An Inexpensive Guest Room Makeover: a house log

Sometimes, you simply gotta let things “shake out” – haha. John kept rolling his eyes while I ran back and forth from the guest room to try “one more thing” all day yesterday, but I simply enjoy playing around, tweaking things, adding this, subtracting that, and seeing where we end up. It is likely my go-to part of the whole process, all that final-hour-switcheroo business. And we are so glad that we shared yesterday’s in-progress pics to show how simply a few tweaks in the last 24 hours can truly change things up. Not über dramatically, but sufficient to make a difference for sure. Sometimes it is those last minute changes that make you step back and go: There. Done. At least for now.

Who am I kidding? I will likely be back in there hanging art above the chairs and switching out the bookcase for a proper dresser when we hunt down the ideal one on craigslist in a week or two. And then there is the crown molding we’d enjoy to add down the line along with a million other changes that we will likely roll out over the next few years. But those are projects for another day, because my mom and stepdad will be arriving in T-minus-four-hours. So here is what the guest room looks like now that we picked up three things from Tar-jay yesterday afternoon.

Those three things were:

• a large $24 faux leather tray
• a round $49 oil-rubbed bronze mirror
• a cute green $19 table lamp

You will remember that yesterday’s to do list included hanging something above the bed to balance out the big window to the left (hence the purchase of the big round mirror) and adding a nightstand and table lamp (hence the purchase of the low-cost-o table lamp and the tray that we attached to the top of the green luggage rack that we got last week while thrifting on our little V-day beach trip last week).

First I repaired the straps on the luggage rack with thick brown ribbon and a staple gun.

Then John came up with the genius plan to use Command removable adhesive strips…

… to securely fasten the tray to the luggage rack in a way that is 100% un-doable, thanks to those removable strips.

After placing our new luggage-rack-turned-side-table next to the bed with that cute green lamp…

… and hanging the oil-rubbed bronze mirror above the bed…

…we both truly enjoyed the idea of bringing in the leather storage bench that was sitting unused in the playroom for the foot of the guest bed.

That way we could remove the patterned brown blanket that we had folded at the foot of the bed (for a splash of dark color) in exchange for the more “classic” and less busy brown ottoman (which would also serve as a place to sit down, store linens, drop bags, set out magazines for mom, etc). All hail function. And ottomans. Seriously, we cannot get sufficient of them. So for those of you who hated the brown blanket with a passion that can only be described as intense, rest assured that it is been beaten and burned. Simply kidding, it is sitting in playroom purgatory with all of our other “leftovers.”

And on the subject of stuff we already have, we knew that our guests would enjoy a place to charge their cellphones, so I brought in a ceramic stool from the sunroom and placed it between the two chairs that I shifted apart so the outlet was easily visible right behind the stool. Bam: cellphone charging central. Note: I have since come to my senses and took out the cute blue vase to in fact make room for cell phones.

And in separating those chairs I nixed the faux sheepskin and brought over the two glad yellow pinwheel pillows for some straightforward balance. Of course we still have to hang some art above those chairs, but we will get there someday.

So that is the room as it looks today with mom and Jack on the road from NY. Simply for lively, here is another shot of our cute little $1.25 closet door pull and the empty closet with a bunch of wood hangers simply waiting for our guests:

The funny thing is that I am fairly sure my mom would sleep on the floor for a chance to hang out with Clara, so she likely will not even notice the walls or the curtains or the bedding because she’ll be so busy staring at the bean.

Speaking of our little helper, here she is hanging out while we hung the mirror above the bed.

Gotta enjoy that girl. She already has an appreciation for rugs and other accessories.

Oh and since you know we enjoy a good budget breakdown, here is what we spent for the guest bedroom & adjoining guest bathroom makeover:

• Olympic Premium No-VOC primer: $12
• Olympic Premium No-VOC paint (color matched to Martha Stewart’s Plumage): $22
• Target bedskirt: $10
• Ikea curtains: $76 (around $19 a panel)
• Target curtain rods: $18
• Hobby Lobby closet knob: $1.25 (50% off thanks to a hardware sale)
• Target oil-rubbed bronze mirror: $49
• Target tray for luggage rack: $24
• Target table lamp: $19
• Target bathroom shower curtain: $20
• Target bathmat: $20
• Target Waterpik showerhead: $14
• Home Depot toilet seat: $12
• TOTAL: $297.25

Thanks to working with a ton of things that we already had (like our DIYed headboard, existing linens, the two slipper chairs, the ceramic drum stool, our yellow Pottery Barn rug, and our old bookcase) we came in well under a 1K Trading Spaces budget, even if you add our $488 bed purchase to the total above (which takes us to a grand total of $785.25). Now we simply have to do a little last minute vacuuming and dusting before my mom swoops in and steals my child. That is right, our family voted her as Most Likely To Steal Clara for a reason.

Psst- Wanna know where we got something in our house or what paint color we used? Simply click on this button: