Guest Room Transformation

So my brave and trusting girlfriend let me help her with an extra bedroom that had become more of a storage room.  She had just moved in to this house and was a little thrown by the previous owner's choice of border. The objective was to make a cozy, feminine guest room for her mother when she came in town to visit the family. Her budget and my goal was to keep it as close to $500 as possible.

I actually liked this headboard, but my girlfriend thought it was time to let it go to someone else. If you noticed the baby wipes on the side table, this was the room she used to get her crying babies back to sleep at night, or if she couldn't, at least she could get some sleep in there with them. Only problem was waking up to the LOST IN SPACE border with little to no rest.

I think we all can relate to having one of "those" rooms, where you're thankful for the extra space but overwhelmed with all the stuff that accumulates over a short amount of time. Then you feel defeated ever time you step foot in the room.

Ah, did you catch it? Two different types of space borders colliding in the cosmic corners of the above and below pictures! Now, in the previous owner's defense, maybe they had a child that just loved BOTH of these borders and the parent thought, hey, I'm just going to roll with it.  

We decided to keep the wash pitcher and lampshade shown on top of the chest of drawers (or as I used to call "chester drawers" until my friend, Camille corrected me some two decades ago. Thank you, Camille, thank you!) and the two tiered basket on the floor. My girlfriend wanted to keep her night stand and chest of drawers (always feel like Audrey Hepburn from My Fair Lady when saying or writing, chest of drawers), but also wanted a little change as well, so I took that into consideration.

Now, I love going to estate, garage and yard sales, so when I found these wooden doors at a sale, I just had to use them for the headboard! I primed the doors, night stand and chest of drawers, then tied them together with the same paint color and white trim. Also, added some new wooden hardware that I painted white. Hung some curtain panels on a simple rod, to keep out the morning light until she found the right blinds for all her windows. If memory serves me correctly, (wish I had taken pics of mounting the doors) we used metal brackets to connect the doors side to side, used screws to connect the bed frame, and then nailed heavy rubber table leg bottom covers to the tops of the doors, so they would feel secure and not move.

My friend already had this beautiful, silky type throw, so I looked for bedding that would go well with that and the colors  we picked for the walls and furniture. I ended up finding the duvet, bed skirt, pillow shams, throw pillows  and matching throw rugs in the clearance section of Bed, Bath and Beyond.

In the basement, we found this Van Gogh print that she loved and had stored. It was just waiting to be used. Found a small lamp base that fitted the lovely and unusual shade and an oval mirror at an estate sale to place over the chest of drawers. I used the two tiered basket to hold bath towels and magazines.

Since this room was for grandma when she came to visit, I was happy to find a precious picture of her grandchildren to  frame and place on the chest. There was strong speculation that they were the main attraction for her visits.

Next to the door, we placed a luggage rack stand (a find that my girlfriend already had and was excited to finally use) for her mother's suitcase.

The shelf above the closet doors was a nice little spot to display some decorative items and draw the eyes up to a nice splash of color.

Found another great find in the basement in this unused lamp and bought a decorative, fabric placemat to protect the night stand surface. Finished this project just in time  for her mom's visit and on budget! Thanks for reading!

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