The Guest Room

 My sister is visiting this week, yay! I love having guests, especially when it's my sister. I have been looking forward to having her, but knew I had to get the guest room whipped into shape before her arrival.

For the first month we lived here we had nothing in the guest room, nothing. I didn't think we would ever be able to fill it. The room originally had wall to wall carpeting that we ripped up right away. We found a painted red floor underneath the old carpet. Brett and I decided we liked the red paint, but it had been destroyed with staple holes and was covered in paint drops from a careless painter. We bought a gallen of red floor paint and brought the floors back to their former glory. 

Everything else in the room, including the green walls and the wrap around shelving, we left in place. We like the idea of the shelving, but don't like the cheap white stuff in place. We plan to (at some point)  replace the boards with actual wood and replace the brackets with something wrought iron, vintage, pretty ... you know.

Here's a before and after (the before with our Lennon pictured). I'll take you through the way I filled the room, when I originally thought I had nothing.

Before  |  After

The first (and most important thing) we put in the room was the bed. The bed frame was Brett's grandmother's. Brett's mother gave the bed to us along with an extra double mattress that she had. We really lucked out on this one! I used a queen flat sheet to wrap the box spring instead of using a bedskirt, which I thought would show off the bed a bit better. I also made the bed like my grandmother always did, wrapping the pillows with the coverlet ... i love the granny style look it gives to the bed. 

I had the suitcases in the room originally. I've been collecting old suitcases for a few years and thought that they would be fitting in a guest room. There's an extra chair that we had in the house with a throw pillow that wasn't being used. 

In our last house we used these IKEA shelves and brackets in the kids' rooms that we had painted. We weren't using them here so I took three of them, painted them brown and hung two to act as side tables and one across from the bed to act as extra storage space/vanity area. 

On the high shelving I used old bottles that we had saved to decorate the space without making it feel cluttered. 

On the other bed side shelf I used an old window that is filled with sun prints I made last summer. The window hadn't found a home in the house yet, so it works perfect here. 

You may remember the lamps from the spray paint post. An alarm clock and a living plant add to the sweetness of the space. I hung a little art piece that I painted myself on a scrap of barn wood. 

We found this chair in the basement of the house when we first moved in. I painted it and it's as good as new. The mirror is from the bathroom that we redesigned. 

I love the red floors! 

Above the vanity  is a vintage fan and make up box. 

This room doesn't have a closet. I like the idea of offering guests a place to hang their things. 

Extra blankets and pillows are functional and fill the space. 

I hope you like the guest room! One day may be will do a little more to it, but for now it's a cozy place for a guest. Will you come stay with us?