My New Bird Room!

[Blancaej]

So I wasn't sure where to post this, but since this is DIY and I'm fixing up my new bird room myself, I thought this must be the right place. But if it isn't, please feel free move my post where it needs to go. Because I can't make a long story short, LOL, I wanted to tell you how I came about getting a new bird room.

I have a house that is over 200 years old. This is one of the last rooms we had left to remodel. We did a quick paint job over the wallpaper since we moved in 10 years ago, but that was it. Most of the other rooms except our downstairs and upstairs hallway had been remodeled already.

Part of our downstairs was an in-law apartment which my mom lived in for about 7 years, then she moved to senior housing. We then rented the apartment out to tenants, the first couple managed to bring bed bugs into the apartment, $800 later, we got rid of them, then they decided to move. Then our next tenant we found out was growing pot in the closet. We made up a story to get him to move out. I finally told my husband, "Do we really need to rent out the apartment? I would really like to open up the apartment to expand our downstairs and take our house back." Well he agreed and so we turned an extra building on our property to self storage to make up the income and here we are. Of course, now we have remodeled the new living room and will need to remodel the bathroom from the apartment side! LOL! More work, but it's worth it!

So we just got done remodeling our new living room. Our old living room is now being turned into a bird room for my fids. I thought it would be fun to include pics of how the room looked before, our progress and then pics of the room once it is done.

Here is pics of our old living room I took a couple of months ago:

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Here is the room as of today as I was prepping the room to start painting. I started painting the trim today after these pics were taken. A couple of things that you may notice, is the fake fire place behind our couch in the pics above has been removed and a doorway to the new living room has been put in as well as a wall around the heating duct. So we've done a few major changes to the room. It's exciting to finally paint the room. I hope to start moving the birds in about a week!

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So stay tuned as I will update this thread with more pics of my progress!

[Honesty]

Its looking good Blanca. Look forward to seeing it when it is completed. I think they are going to love their new room:)

[Macawfancy]

Great work in process, looking forward to seeing the finished room. :)

[Pinkbirdy]

Looks like its going to be fantastic.

[spiritbird]

Your fids will be so appreciative of their new digs. How is it living in a home that is 200 years old? I bet it is large and bright.

[plax]

That's going to be a wonderful bird room, Blanca! It's such a worthwhile project which I'm sure will serve your birds (and the rest of your family) quite well for many years to come :)

[Blancaej]

Thanks Ladies! I finished up the trim this morning. Poor Marcus has been sick so I spent yesterday morning at home and painted while he watched tv. I let him sleep in this morning and finished the trim! He is feeling better. Had a fever of 102 night before last. Poor little guy. It's so nice to see him be his smiley self again!

I love our big old house. It is 3000 sq ft with the in-law apartment. So we had about a little over 2000 of that. Now we have all 3000 sq ft. More to clean but it will be worth it. Growing up I lived in a couple of houses we rented and the rooms were nice and big. So I really hated the average house with the small rooms. I loved this house purely for the size! LOL! The couple we bought it from were elderly and hadn't lived in the upstairs since the 70's! It still had lath and plaster walls. We had one bathroom (on the planned apartment side at the time). For my husbands bachelor party (we bought the house the month of our wedding 10 years ago this October) he had friends over and they tore out the walls. They were full of bat poop!! :th_eek: Glad I didn't have to do it! LOL! We totally remodeled the upstairs first and added a bathroom up there. Then added a bathroom in our kitchen! So this house needed a lot of work when we bought it, but we got to make it our own. Of course, a lot of the original molding, floors and fireplaces were removed by previous owners. We have a little bit of the original flooring and some original molding (like in the living room), some original doors and that is about it. Anyway, I've wrote a book. LOL! That is my house! :th_biggrin:

[Blancaej]

That's going to be a wonderful bird room, Blanca! It's such a worthwhile project which I'm sure will serve your birds (and the rest of your family) quite well for many years to come :)

Thanks Tony! It is really fun to finally make a room just for the birds! Can't wait until it's done! :th_wink:

[Honesty]

I also have an old house. Luckily I still have all the original fireplaces etc.

If I had a spare room downstairs, I would have a Bird Room. I have 2 spare Bedrooms which I could convert, but this would mean they would be upstairs away from my view:(

[Blancaej]

I wouldn't want the birds room upstairs away from me either. So I can understand that. This room is just off our new living room. We put in a door so we can see the birds from the new living room and access the room easily if we are in the living room. Of course, they will have play stands in the new living room as well. Spoiled birds! LOL! :D

[Turquoise]

That is an awesome looking room your birds will have soon Blanca!! Love the idea of them having their own room & more space for you all.

