The Guest Room – All The Details

  • March 22, 2017

There are only two weekends left before the One Room Challenge™ begins. The challenge lasts for six weeks, and exactly one week after it is over, our first visitors arrive.  We feel the pressure to get this guest room done now since we will not have even one minute for extra projects once the challenge starts. May seems far away, but the time will go by in a blink.

Today, I thought I would share the entire project plan with you. All of the details are mostly in place.

Paint

For the walls, I chose Quaint Peche by Sherwin-Williams.


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On my screen, this color looks a bit dark. In real life, it is a very pale pink with warm undertones. Andy saw the paint chip, and we had the following conversation:

Andy: I saw a really ugly paint color chip in your car. It is a peachy pink color. I hope you aren’t planning to use that anywhere in our house.

Me: (Thinking about the gallon of Quaint Peche paint on the floor of the guest room) Um, Ok. It was just something I was considering.

Andy: Unless you put it in the guest room. It is a terrible color. Our guests will not want to stay long in a room that color.

Me: I am glad you said that because I actually already bought the paint.

Twenty-two years of marriage, folks.

Bedding

A few weeks ago, our reader Monica helped me find this checked bedding.

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It is still available for a great price from Overstock. If you like it, snap it up.

Then, I finally found the perfect coordinating throw pillows.


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In reality, they are cloth napkins that I found in a little shop in South Carolina. I bought two 20″X 20″ pillow forms at Jo-Ann Fabrics, and I will convert the napkins into pillows.

Lastly, I have been looking for throw blankets for the foot of each bed, but everything I found was either the wrong color or too expensive. At Jo-Ann Fabric, I found a deep, earthy green velour decor fabric.

Instead of throw blankets, I am going to make a bed scarf for the foot of each bed. Most of our guests visit in the summer. They do not need the extra warmth of a throw blanket. Bed scarves are not exactly what I had in mind, but each one will cost around $12.50. Beating that price is hard.

Decor

Remember the ugly dresser?

Since there are no side tables in the room, I have decided that it needs to stay. However, the budget for this room makeover is minuscule, and I cannot afford to do too much to this piece. I am challenging myself to use paint that we already have in the basement. We still have plenty of dark navy from our front stair risers. The navy blue is a slightly different color than the Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore, but it is close. I think the dresser will look great painted this dramatic shade.

In addition to painting the dresser, I am going to use our jigsaw to change the shape of the cut-out of the legs. The design for that project is pending.

Because the windows are so beautiful without curtains, I will just add simple pull-down roller shades.

The windows are not standard width, so we will need to have the shades cut. Both Lowe’s and The Home Depot offer this service.

I am a little stumped on artwork and accessories since I feel as if I have spent my entire budget already. I will probably just scavenge items from storage or other rooms in the house. Two large pieces on the main walls would be perfect. We have some frames in the basement that I salvaged from a trash heap. It is possible that I can find an inexpensive printable that will work well.

So, that’s the plan. Now, I have to know, what do you think of Quaint Peche? I promise to fess up to Andy if you are all on his side.

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My dad says this is the one and only conversation he ever has about decorating. And they’ll be at 32 years this summer!

–Which of these do you like?
–Um, this one.
–Oh. But what about this one?
–Why did you ask my opinion?

There’s one exception – she wanted to paint the den paneling; he forbade it.

Ha ha! I love it.

Hey Stacy! I wrote a post about printing Audubon works for decor here –> https://worthdoingblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/23/finding-public-domain-historical-artwork-for-your-home/ and because I’m a librarian/nerd, I cited all the sources and other places you can look for good historical artwork.

Since then, I’ve also found this place for printing botanicals –> http://plantillustrations.org/about.php?mobile=0&SID=0 The site’s a total pain to use, and I think they’re trying to figure out some mobile stuff, but it’s worth a look if you’re going the “naturalist” route.

I printed a couple of the Audubon birds from the site on a high quality printer and it worked out great for our guest room!

Audrey, this is great! I also appreciate a good librarian/nerd. My mom was a librarian. 🙂 I will take a look at all of the choices. Unfortunately, my mother-in-law is very uncomfortable with birds. If we had a bad relationship, putting birds all over the guest room would be a great idea. LOL However, I just love her too much. I will search for some botanicals from your sources.

Ah, yeah, that’ll put the kibosh on that idea!

Library of Congress has some cool architectural drawings that you can request hi-res files of. For example, I’ve found Historical Buildings survey drawings of the round barns at my university. So maybe that’d be in an interesting route to take, if there is some cool architecture you’re into?

I love playing around in the LOC Photo, Print, and Drawing Division. Generally if you click on an individual image, there are some options for download right blow the image. I don’t know how hi-res that particular option is, but it’s certainly faster than a request!

https://www.loc.gov/photos/

Just some thoughts from a fellow “cheap but cool printables” searcher! 🙂

This is great advice! I am really glad you commented.

