Monday, October 1, 2018

Final Touches - Guest Room

When it was time to put the guest room back together after the renovation, I decided to change things up a bit.  I loved our old guest room, or the pretty room as I called it:
One of the many looks - I moved the furniture around several times in the 17+ years of this guest room, always by myself.  I got pretty good at moving that big bed!

The first thing I did was to choose a different room, and there was no real reason behind that because the original guest room will become another guest room once we get the rest of the boxes of still-packed-because-I-have-nowhere-to-put-them things stowed away, and the treasures of childhood sent to live with the kadults.  My goal to get that done is December, because it would be nice for both Sam and Allie to have a bed and room to sleep in when they're here for Christmas.

The new guest room is located at the end of the hallway and is visible from the living room.  I had a new piece of art that Jeff and I bought when we were in Gruene last May and I thought it would be nice to hang it in the guest room, where we also could see it from the living room.  I used it for color inspiration:
Angled because I was trying to reduce the glare - unsuccessfully, I might add.  The piece is called Blue Grass and it's by Bjorn Sjogren, a Swedish artist now living in San Antonio.  We met him during Gruene Market Days and loved a lot of his work.  At first I was going to hang it in one of the hall bathrooms but ultimately I didn't because I wanted to see it more often.  The hallway/guest room view worked better.

I used the same bed and nightstands from before...which were our old set from back when we lived in California.  Ethan Allen, Country Collection, circa early 90s.  Yep, you can see my style from the early days right here.  I was pretty tired of the old lavender and white sheets and coverlet, so I changed up the look by deciding to use a twin-sized handmade quilt that I won in a raffle when we were living in San Antonio; while it was too small for a queen-sized bed in a traditional way, I liked the idea of placing it across the foot as a bed runner (and yes, I had to google what to call it...I was going with"thingy" but tried to get a better descriptor for it).

The quilt happened to have a lot of blues in it, which went nicely with the inspiration art.  I needed a solid coverlet for the bed and lucked into a navy blue quilt at Target that worked perfectly; color, design, price - and if they ever make it in a color that would look good in our master bedroom, I'd buy one, I like it that much.
I bought new sheets at Target, dug the red pillowcases out from the closet, and found an inexpensive red dust ruffle online to complete the bed.

The hardest part of decorating this room was finding lamps for the nightstands.  I bought and returned three different pairs before finally landing on the lamps you see here.  Everything that I loved in the store ended up looking too short or not substantial enough...who knew lamps would be so vexing?
Exhibit A
Exhibit B

Apparently I didn't take a picture of Exhibit C - I think I walked in, set the lamps down, and immediately walked them back out to return to the store.

I'd stopped looking for a while, but until I had the lamps, I couldn't hang the art, so I finally started looking again, saw these desk lamps and thought they might work - and they did!  Sometimes you have to look at things differently to see that they might work in a non-traditional setting.  Best of all, they were the least expensive of all the lamps I'd bought, coming in at $29.99 each.
I liked that they could be adjusted to a comfortable height and angle for whoever is staying here.  The arm moves up and down, and the head of the lamp swivels as well.
I found these at Target, so pretty much all of the new items in the room ended up coming from there - wasn't my intention, but hey - Target won this round.

The room is small and the queen-sized bed pretty much takes up most of the space, so I needed to keep it fairly streamlined.  I hung up a couple of my bluebonnet pictures on the wall opposite the bed:
Without intending to, this room ended up being very Texas-centric, with all of the art coming from Texas artists, along with the handmade quilt.

The only thing I still might do is some sort of valance over the top of the window.  Are valances still a thing?  Obviously I have not looked at window ideas, but for now, this room is complete and ready for guests!

17 comments:

  1. I like how you re-decorated this room. I really like the "after". Love those lamps, as a avid reader I could use those lamps. I really like them way better than what I have right now. I will keep the idea in mind if I am ever able to re-decorate. Love the little "Texas" touches. I couldn't help but think it would be a great room for a man.

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    1. It's definitely a less-feminine room than the previous guest room, that's for sure!

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  2. I actually liked how cozy the purple room looked but this new version does seem more updated for sure!

    I love valances but man are they hard to find. Maybe a single valance is easy to find but I've been looking for ones to use with my drapes. Finally I had to make my own.

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    1. Well thank you - I liked the purple room too. But change is good, right?

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  3. How much fun you've been having redecorating your house! What will you do when you're done? If you need a project, I'm telling you, you have to come to my house.

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    1. It has been fun, for sure. When I'm finished? Hmmm...travel to Chicago? ;)

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  4. Everything looks great Shelley. Honestly, you should start a mid-life career in interior decorating. You are so good at it!

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    1. Thank you! I'd be the decorator who doesn't follow the professional standards, though. I'm more of an unconventional wing it type...sometimes it works, but sometimes I have to redo it, LOL.

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  5. Love it! That quilt is so pretty. I have been thinking a lot about traditional quilt patterns lately, and this just fuels the fire! And I agree, the lamps are perfect. They are just what I like to have to be able to adjust the light the way I want it over my bed. I like all the artwork you've hung in the room. I really like that one with the star by the second lamp--where is that one from?

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    1. Oh fun - I think it would be neat to see what colors you do for a traditional quilt!

      The art with the star was made by a local artist; I bought it from her years ago at a First Friday art event. I just love it - and if you look closely, she's decoupaged the words "waltz across Texas with me" - sweet, right?

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  6. Woo hoo for Target! They have good stuff there. Lamp A made me laugh with how tiny it was. I love having a side table and lamp when I visit someone's house. I want that for our guest bedroom (someday).

    Can't wait to see the second one before Christmas :)

    and P.S. It's so annoying to take pics of pictures and have that glare! UGH!

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    1. I know, Lamp A was tiny when I brought it home. Seemed big enough in the store, HA!

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  7. I really like the blue color scheme, and adore that painting. I agree on the lamps - those first two didn't fit. Height on a bedside table is nice so that you don't get a shadow in your face when trying to read.

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