Creating a Guest Bedroom

I probably should have titled this “The Perfectly Imperfect Guest Bedroom.”  Honestly, when we first purchased our home, we had envisioned creating a guest suite in the basement.  But several times, I doubted we could make it work.  Sure, we have a 4 bedroom home and only two kiddos, but we wanted to create a private space, away from all of our chaos, for our guests.  A little retreat from the feet that wake at 7am – even on a Saturday.  Between the stairwell and the storage room, there was a room with a cabinet, pipes, and some poorly installed paneling.A sneak peek at the retreat:Now for the before photos:

Given the paneling, lack windows, and dark blue carpet, painting the room and ceiling white was an obvious choice.  2 coats of oil based primer and 2 coats of paint and we were ready to proceed. We replaced the dingy outlets with fresh, clean white ones for just 35 cents each.  We also replaced all of the outlet covers and lightswitch plates.  The entry doors and the door to the storage room were painted white and we thoroughly cleaned the carpet and fireplace.  At this point, we were ready to decorate and furnish.

The first piece of furniture I purchased was a side table I found on Craigslist in black for just $25.  Click here for my easy DIY painting tips.  It doesn’t have to take countless hours and effort to transition a piece.

My mother-in-law gave us a traditional wash stand.  After months of moving it from room to room, it has found it’s home in the guest bedroom, painted white along with the hardware.

To make the room feel open, I wanted to avoid a solid headboard.  I found this metal headboard in like new condition for $25 on Craigslist.  It may get painted white at a later date, but for now, it matches the  Pottery Barn Kids mirror in a soft, off white.

If you create a guest bedroom {or any room} without natural light, I recommend utilizing a couple of mirrors to capture any natural light that may peek in from another room and make the room appear larger and brighter.  Below, fresh hydrangea fill a nautical rope vase {click here for the tutorial}.  A Ball jar from my grandmother’s provides balance and a hint of color.  I chose a photograph from our honeymoon, but that didn’t include us.  I like to de-personalize the space, refraining from personal photographs, to make my guests feel more at home.

A store bought piece of coral from several years ago, serves as book ends to a couple of easy reads.

In each guest bedroom I’ve created, I’ve always incorporated a bedside carafe.  They are convenient for your guests and the glass rests on top of the “vase” when not in use.  While I know this is an inexpensive table and am not concerned about rings, my guests may not.  To make them feel at ease, I placed the carafe on a thrift store tray.  The sailboat continues the beach theme while masking the unattractive pipes that cannot be removed from the space.  When Christine of Click Photography took these beautiful photographs, she laughed and said she didn’t even notice them until I pointed them out to her.  The boat did the trick!

Since this room isn’t traditionally a bedroom, it lacked a closet.  I wanted to provide a place where our guests could hang their towels, and if needed, a few clothing pieces {from hangers}..  The answer was an easy DIY oar.  Click here for the tutorial.  I also included a wastebasket – all of the amenities of a hotel.

I placed another tray on the wash stand for a convenient place to leave jewelry, watches, keys, etc.

A miniature wooden buoy and spare rope fill the void in the corner of the fireplace.

A huge thank you to Click Photography for photographing the space for me!