the wall through-out the renovations project. A small patch of unpainted wall where the camera was mounted had to be painted after that I made a full circle video sweep of the finished room. The video sweep (made with the GoPro set to video mode) appears at the end of the time lapse video (above).

Overall I found it amazing how much effort, materials, and tools are required to renovate a small room. If I had not made the time lapse video I'm pretty sure I would have forgotten most of it.