Put Our Service to the Test

I know, I know, I know that we are not done with the office. I've still got three quarters to play. But I'm working with a shoestring budget (literally) and things take time. And I'm not the kind of girl who has the determination to think about just one room in my house.

I want to redo my guest room. I want someone to visit. And when they do, I do not want them to feel like I stuck them in Duke's room. Or a storage closet. Or jail.

Nothing has changed since I took these pictures. Well, I take that back. I currently have a napping husband in there, a few more dust bunnies, and Millie has moved next door to live with the little girls there. I believe her name is Natasha now.

But it still is cold. And practically colorless. And there is a dog cage in there. So I've been daydreaming a lot about that room lately. So you can imagine my surprise when I found an image that is exactly what I had been dreaming of.

Velvet and Linen via Little Green Notebook

No joke. This is what I dream about. Beige linen upholstered headboards. Hotel-like duvets. Trunks at the foot of beds. And whatever that amazing thing is hanging above the bed, I dream about that too. I just didn't realize it until now.

Obviously, the guest room is white with white carpet. Part of that equation works. The other part, I'll deal with (and find a big area rug). But I have plans.

I have a door in my garage that I salvaged saved from one of the houses they were tearing down over the summer. I've been planning on using that for a headboard since the day I found that big beautiful thing.

I also have a crazy DIY plan to get that amazing duvet for cheap, cheap. Like a birdy. Those of you who are savvy to the DIY will probably have already thought of this a while ago, but I'm not sharing my idea until I finish it and have a picture to show it off.

I'm on the lookout for the trunk. Well, technically, I got one of these for my wedding. But the thing is, it's maker became a daddy before I got it. (Yes, I am still waiting, you know who you are...) ;-)

As for the side table, I'm thinking about moving one of the ones from our bedroom (and both when we move to a bigger house) into the guest room. Won't actually do that until I make my headboard (for our room) and get/make less wood-y bedside tables for our room, so for now I'm keeping the chair. Or maybe I'll find something else. Who knows.

I also want to bring in some DIY curtains (maybe navy blue? Dark brown? White?) to class that window up a bit. Since the view from it is really just my neighbors back yard. And a dresser. Something kind of antique and old looking.

Source

So what. I'm a room floozy. But they are all my rooms, in my house. So I can think about whichever one I want to. Whose going to be our first guest and send me into a panic-induced crazy makeover of this room??

Magical Growing Rooms

As you know, we like to work on a minimal budget. And by minimal, I really mean free. If you talk a walk through our house, you will find furniture we have found on the side of the road, some we bought from thrift stores, and others we have made ourselves. Our artwork is usually free/under ten dollars. I like to hunt for a bargain. I like to wait until I find the best deals.

That being said, it takes a while to finish a room at this pace. The office is slowly but surely becoming the room I want it to be, but we still have leaps and bounds before we're anywhere near "finished." The rest of the house is coming along very slowly, if at all.

A week ago, before J left for New Mexico, our guest room consisted of a bed, a dog bed, a dining room chair, and a tub filled with bedding. With the exception of the tub, which is now put away in the closet, it's still the same. But it's bigger. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have discovered the secret of making ordinary rooms grow.

Now, I did not take any before pictures for you, so I cannot really prove I expanded the room with nothing more than my own muscles. The problem was, my brain and hands were moving my quicker than my camera. It was not a planned extension; the idea actually hopped into my head as I was washing my hands in the bathroom across the hall, so I walked right into that room and made some magic. Forgot to take a picture. Whoops.

If you're really interested in seeing a before, you can revisit this home tour of yore, and skip ahead to 1 minute and 35 seconds in. It looked a little something like that. Plus a tub and a chair. Please feel free to mute me.

Now, while this room is no closer to being finished, it is bigger. I swear it. Check it out.

 

As these pictures were loading, I suddenly got embarrassed. This room is nowhere near done. I can't believe I'm showing it to you in this state. Technically, all it is is a bed and a chair. How lame is that?

But then I remembered that this blog is about our life. And our life is not always perfect. It is not always finished. It's far from where we want to be. So this is like a metaphor for our life. Take it or leave it.

Things I still need to do for this room (besides everything): make a headboard out of the door we found on the side of a house that was being torn down, make curtains, get a dresser (and probably make it pretty, because any dresser we can afford probably won't be pretty), stretch and hang some paintings I have in the closet, find a real side table, get a lamp, maybe a desk? (non-dining room) chair? armoir?, figure out the artwork situation (aside from the aforementioned canvases that need stretching), new bedding (new sheets, new comforter, possibly borrow the duvet from our bedroom, and get a quilt for our room), aaaand break down Duke's cage and move it out to the garage.

Not bad. Lets bring this post back to the positive... I can grow rooms! Don't you agree the room is so much bigger now than when we first moved in? It is, I measured. Its at least 10 feet longer. At least. 

Also, I would like to add a disclaimer that the reason for new bedding is that we are using a big chenille blanket with a quilt over top it. Not that I don't love the quilt. The quilt was handmade for us for our wedding, and I love it. It's just a little too small for that bed. I usually use it while watching movies on the couch. The chenille blanket on the other hand, I do not like. Thus, new bedding.

Here is a closeup of that awesome quilt. Side note, does my guest bedroom look like a prison cell to anyone else? If someone is going to come visit me, it will give me a reason to fix this room. Just saying...