Guest Bedroom: Custom Pillow Details

The drapes in the dining and living room came with tie-backs that we weren't using. So I decided to use them to spruce up the pillows in the guest bedroom.

I sewed them to the end of each one.

Here they are in the room. I think they add a nice little custom touch to some basic pillow cases.

Guest Bedroom: Lots of Updates!

This room was really dark and dated before:After lots of work, it is now bright and cheery! We hung crisp white ceiling to floor drapery to give it some additional height. We also stuck with white for the bedding. I made some throw pillows to add some additional colors to the space and we went from there.

These were the original milk glass lamps in the space, they just needed a good cleaning and new shades! The headboard was spray painted which you can see HERE. The new mattresses are much taller than the old ones, so it is harder to see!

I used wooden frames from goodwill and painted them all the same white to make a grouping above the bed. I included some old pics of Oma and Opa as well as some of her sheet music. This was a great way to pay tribute to her many years playing piano both for the church and for her many piano students!

These are old magazines from the 30's that Oma had saved...we didn't know why but thought they must have been special and wanted to keep them. And why put them in a box somewhere when they have such perfect graphics for the room! I just used simple document frames for these.

Here is the re-finished dresser after some accessorizing with old books and pictures.

The other side of the room still has some boxes to go through, but it's looking much better.

These items on the vanity are just some old books and a metal box along with some old family pics and Oma's metronome.

Guest Bedroom: Dresser Re-do.

You may not have noticed this dresser because it blended in with the walls!

Needless to say, it was in need of some major help.

You can see because of where the pulls were just how faded this piece was.

I am a firm believer that distressed furniture should be sparsely used in a home (it can easily become too much), and not in every home! But because of the cottage look that we have going, distressing was the perfect treatment for this piece.

I used Sherwin Williams "Pearly white" in laytex semi-gloss (about 2 coats). This piece used about half a quart. I kept the top unpainted and simply spruced it up with some scratch oil.

Once the paint was dry, I simply sanded the edges of the drawers to let the wood show through. I used the original pulls...just wiped clean.

What a difference some paint can make!!

Guest Bedroom: No More Carpet!

Here is where we started:

 And here is where we are currently:

 The baseboards need to be painted and the floors are getting cleaned/waxed this week. They were in good enough shape that they didn't need refinishing.

Guest Bedroom: New life to an old headboard

The bed in the guest bedroom was made by Opa. We wanted to keep it in the room and just update is a bit. I thought a nice black finish would look great against the new buttery walls.

 First we took it out into the Mississippi heat and laid out a tarp to protect the grass.

 Rust-oleum paint and primer in one is a little more expensive but saves a primer can and an extra step. It also has a nice spray nozzle.

 It turned out really nicely! I can't wait to see it in the room!

Guest Bedroom: Lightened Up

Below is a reminder of the before...

 Here is the cheery new paint color!

 The room is so much brighter now! There will be lots of other fun updates for this room as well.