I must say at first when I read your explanation of your hubby's bachelor party friends tearing out the wall and you said they were full of "bat poop" I thought you meant his friends were like plastered from drinking.:th_LOL: I had to reread it twice more for it to sink in you really meant "Bat Poop!!":th_pinklol2:

[Blancaej]

:th_loltears: That is too funny De'Andrea! I have to say, he has pretty good friend who were willing to do this. But yes, they really did find bat poop in the walls!! We actually still have a bat problem in one of our attics. I don't go in there, I call it the bat cave! LOL!

[Debra]

That is a great room for them!

[Blancaej]

Thanks Debra!

Stayed up to 11pm last night painting the bird room. I didn't do a lot of prep to the walls as this is an old house and birds, that can be destructive, will be staying in there. But I think it turned out nice. It was still wet in some spots when I took these photos last night. What do you guys think of the color?

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[jacksmom]

Looks fantastic! :)

[Mare]

I LOVE the color!! Such a beautiful room, good job! Gives the feeling of a jungle. Are you concerned, at all, with the birds chewing on it? My cockatoos would have that remodel remodeled in no time!

[plax]

Very nice job, Blanca! Looks very nice :)

[Blancaej]

I LOVE the color!! Such a beautiful room, good job! Gives the feeling of a jungle. Are you concerned, at all, with the birds chewing on it? My cockatoos would have that remodel remodeled in no time!

Glad you like it. On another forum a poster commented it reminded her of bird poop! :th_eek: I did comment back and said "At least it would blend in." LOL! I like the color and you nailed it on the head Mare, I was thinking jungle! I'm not worried about them chewing on it. They are old walls. LOL! Paint is cheap if I have to do touch ups. I actually have a spot now where Quincy chewed my wall in the dinning room. Once his cage is moved, I'm hanging a picture there. That'll fix it! :th_biggrin:



Very nice job, Blanca! Looks very nice :)

Thanks Tony! Now onto the accessories! LOL!

[plax]

On another forum a poster commented it reminded her of bird poop! :th_eek: It would be hard to argue against that as poop goes, parrot poop probably possesses the most pleasant color. I'm not saying, mind you, that I enjoy looking at the poop of any species. But parrot poop could be far worse than it in fact is, appearance wise, aroma wise, and drying time wise. Personally, I think it's one of the least offensive animal poops. That's my 'for what it's worth' for the day :th_biggrin:

[Blancaej]

It would be hard to argue against that as poop goes, parrot poop probably possesses the most pleasant color. I'm not saying, mind you, that I enjoy looking at the poop of any species. But parrot poop could be far worse than it in fact is, appearance wise, aroma wise, and drying time wise. Personally, I think it's one of the least offensive animal poops. That's my 'for what it's worth' for the day :th_biggrin:

I would have to agree with you Tony! I never thought of it before, but you are right. LOL! Thank you for making an otherwise negative comment a little more positive. :th_biggrin:

[spiritbird]

You are so fortunate to have that much room. I think the more room we have the more birds we get. Makes sense to me anyway. Some people put those wall sickies up that look like the forest. They actually are supposed to come off easily. When do the birds get to live in this room? I guess after the paint odor dissipates. [Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]

[Blancaej]

Dianne - I actually considered that, but my husband suggested I hang up pictures I've taken of all our parrots. So I am going to enlarge my favorites of all the birds and that will be the room décor! My husband loves my photography and wants to decorate the house with my photos, so we are working on doing that. Gotta love him! :D

I hope to start moving the birds in next week. I dread moving Savannah because we have to take her cage totally apart to move it. But it has to be done and it will be worth it!

More pictures will follow!

Like your new siggy and avatar! ;)

[spiritbird]

Good idea on the photos in the room. Watch those frames??

[Honesty]

Wow! It looks fantastic Blanca. I love the colour scheme :D

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[Blancaej]

Good idea on the photos in the room. Watch those frames??

Thanks Dianne! I know, they will be out of reach. ;)


Wow! It looks fantastic Blanca. I love the colour scheme :D

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Glad you like it! :)



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[Turquoise]

Awesome job you have done Blanca!! You have the nice rainforest 'bird poop' I mean jungle color going on in there.

Sorry, just had to make a funny over the other forum comment.:th_LOL: I do like it and if you really want it to look 'jungle-y' you can paint tree trunks and leafy shrubs here & there. :th_biggrin: I have seen photos of bird rooms painted that way. I always wanted to paint trees on a blue sky background in my bedroom to feel like I was sleeping out in a tree house. I bet our birds would enjoy the same as well. :th_hehe:

OK, when I posted my comment I didn't see there was another page I didn't read. I see where you will be using your own photos for decorations. Another great idea indeed!

