My Favorite Space: Whitewashed Attic by Maison de Pax

Hi, friends! Welcome to another round of My Favorite Space, a series I’ll be sharing throughout the summer that highlights gorgeous rooms from your favorite bloggers and mine! {If you’ve missed any of the previous ah-mazing spaces, you can see them here.} Today I am so delighted to have my dear friend Rachel from Maison de Pax with us, and not only does she have a stunning space to share, but she was kind enough to put together a tour of it while she was in the midst of a big move! Is she incredible or what?! I know you’re dying to see her room, so I’ll let her take over from here…


Hi friends! My name is Rachel, and I blog at Maison de Pax, where we are renovating just finished renovating our 1940 colonial one family-friendly project at a time (you can view the full before and after tour here). In fact, we just moved to a new “Maison de Pax” two days ago! I can’t wait to tackle this new adventure, but as a sort of goodbye to our last home, I’m so excited to share with you one of my favorite rooms: our whitewashed attic.

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

What is the main function of the space?

For the past year, we used the converted attic for two main functions: as a guest room at one end…

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

And as my second office space (I had another desk in the library downstairs amidst all the action… this was my “escape” desk).

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

Can you tell us about some of the fun DIY elements in the space?

The best answer to this question is to show you what the attic looked like when we moved in:

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

We had the space framed, planked, and sheet rocked, and we had the skylight installed. The rest we did ourselves: staining, whitewashing, painting, flooring, baseboards…

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

I have a full tutorial on the whitewashing here.

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

And step-by-step instructions for the whitewashed door here.

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

We also built this bookcase over the stairwell from reclaimed wood…

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

And finished out the stairs.

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

How would you describe your design style, and which elements in the room help bring that to life?

My style is definitely an eclectic mix – classic, industrial, rustic… You can see more of it blended in my living room. Over the past few years, though, I have migrated more and more towards light: bright and white. I love texture and layers, but I also love simplicity. This room combines all those things for me.

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

Do you have any funny/happy/sweet/interesting stories about this space?

Two things come to mind: first, I was 8 months pregnant when we finished out this space, so you can just imagine. Painting baseboards and whitewashing all that planking was downright comical with a giant belly. 😉

The second special aspect of this room is the desk that I faux planked myself. My dad and I designed and made this desk (my first experience welding!) before I left for college. It originally had a light brown plywood top with finished edges. I’ve love the desk, but it wasn’t really working with my other things very well, so I decided to give it a planked look. It was SO easy, and I think the finished product is perfect. You can see the full tutorial here.

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

What is it about the space that makes it your favorite?

Other than everything I mentioned above – the work we did ourselves, the whitewashed planks, the planked desk and other DIY furniture – this room satisfies my romantic side. When we were designing and working on it, I had this dream of my children being able to escape to the attic: to grab a book from the bookcase on the way up, to curl up under the eaves, to read and imagine life in far distant places. The sunlight streaming in and shining off their hair. A bit dramatic? Perhaps. But it’s the beauty of those dreams that inspires vision and motivation to go from this…

1940 colonial BEFORE... You've got to see the after! maisondepax.com

To this.

a scary old attic is converted into a gorgeous guest room and office with whitewashed planks and tons of light - wonderful diy tutorials from www.maisondepax.com

A special thank you to my sweet friend Abby for having me today! And thank you to you all for letting me share this special space with you. I’d love for you to come visit us for more diy projects and decorating over at Maison de Pax. You can follow along via email or connect with me on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter!


I think we all need an attic room that is as gorgeous as this one, right?! Love! A huge thanks to Rachel for sharing her space with us, and thank YOU for reading! Have a wonderful day!

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5 Comments

  1. Kim@NewlyWoodwards says:

    This space really is incredible. Truly something out of Country Living.

  2. Emily @ Small Stuff Counts says:

    Wow! This is quite the room makeover. The whitewashed look is fantastic. I love the idea of adding a skylight to let some natural light into the space. Your planked desk looks great!

  3. Kristine Manley says:

    What a fabulous space!

  4. Rosa @ Cat Lady Confidential says:

    What a beautiful space! Love the white – it makes it so bright and spacious.

Comments are closed.