Before and After: The Guest Room

BEFORE:

This was the room at the end of the hallway. A single light bulb barely gave enough light to see in there. It was pretty awful....

While the old greenish gold colored walls and black and red carpet tiles were definitely off putting, the views were wonderful from the windows.

Our first thought was to try to make this room our Master Bedroom, but alas, it was not big enough for our California King sized bed.

Covering that paint took some quality primer...and there apparently had at one time also been a stripe around the room which required some sanding to remove the tell-tale extra paint thickness.

Our then daughter-in-law to be Rachel agreed to help us out while son Jeff was out of town.
We really, REALLY appreciated the help!

(Jeff: You still owe me some painting time....the laundry room could still use a little touch of color...)

Lots and lots of blue tones were considered for paint...I was going for a "match the sky" color, especially morning sky which would be seen out the long narrow window. We got the room painted, then I put the room together licky-split for a bit while I pondered a bit more...and then later finished making the place look cosy enough for guests.

After:

Plain and simple. Just a single pillow on the bed, a desk, chair, lamp, a few pictures and a rug.

(More to say about that single pillow decision on a later post....)

Larger painting of a Paris street scene was done by Bernie's grandmother.
The small castle watercolor I purchased on a trip to Arundel in England from the artist who was painting in front of the castle at the time.

(My father's family came to America via the Arundel Company back in the mid 1600's!)

The third picture are real butterflies framed under curved glass. They used to be in my parent's room for awhile.

The lamp is from the mid 1800's and it belonged to wonderful Christian woman for many years.

The desk was another garage sale find of my mom's. It is old, made of yellow oak...and it was refinished by her before I was even married.

It was used as Jeff's desk for many years and still has the stickers from his high school football helmet attached to it on one side.

The stickers can stay forever I think.....

The dresser Bernie had as a kid, and I refinished it while expecting Laura, making it a dresser for her little nursery.

Later it was used by Jeff until he left home.
It actually looks better for all the patina of age.

The print of Texas Bluebonnets was an impulse purchase at a White Linen night in Houston.
We never could figure out what to do with it there...but it is just right here instead.

(I'll move the African violets when guest come and have some goodies and fresh flowers there instead.)

Right now the view is the tree outside. In the fall the leaves are golden, and in winter the view is cleared to the snow covered mountain.

I purchased the dark green area rug years ago...at least 20 years ago, and it has served well in many different rooms over the years.

The plan was to do the room in white blue and black, with rose accents. While storing this rug, I realized it had bits of blue in the design that matched the blue of the walls...so it was put back in service again.

The idea of black checked curtains is on hold now.
Maybe the wooden blinds are enough in the room anyway.

And just for fun:

The plain ceiling lamp was replaced with this cute 1950's diffuser.

It doesn't quite go with the rug decor...but what the hey.

It is such fun...and that's what guests and guestrooms should be, right?

I imagine most guest won't even notice it until they flop into bed and look up.

Maybe the happy jump rope skipping girl and ball and jacks will put sweet dreams of childhood fun into my guests as they sleep.

Now all the guest room really needs to make it perfect is, of course....

MORE GUESTS!!!!

(hint...hint...hint...hint...hint...)