Continuing With the Guestroom Make-over

When we bought this bi-level house in 2011, we immediately knew we would not be using the five bedrooms as bedrooms.  The three upper level bedrooms were destined to be master bedroom, guest room and home office.  The two lower level bedrooms were to be a walk in pantry and a dart room/den off the main games room.  The pantry is to the right of the den, across from the lower bathroom off the hallway leading from the games room to the outer walk-out.  We plan on putting a fouton in that room to double as addition guest sleeping space if needed.

We actually liked the various taupes in the house even if they did mix warm with cool tones.  Most of the taupes will be repainted in similar colours but in cool tones, letting the strong wood tones warm the rooms for a balanced feeling.  My colour choices for this house are deep burgundy, taupe, olive green, black and white.  I have to work in navy blue as well since our couch set is navy blue leather but that can be done through accent pieces.  Green is not difficult to work in given my love of plants.  Within these main colours there is a wide range of colours to work with so I'm not having too much of a problem starting to coordinate the rooms.  The upper bathroom floor tile is hunter green with greyish and light green marbling. 

The guestroom is at the end of the upper hallway with a north facing window.  The small wall with the framed needlepoint (windmill) done by my mother-in-law is the end wall of the closet in the master bedroom.  This forms a small, fairly useless entryway into the room.  The main room is 11' x 11' which isn't too bad of a size.  While the rest of the house was fairly neutral in various shades of taupe in most of the rooms, the upper bathroom was a horrid peach including the ceiling and the guestroom had obviously been a little girl's room.  The window wall and door wall were shocking pink.  The small wall and entrance were an almost neon blue and the far west wall by the chair was a neon yellowish green.  Running along the top corner where the chair is were coordinating circle stickers.  The bar light bulb was covered with a huge paper globe (likely a dollar store find) that had been decorated with drizzles of the shocking pink paint.  This room took two full coats of primer followed by two coats of paint just to cover those colours!  I used Beautihome semi-gloss colour ND044 which is the cool greyish blue, more grey colour of the marbling in the upper level bathroom floor.

As you can see, an air mattress  on a metal frame has taken the place of an actual bed in the guestroom for the past 18 months.  We were taking it down after each use to give the grandkids more room to play.  This worked well because we don't have a lot of overnight guests, mainly a couple of our kids with the grandkids who are still fairly small.  The guestroom is used primarily for the grandkids to play in with a ready bed if they want a nap which doesn't happen very often!  The air mattress is deflated for storage now so we can move our queen size bed into the guest room.  The air mattress will still serve as extra sleeping if needed, likely set up temporarily in the games room

There was no window treatment other than a curtain rod left in the guestroom.  I improvised with a cloth shower curtain until we found the Elsinor ring top panels at the fabric shop going out of business.  They are outdoor panels that are fade and water resistant.  They have a flowery print in black outline with red outline leaf accents on a creamy white background so they have three of my colours and match nicely with the room.  Clearly I need to add mini blinds behind them as well to block a bit more light when needed.

This wall is at the end of the upper hallway with our bedroom door to the left and the home office sharing the wall on the other side.  There is a nice size but not over large closet that currently needs purging.  The dresser holds kids crafts in the top drawer and some of my yarn stash in the other four drawers.  The yarn drawers are stuffed!  There are a few projects on the go on top of the dresser.  The floor lamp needs to be worked into our home somewhere.  It along with two table lamps were custom made for us by a very dear friend shortly after we bought our second house.  The wood is covered with a special coating that gives the pieces an intense shine and depth.

I put two shelf units in the guestroom to house some of my book collection along with toys and books  for the grandkids.  There is enough floor space for them to play with the Lego bin but we will lose a bit of floor space with the larger bed.  I have the yarn ready to start the crocheted blanket for the bed to bring in a homey feel.  We are planning on upgrading the wood trim for the entire upper level which will change the look including the guestroom and home office closets.  The master bedroom trim has already been upgraded but even that may change. 

Within the next couple of weeks the guestroom will be closer to completion.  There aren't a lot of accessories to buy but I do need to find a light fixture and shade for the floor lamp.  We haven't decided on the bed placement yet but I have a couple of ideas including using the bookshelves to create a headboard.  I will likely buy a new quilt and pillow sham set as well.  Off to do a bit of shopping...