[Blancaej]

LOL! I know, we are all joking about the poop comment here at home! :D I'm still trying to decide what to do with the walls. I like the thought of trees and leaves. I can still do that with the framed photos! :D

[plax]

LOL! I know, we are all joking about the poop comment here at home! :D I'm still trying to decide what to do with the walls. I like the thought of trees and leaves. I can still do that with the framed photos! :DYou could paint some random white streaks on them ;) (j/k)

[Blancaej]

:th_loltears: I'm sure the birds will oblige!

[Blancaej]

I just ordered 3 of these trees for the bird room today on Amazon. I've been thinking about getting decals for over a month, but to buy more then one was pricey. This tree was simple, beautiful and a great price.

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[spiritbird]

Oh that is so nice. They are very pricey but Amazon has the best prices most of the time.

[Blancaej]

Thanks Dianne! I think they were $11.13 each and I got 3. Can't beat that for some nice décor for the walls! I was looking at one that had branches and parrots on them. It was $45 just for the one panel if I included shipping cost. I figured I will have photos of my birds and my real birds. I didn't really have to have parrots on the decal! So I think this one was a great compromise! I should have them on Wednesday. I can't wait to put them up! :th_biggrin:

By the way, that link you gave me had some wonderful decals! Thanks for sharing it!

[Blancaej]

Here are the organizing bins I got for the birds. I love sharing each little tid bit with you guys, then the grand unveiling will come at the end when all is complete!

I have these cube racks set up in front of each window in the bird room. The top large bin holds 2 large pales with lids which I store pellets, nuts and nutriberries in. It is a great way to hide the buckets and make the room look a little nicer!

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I had little storage bins made with each of the birds names on it. Yes, I'm splurging! LOL!

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I moved Quincys cage into the bird room yesterday. It took me an hour! :th_shocking: It barely fit through my doors and I had to take the door off the bird room to get it through. But at least I didn't have to take it apart! LOL!

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I hope this inspires some of you and give you ideas on ways to organize your bird stuff!

[Honesty]

I love the tree decals. I also think your idea on the storage bins is fantastic. You may find Coqui and Savannah just might help themselves once they discover whats inside :th_hehe: I cant wait to see the end result:)

[Blancaej]

I love the tree decals. I also think your idea on the storage bins is fantastic. You may find Coqui and Savannah just might help themselves once they discover whats inside :th_hehe: I cant wait to see the end result:)

I got the trees yesterday and put one up last night. It looks fantastic! I think the bins are really nice, I do plan on putting treats in those bins, so I think you are right, once they discover what's in there, they probably will try to sneak over and steal a treat now and then! LOL!

[Debra]

How neat!

Once we get our house leveled, we're going to start working on the inside (after 10 years of not having any flooring down I'm ready). We're thinking of putting up unstained paneling in the bird room to keep the tiels from eating the sheetrock/paint. What is your thoughts on this? If it's not a good idea, what could we use to cover the sheetrock? We've already got to change out all the woodwork in the room due to their chewing. This, too, will be unpainted. We're going to go with a wood flooring laminate (I think) that should be easy to wipe clean every night. Keep in mind, these birds are cage free in this room. I'm also wanting to find something I can hang over the door to keep them in the room, but the door open. I don't mind them flying around the house, but the landing on the quaker's cages and Lucy's cage sets of alarm calls and hurt feet. Tex has lost a toenail by landing on Amber's cage (luckily it's growing back). Any ideas on what I could use?

[Blancaej]

I think the unstained panels would work well. You can even consider plexi glass over the walls. But that may be a bit pricey. Have you thought about even putting tiles up? Again, that may be pricey. Another option is to put shower curtains up around cages. Then you can take them down and wash them. But you obviously have a risk of them chewing them as well. I am putting up a shower curtain over the closet door in the bird room to keep it from getting a mess. Then I will take it down and clean in now and then. That may work for your door way, but it may not be long enough. Maybe some thick material to hang in your door way or a thick piece of vinyl. You can cut it in strips. Not sure if any of these will work. I will keep thinking about it and if I think of anything else, I will let you know!

[Minamommy]

I have Mina in an upstairs bedroom that is all hers due to the fact we have a Rottweiler with a very high prey drive. He is a supper sweety to us though. I have been considering redoing this room to make it more comfortable for the both of us because I spend a lot of my time in and out of there with her. Ok more time in lol. I love all these ideas. I too want to have the door open and put something on. Was considering brackets and sliding plexiglass down in the brackets on the outside of the door. This may work for you as well.

[Blancaej]

I had so much fun putting my bird room together! I'm sure you will, too! Be sure to share pics when you finally go for it! :)