GUEST ROOM REDESIGN
While DIY (do-it-yourself) projects may seem intimidating, they certainly don’t have to be. If you can narrow down the scope of the project, create a reasonable timeline and break the project down into workable steps, you’ll be surprised with just how easy, not to mention satisfying, DIY projects can be.
The AS Team recently undertook a personal DIY project to renovate the Guest Room in one of our homes. This room, while primarily used for guests (that stay fairly frequently), is also used for various other reasons…trip planning and packing, laundry room, work space, and reading room. Because this room is used so often, we wanted to create a space that was inviting, tranquil and bright for all that may use it.
CREATING THE VISION
We absolutely loved the guest rooms’ previous design, and honestly, that room was the most fun to decorate upon purchasing the home. Since it was the second bedroom, we felt like we had creative freedom to decorate outside the box – black and white striped wallpaper and matching window curtains, pop of color yellow throw pillows on the bed, dark emerald green wall color and various other quirky design elements. This room was incredibly fun and unique for the few years it lasted, but after living in the home for ~4 years now, the guest room simply grew out of that vision and needed a new one.
ENHANCING NATURAL LIGHT
Unfortunately, the guest room has only one window that is placed directly underneath an outside overhead stairwell so the room does not get a lot of natural sunlight (just another reason the colors in the room needed to be changed). In order to create the illusion of more natural light, we needed to choose brighter and more neutral tones that would brighten the room naturally. A light grey (BEHR ‘Smokey Wings’) paint color was chosen for the walls with secondary colors being white, dark grey, and purple. This color palette seemed very serene and almost spa-like for the room and matched perfectly with the Dusk Grey Frond Wallpaper selected for an accent wall (also used elsewhere in the home).
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW
After carefully removing the black and white wallpaper, we were able to spackle any rough areas, apply two coats of grey paint, tidy up the white trim work and paint the ceiling for a new fresh look. We decided to paint the ceiling because 1) the house is slightly older and the ceilings haven’t been painted since the property was built and, 2) applying a fresh coat of white paint would fix any discoloration to the ceilings current state and also provide a crisp contrast to the grey of the walls.
TIME TO DECORATE
Once the painting and wallpaper install was complete we were able to decorate…the process we look forward to the most! The wallpaper was absolutely an inspiration for the room (and this reno provided us the opportunity to reuse paper that we previously purchased for another room in the house), however; the painted glass vases were also a huge design inspiration. The marble design and color palette of these vases provided warm tonal elements and a pop of color to the bedside tables. These vases were found at H&M Home for only $35/each. H&M Home currently has loads of great options for vases, if you’re in the market for something classy AND affordable.
Sheer grey ombre linen curtains (don’t forget to iron!) adorned both sides of the windows creating the illusion of more natural light and textured grey pillow covers were purchased for the beds accent pillows. Finally, some faux flowers were purchased on sale from Michaels Arts & Crafts for the vases, and letterpress map prints for DC and NYC were hung above the bed mirroring its previous design.
What was great about this project was how inexpensive it was! Paint is not nearly as expensive as people think, however; if you’re not willing to undertake the painting process yourself (and the patience that goes along with that) then hiring a professional certainly does contribute to the overall cost. If you simply take an inventory of every item you’d like to keep and repurpose, and only look for additional decor items within your budgetary guidelines, a DIY can be easy to do and incredibly rewarding.
Are you inspired to take on a project yourself, or even hire ACCESS | Style to assist with your vision?
