We recently refreshed our guest bedroom, so I thought I would show what we did (especially the DIY projects). I don't have a before picture of the room, but we painted the ceiling/trim (white) and walls (greenish grey). Cleaned the carpet. And moved the ceiling fan/light fixture from our room to replace the dated one. Back in February, I had the honor of helping my Mom and Aunt clean out my Grandparents home. I was able to select many items that are near and dear to me that I was able to use when decorating this room.
I wanted a cleaner look (a.k.a. didn't want to match bedding to the wall color) so I got a new bedskirt and comforter from Kohl's. You can see one of the kids was just sitting on the bed so excuse the wrinkles!
The throw and pillows I already had, but check out this amazing embroidered pillow I found in my Grandparents basement! In the 40 years I'd known them, I had never seen this so I don't know the story behind it.
We had this crate, and my Dad gave us this green canister a while ago. The scale is my Great-Grandmothers, which I put some old books on. The dried hydrangeas I cut from my Grandma's bush when I was there.
My Grandparents had a set of 3 suitcases from the Wheary Luggage Company (which was made in our hometown of Racine, WI). Grandma even stored them in the original boxes (which I have too). I remember her pulling these out to pack for our annual Summer vacations in Hayward!
Topping this display is a stack of Golden Books (from when Grandpa worked at Western Publishing) and a really cool feather hat my Dad got me at a garage sale. I found the vintage head stand for it at a flea market last year.
I just love the aged leather, and having a piece of Grandpa's handwriting.
Okay, onto the DIY! One of the coolest features in this room is the ledge shelf that spans almost the entire length of this wall. There's a "dump site" by Jon's office where we get a lot of our "reclaimed" wood. We think this was a utility pole. Jon measured the studs in the wall so that he could drill holes into the back (I think there were 5). We used some heavy duty hardware to drill into the studs and then fit the shelf holes onto them. The railroad spikes on the front were placed by Jon into existing holes the pole had. I knew this shelf was going to be a photo gallery, and I affixed some ribbon onto some of the frames to hang them from the spikes. The family sign is from Kohl's. Most of these pictures I already had, as well as the established frame color scheme of silver, pewter, black.
Lastly, these wall sconces are on both sides of the window. These were my Grandma's on my Dad's side. They were gold ceramic and meant to hold taper candles. Some of my friends know the funny story behind this project and can relate to the priorities of men vs. women. Our weeknights are pretty hectic. We all get home from work/school and there are backpacks to unpack and get ready for the next day, dinner to make and kitchen to clean, baths to be had, etc..... In the midst of all of this one evening, Jon starts setting up a painting station on the kitchen island. I was thinking "WTF is he doing!!?!?! There are a million other more important things to be doing right now!" After a brief exchange, he told me he thought these would look better in distressed white and then we could put a test tube vase in them with a flower (all of which we already had) for the room. I have to admit I stood there with my jaw hanging wide open. You see, this man can drive me insane on a daily basis, but he still has the ability to surprise me after 16 years of marriage. I have to say his idea was brilliant and I think they turned out wonderful!
So besides the paint, bedskirt/comforter, and family sign we did not buy anything else for this room. It is so gratifying to "use what you have", especially when the items mean something to you!
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