Category: Current House

I’m finished with the quick and cheap guest room update.  I wouldn’t consider it a makeover because all I really did was repaint the walls, upholster the headboard, rearrange the bookshelves, and swap a few furniture pieces.  Add in a few accessories and voilà, new room.  For a full walk down memory lane, here’s the room the day we got the keys to this house:

Good starting point, but it was dark and drab.  I quickly unloaded the books and accessories on the shelf and we pushed the bed against the only wall wide enough for a queen bed.  Not at all better.

To add another foot of usable space opposite the bed, we carved out a little nook in the shelves, adding sconces for a cozy space.  A larger window, white paint, and color cheered up the room tremendously.

Almost three years after finishing that, it didn’t flow with the rest of the house.  It’s not that I didn’t like the room, it now felt chaotic and cluttered.  Not wanting or needing to completely overhaul the room, I devised a plan to shake things up while toning it down.  All for under 100 bucks.  Ready to see it now?

I always say this, but paint offers the most bang for your buck when changing a room.  For only $25 the room is calmer, but still has color.  After comparing swatches, I settled on Thicket by Benjamin Moore, color matched at Home Depot.  It’s a mid tone green with subtle brown undertones, making it soft.

Another easy change that cost twenty dollars was the upholstered headboard.  Two yards of natural linen fabric, batting, and a staple gun covered the old painted panel.  Better yet, it took two hours, tops, to knock it out.

I adore the softness and texture it adds.

Changing the bookshelves might be my favorite update though.  More on that soon.

For another $20, I got a cream and gray stripe cotton throw from TJ Maxx.  Using more of my Fab.com credit, I chose a light rose Pendleton wool pillow.  Yet another fast way to add texture and pattern to the room without committing to anything drastic.

Shuffling furniture from different rooms was another free way to change the mood of the room.  Previously, a petite mid-century dresser sat against this wall.  I love it, but it always seemed just a tad small.

Moving my grandpa’s old dresser up from the basement took only a few minutes.

Just a few inches wider and taller, it fills out this side, but still leaves breathing room.

Perched atop is a small lamp, a few accessories, and what may be my favorite new houseplant.  This Rhipsalis, found as a hanging plant at Home Depot, thrives in low light.  Perfect live greenery for this north facing room.

Oh, here’s another tip.  When artists include art on business cards, don’t throw it away.  Cut a small chunk of trim to size and mount the card to the front.  Tiny little art to settle in.

Years ago, I received an old oak chair from my great-grandmother.  After sanding the peeling finish off and replacing the seat cushion, it’s a piece I love.

It still has plenty of character, but the wood tone against the green wall was too good to pass up.  A stack of stripe towels are guest ready and in sight.

The bird, tree, and feather gallery wall is still my favorite collection/grouping.

Even better, it covers up the old sconce boxes, so you’d never know they’re behind there.

So that’s the story on the calm and nature inspired guest room.  Even better, it cost about sixty-five big ones.

Our guest room was one of the first rooms we tackled after moving in.  Not much has changed since finishing it.

While I like the room on its own, now that we’ve worked on more of the house, it doesn’t exactly flow with the rest of the house.

Fortunately, it’s nothing a can of paint, a few yards of fabric, and a little rearranging can’t fix.  For the walls, I’m really feeling an olive-green, to cozy up the room.

After painting the main bath vanity Tate Olive, I started thinking about making similar changes to the guest room.

Using leftover paint, I made a sample board on a scrap of foam core.

Clearly I like the color, but for an entire north facing room, it might be too dark.  In the much brighter south-facing master bed and bath, I didn’t hesitate to go dark and bold.

On the other hand, it could be warm and enveloping.  The wall of white bookshelves brightens up the room, too.  When paired with a linen upholstered headboard, the natural tones would be perfectly earthy.

If Tate Olive is too dark, I found Thicket, a lighter, still similar color.  After paint, the other side, opposite the bed, will get a little change.  I still love the art and arrangement, but I’d like to repaint the dresser top.

Perhaps new curtain panels, too.  The rolled shade is easy to close, but annoying to roll up to open.  How do you feel about dark colors in small spaces?