I curious to see how your paint color turns out! I had picked up that chip with a few others to test out in our upstairs bathroom. It has no widows, so everything is a little strange in there. I still have it taped up in there and might get a tester pot.

I am crossing my fingers. I am already considering cutting it 50% with white, but we will see.

I am not an objective observer, because I love pretty much all colors other than white and brown and grey. That said, I like the color you picked, and I think the dark blue dresser and green bed scarves will really pop with that color as a backdrop.

(I will save the victorious cheering for AFTER these walls are painted and I see photographic evidence that they are not, in fact, white. ?)

Art – if there’s anything on my website you want, let me know and you can have it for a quarter of the listed price. Totally serious. I need to make space on my walls for new stuff.

Your comment made me laugh! You do not trust me with colored paint. 😀 I will take a look at your artwork. Thank you for the offer.

I am laughing so hard at that conversation! So relatable. 🙂

I like the color and am excited to see how it turns out. Good luck, friend!

Thanks, Courtney. Andy and I won’t be writing a relationship book any time soon. 😀

I have to admit, I saw the paint chip and my heart sink. But I know you have vision and talent, and if anyone can make it work, I know you can. Plus the napkin/pillow colors, and that green velour, are wonderful and I think will bring out the best in the wall color.

Excited to follow along and see how the room turns out!

I sincerely appreciate the vote of confidence. I definitely have a vision, but the talent remains to be seen. 🙂 I have said it often that I am much better at tearing things apart than putting them together. I am trying hard to take bigger design risks. I imagine that there will be a few “misses” along the way.

The dresser needs knobs like these… https://www.amazon.com/Painted-Ceramic-Pumpkin-Cabinet-Handles/dp/B00NV62IIW/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1490197780&sr=8-17&keywords=hand+painted+pulls

I think the paint will be very pretty, and I am not a fan of pink.

Those are pretty! Amazon brings up some other cute choices below those too. I will give it some serious thought. Thank you for the suggestion.

I can’t wait to see the room with that paint color! I painted my studio a very pale pink, Ben. Moore’s “Bride to Be.” (Why do paint colors have names so silly that I can barely stand to form my lips around them?) I love its soft warmth on the walls and rosy glow in the corners. And those pillows will be lovely.

I painted our little under-the-eaves guest room a very pretty neutral, Ben. Moore’s “Cotswold,” and added creamy white trim. Art is an Inuit print in neutral shades, plus three identical Ikea frames surrounding sections of Mark Hearld’s “Squirrel and Sunflower” wallpaper from St. Jude. (Check it out here: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0046/8912/products/mark_hearld_wallpaper_squirrel_sunflower_clay_bisque.jpg?v=1484409203) I really wanted to hang this wallpaper in there, but it would have meant skim-coating the rough plaster walls, and I decided this was cheaper and simpler. The soft brownish color on the wallpaper matches the wall color. We got two natural flokati rugs for the sides of the bed.

And then my delight is to tweak all that neutral background to suit the person who will be using the guest room, with pillowcases, a throw blanket, etc. It can become anything from Scandi to super-girly to cool and reserved. Only thing it wouldn’t work for is a squirrel phobia! I

If you love the Audubon prints in the room, you could always swap out for something equally pretty but more mother-in-law-friendly when she uses the room.

What a great idea, Andrea! I love that you personalize the room according to your visitor. Also, I totally agree on paint names. The guy at the store called our color Quaint PEAch. If I had known him at all, I would have insisted he call it Quaint Pesh. 🙂 (What a silly name!)

Stacy, if you want the birds, I promise I’ll live with them!
Just no bats! ?

No bats. I promise. 🙂

I love it, but yeah…no. 🙂

Also, Maureen, do not click on that link! 😀

Peach is not a color that I will ever pick to use… and chances are slim that I’ll get to be a guest in that room. And even if I do get that opportunity – so what if the walls are peach! The glory of paint is that you can paint it. Have fun! Try new things! Don’t give too much of a damn! That’s my eloquent decorating theory and practice. lol.

This reminds me of Miss Frizzle from the Magic School Bus. “Get Messy! Make Mistakes!” 🙂

Is it possible to move the bottom dresser drawer to the top and move the others down? They currently seem out of order to me with the extra detailed drawer being on the bottom.

I can’t see the wall paint color in my head but you always have a vision that works.

Signed, the girl with a white office 🙂

That’s a good idea! I will see if the bottom drawer fits on the top.

I like the peach! I have recently started working on decorating our home again and have decided to focus on one room at a time. It seems like the best approach for me!

Thank you, Jennifer. 🙂 I totally agree with you on the one-room-at-a-time plan. It is a good strategy for focus.

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