A Fifth Wall Makeover in 5 Steps

How do you transform a dark, cavernous bonus room? For blogger, Sincerely Sara D, it was as simple as these five steps:

Remove the popcorn ceiling – Ugh. So many of us have a popcorn ceiling in our homes, a design feature dating back to the 1970s used to for acoustical dampening. Popcorn ceilings are dust magnets and removing it opens up design options like painting, which leads us to step two…

Paint it grey – Because Sara’s husband used the space as his “man cave” she wanted to keep its masculine appeal. A medium grey paint covers the room’s walls and slanted ceiling with only the very top flat ceiling remaining white.

Install skylights – The biggest problem for this room was how dark it was. Sara worked with VELUX 5-Star Skylight Specialist Circle City Skylights to design a skylight installation that made sense for the room. They installed two pairs of skylights on the north side of the room, adding a bench seat under one pair and built-in shelves under the other pair. Now the room has extra storage and a place for billiards players to sit. Natural light draws her family to the room.

Grey skylight blinds – To complement the grey paint color, Sara chose double pleated room darkening blinds in Charcoal. The skylight blinds give her the ability to control the light when she needs to and add a dash of color. When the family gathers to watch TV, the blinds completely block the light, so there’s no need to worry about screen glare.

Add built-in shelves – The bonus room sits above the garage, so its construction is similar to that of an attic. The walls have more depth that typical, so Sara jumped at the change to add built-in shelves under one pair of skylights. It adds storage without taking any square footage away from the room. And because of the abundant natural light from the skylights, now she can have a couple plants in the room.

Check out the entire transformation starting with the popcorn ceiling removal, the skylight installation and the final skylight transformation reveal at sincerelysarad.com.