Thursday, February 16, 2012

As The Guest Room Turns

Our guest room is its own mini-drama.  When we first moved in it was upstairs.  A nice size space with good light and layout but right next to our daughter's room.  She is not necessarily the quietest sleeper which did a great job of keeping our guests awake.  The room also shared her bathroom which meant our guests would be stuck showering with fishy stickers on the wall, purple bubble bath and towels in the shape of animals.  Not ideal.

So...we moved the guest room to the basement.  I have not talked much about our basement on Mission Decorate.  And the only real reason is because I have so many spaces to tackle on the first two floors of our home that the thought of the basement just overwhelms me.  But it is a great space.  A family room with a giant TV left behind by the former owners.  A huge office (with a very questionable grass cloth tiger - not print, actual tigers - wallpaper boarder).  A full bathroom.  A full kitchen - yes a FULL kitchen.  And one more room.

Amazing for guests, right!!!  Except one small issue, the "one more room" has a great closet but no windows.  So according to a real estate agent this is not a real bedroom but it truly is the perfect place for guests, minus a window.  So after some thought we went for it and moved the guest room down to the windowless room.  Our guests have been totally happy with the space.  They all say it is nice and dark for sleeping in.  Maybe I should go sleep down there once in awhile!  But as you can imagine no window means no natural light and no natural light means a design challenge. 

OK, now that I have told you this long story I have to tell you I don't yet have the perfect answer.  Up to this point I haven't done much with the room and I am ready to make a few decisions but as I said I do not yet feel like I have the perfect plan.  But you gotta start somewhere.  So I thought I would start simple - deep red and hints of gold.  This scheme seems to go against the more cool tones I have selected elsewhere in the house.  But I think with some modern updates I can keep this color palate up to date.  And I plan to only use these colors as accents.  Don't worry, I am not painting my windowless room red or gold!  I have no idea what I am going to paint it but I know neither of those colors will be an option.       

So where does the room stand right now?  Well, I started here...


I'm not feeling like this gallery wall is complete but it is a good start.  Whenever I see a gallery wall I am always curious as to where all the great items came from so I thought I would break it down for you.


Let's start with the two frames above.  The larger one you may recognize from here.  It began as a brown frame and with some white and gold spray paint turned into this.  It looked great over the mantle at Christmas time and I am thrilled to reuse it here.  The smaller frame is one of 3 I picked up at Goodwill, $3.99 baby!


I used another Goodwill frame to surround my homemade D that I told you about here.  Cardboard, gold spray paint and burlap.  Super easy and free!

Another free and easy project outlines the top of the space, this sign...


I simply used a spare 2x4, spray painted it white and then added a thin layer of gold.  Using a stencil I already had I added the lettering using a Sharpie!  It left a great faded look and was so quick.

The final Goodwill frame got a piece of gold polka dot paper...


...and this frame, which I picked up at Marshall's, was filled with a pic I cut out of a magazine.    



Now let's see, two more items to round out the gallery wall (for now).  Both from Marshall's, which is my make shift version of HomeGoods until they get smart and decide to open one closer then an hour and a half away.  This great mirror I picked up for $12.99 a few months back


and this tray, also $12.99, which I glued a few brackets on and hung from the wall.  

 
So a mesly start, but something none the less.  One thing I love about Gallery Walls is they are never complete.  They are always changing, growing and filling up with treasures. 

But as you can tell from these pictures lighting is still a huge issue.  So this room will continue to be a work in progress. Nothing I will take on all at once, but something I will keep in the back of my mind and work on as I go.  As always, your suggestions are so appreciated.  Lighting ideas? Wall color?  An offer to come dig out a window?  I'm open!