Guest Bedroom Reveal

For the past 3+ months, we’ve been working on updating the guest space in our home and everything is finally finished! I could not be happier with the transformation and I’m so excited to finally share how the space looks now.

Welcome to our guest room!

When we first moved in, I knew this area was the first major renovation I wanted to tackle. This basement bedroom was a natural choice for a guest room, but there were some pretty major things to address: no window, dark walls, odd outlet placements (why is there an outlet halfway up the left wall??), and of course, that wallpaper.

The biggest change we made was to add a window to bring in natural light and make it a legal bedroom. Luckily, even though it is in the basement, only the bottom half of the wall is foundation/underground so our contractor could add it without much extra hassle to the exterior. The natural light is mostly indirect due to the angle of house and the fact that the window is behind our back deck, but it still makes a huge difference.

I also knew from the very beginning that I wanted to nix the wallpaper, brighten up the walls, and add board and batten to make the half-wall into a feature, which ended up doubling as a headboard. I love how it turned out!

Justin cut down, sanded, and stained a nice thick slab of white oak for the top of the wall, which provides not only a shelf for plants and simple decor, but also extra space for guests to place things if needed. And did you notice the artwork giving a little nod to the room’s original decor? Much more my style!

There wasn’t a way to fit a dresser in the room without it seeming crowded, so on the wall opposite the bed we converted the built-in TV cabinet to a linen closet for guest use and to hold extra towels, blankets, pillows, etc. You can read all about that full project in this blog post.

We also swapped out all the old trim – I wanted a much thicker look and it actually made the room seem bigger and the ceiling higher! – and painted it in a soft contrasting color. I didn’t want too stark of a contrast, so at first we had it painted just a shade or two darker than the walls. but it didn’t end up providing quite enough contrast for me. I chose to lighten up my favorite shade of gray to 75% and repaint all the trim and doors and I’m so much happier with the contrast now.

Even though there isn’t room for a dresser, I still wanted a space for guests to sit and get ready. I had a narrow table from the entryway of my previous home and, when paired with a mirror and chair, it was just right to use as a small vanity. It also solved the problem of what to do with this awkward little angled wall – win win!

A wider desk would have been too clunky in the space, but this is thin enough to work and still provide space for jewelry, make-up, etc.

There is an en suite bathroom, but that bathroom is the only one in the basement so it is frequently used even when we don’t have guests. Because of this, the room sort of doubles as a hallway to the bathroom. I wrote all about the bathroom renovation here.

When it came to furnishing the room, we did get some new things but I also tried to shop our home as much as possible. A lot of the frames, books, candles, tchotchkes are things I’ve collected over the years. It’s fun for me to find ways to mix new things with the old!

I plan to share a post of all we learned from this experience at some point, but for now, I’m just going to enjoy soaking up this new space. 🙂

Thanks so much for following along with this fun renovation!

Sources

(Note: I provided non-affiliate links to everything I could, but many things were either thrifted, bought from a store with ever-changing inventory like TJ Maxx, or bought years ago.)

Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Alabaster

Trim/Door Color: Sherwin Williams Repose Gray (tinted at 75%)

Window Trim Color: Sherwin Williams Dot to Dot (this was the original trim color, which we painted over on all the trim but kept around the window)

Linen Closet Color: Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay

Linen Closet door handles: Rejuvenation

Linen Closet drawer pulls: Rejuvenation

Round Mirror: Home Goods

Vanity Table: World Market (similar)

Chair: Target

Bedding: Home Goods

Sheets: TJ Maxx

Nightstands: Wayfair

Lamps: Target

Lampshades: Target

Magnolia Candle: Target

Alarm Clock: Target

Window Roller Shade: Graber

Lily Prints: Juniper Print Shop here and here

Lily Print Frames: Ikea

Ballerina Print: Juniper Print Shop