WARNING: What you are about to see is ugly and messy.
Basement Living Room Before:
Every living room needs an ugly green couch and punching bag.
My Office Before:
Small Bedroom and Laundry Room Before:
Large Bedroom Before:
As you can see, our basement was almost completely unfinished. The large bedroom was the first finished room in the basement. It was completed back in August 2007. We figured we would need another guest bedroom before V was born.
The second project we tackled was our guest bedroom. Ben actually did this when he was on crutches after his ACL surgery. He got quite stir crazy. He actually carried cut trim pieces in from the garage in his mouth. He said he didn’t want to bother me to carry everything. Cute, but crazy of him!
We loved our honeymoon in Savannah, Georgia and wanted to bring a little of that into our home, so we added, you guessed it, white trim. Ben also scored the amazing oak headboard from the side of the road! Well, not quite, someone at the apartment complex was going to put it by the road, but Ben snagged it before he could get it there. Gotta love FREE stuff!
After Ben installed the trim, everything got a coat of white paint. Then we painted the upper Restoration Hardware’s Sea Green (color matched at Home Depot). This is my absolute FAVORITE color because it changes in different lights. Sometimes it looks green, other times it’s more blue, but always warm, inviting and amazing. I really love the contrast between the white and blue, too. The headboard also adds some much-needed warmth with the rich, dark wood.
The picture above the bed is a photo I took in Savannah of Forsyth Park’s fountain. I love the intricate frame from my great grandma. I also refinished the chair, which is also from my great grandma. Ben built the nightstand for me as a mother’s day gift. As with all the other rooms in our house, the guest room has slowly evolved.
We also like to add personal items to each room. The shells in the apothecary jar and in the frame at the far right are from our vacations. I also hand embroidered the butterfly pillows.
So, there you have the phases (so far) of our guest room.
Remember the before?
Well, here are the very shortly after photos. This room has since been converted to the nursery.
First thing Ben did was install new, larger windows. Then we trimmed around them and added decorative trim to the walls. We threw our bed in (without a frame) and some of the furniture we had, which was very little.
Then we got real furniture…
And the man dresser stayed. You’ll notice there is a shelf atop the white trim that wasn’t there before. That’s because I can never leave pictures where they are for very long. The shelf prevents a million and one nail holes while giving the trim a more finished look.
This blog has been four years in the making and I have a lot of catching up to do, so here’s our story:
Ben bought this house in 2004. It definitely lacked style then, but had an efficient layout and strong bones. He saw the potential right away and quickly purchased the house. He tore out the dated, nicotine stained carpets, added a wood-burning fireplace and cut out and installed egress windows in our unfinished basement and new windows in the upper level.
We met in 2005 and got married in 2006. We started working on creating a home that reflected my style (and soon Ben saw the proverbial light). Our first few projects involved a lot of MDF trim, an air nailer, and a lot of paint. After two months, we had two bedrooms finished! Check out the before pictures! Yes, that is a man-sized dresser (built by Ben) and the red swatches are paint, not blood.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of our house before Ben started working on it 😦 I do have some wonderful (in a bad way) before photos to show the lovely old lady design for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy the train wreck!
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