Be Our Guest

One room in our house is done. Or at least close enough to done to share. This is the guest room and I think it's my favorite room in the house. We have three bedrooms now, and because we don't have any local family (and we left some great Austin friends behind who had better be planning a drive over soon), we hope and expect to have overnight guests throughout the year. Which means I really wanted a guest room- a room I could decorate any way I wanted to be comfortable and inviting and different from any other room I've decorated so far. The kids were agreeable to sharing a room, and I think it's good for them, so a guest room we now have, at least until the kids (Claire) protest their current arrangement. This room has the bonus of being connected to a small private full bath, so it's a perfect space for visitors (and one day, a teenage Claire).

First up, the little connected bathroom. This is the before:

Oh the before. The yellow, the brown, the horrible flowered wall paper that lacked either yellow or brown. And behind the scenes, the tiny pipes, the complete lack of a vent or any form of air circulation, the weird pointlessly low shower ceiling with its superfluous bar and weirdly low shower head.

We took it down to the bones.

And by "we," I mean "we" wrote checks and Roger and his merry men ripped out the everything except the wooden frame. Everything- floors, walls, ceilings, everything. The demo itself took 3 days because apparently, back in the 40's, you put up tile by throwing cement on chicken wire and sticking on the tiles. It resisted all efforts at removal.

And then "we" rebuilt it.

And then we made it beautiful.  Here's the view from the guest room, before and after:

The bathroom is so small it's hard to get good pictures (thus the quantity over quality approach to this post), but I love it. I've wanted to do a grey, yellow, and teal combo somewhere, so I went for it here. The floor tiles are large and dark grey, the shower tiles are white subway, with a glass and stone grey, white, and clear border. The shower is about 2 feet taller, has a new custom door, and new plumbing (behind the wall and in front of it). 

We added bead board to the wall and painted it white; the walls above are painted light grey. There's a new toilet, new sink and vanity, new plumbing fixtures, and new lighting. 

The cabinets have new fronts and there is now a vent to circulate air so you don't pass out while taking a shower. The art is from the Freshline etsy shop.

The amount of items that had to be picked out and purchased for one bathroom was mind-boggling, particularly when it's being done in 30 minute snatches of time at Home Depot on lunch breaks.  But I'm really happy with how it came together.

And now the room. It already had white bead board walls and a curtain rod, but it lacked any lighting at all (which was fun, because for a while this room had our only functioning toilet and it was pitch black at night; there was a lot of hitting the bed frame and cursing).

 To this we added a fan with light, a Crate and Barrel queen bed frame I've been lusting over for years (this will be Claire's room in 5-6 years, so I deemed it a good investment), new curtains, new grey/white bedding (all bargains from Marshall's), extra bookcases from our study in Austin, a small dresser purchased from the previous owners of this house, and a few other accessories I found and loved.

 

  light!

 

  view from bathroom; art from Marshall's; flower and vase from Hobby Lobby

 

broken closet door; lamp I love from Target; lots of romance novels and a few family pictures

 

faux orchid; pretty tray for jewelry and other small things

I still plan to add a mirror above the dresser, a folding luggage rack behind the door, some fun grey/yellow/blue throw pillows, and another nightstand with a bedside lamp.  We'll also get the cream shutters painted white.  Someday.  But if the non-matching shutters and lack of throw pillows doesn't offend you, it's functional and comfortable and waiting for visitors!

(We have a new tag, my new/old house.  I'll use it for each home project and room reveal - there's going to be a lot of them!)