Before & After: Guest Bedroom (in progress)

This guest bedroom is still a work in progress.

Remember the guest bathrooms?

As I mentioned there was only one bathroom upstairs for the three bedrooms, and the existing bathroom was really far from the bedroom we speak of today. 

As you can clearly see, you would have to be an athlete to make it to and fro the bathroom from the guest room. Not to mention that one wee bathroom is not going to work once those bedrooms are filled with babies. 

Plus, although the room was big, the dimensions made it seem smaller because the ultra long length made it seem really narrow.

And all of the windows meant it was tricky to place furniture.

So we decided to carve off some space from the end of the room to create a Jack & Jill bathroom that would share with Gracie’s room.

So before…

And after. Those pictures are taken at the same angle. The windows to the left are the same, and you can see we closed up the window to the right and made a smaller window that is next to the tub. The wall the headboard is on is the bathroom wall.

This is next to the door and closet.

And this is the angle looking from the bed.

A lot of you ask how I choose what to do in a renovation. I really don’t want to do anything structural if I don’t have to. I did a little mini-reno on the house I lived in during college and we had to fix the foundation and the walls cracked like crazy and we fixed them but the house still settles for years and the walls will keep cracking and have to be repaired. Just not worth it unless the price is amazing.

I think the projects in this house were ideal. I can’t imagine buying a house and not at least wanting to repaint everything. Even if I liked what was there, to me painting is kind of like cleaning before you move it. I don’t want to live with someone else’s breath on the walls. Is that strange? Probably. But a fresh coat, to me, is a given.

Then kitchens and baths- I loved that I got to keep the original tile in the one bathroom, and that I got to start over in the master. Kitchens and baths tend to be the things that need the most updating- or that updating takes the most effort to do- and so I actually prefer when a house has outdated bathrooms/kitchens because at least I am not going to be wasteful in wanting to change things. I would much rather renovate an existing bathroom than put one in. Getting the proper pipes and plumbing to the proper space is expensive and intrusive. Our last two houses have been pier and beam which does make things a lot easier.

Moving a wall- so long as it isn’t load bearing- is really easy and we are hoping we can move some wall action in this room quickly/painlessly sometime soon.

I didn’t really think about the decor of this room all that much. If we have another girl this will be the next nursery, and it seemed pointless to really do this room up knowing I would want to refluff it for a baby. I also forgot to factor in the moulding around a door when I did my initial plans, and I thought a full size bed would fit where the twin is. But no such luck. As the room is now it is super choppy. And where the bed is now is really the only place you can put it. However…

If we moved the closet to where the bed is now, I think it would open the whole room up. You could put a queen size bed in front of the window- which would be nice for privacy anyway because that window is huge and looks out onto the street and it would be a bummer to have to have the blinds drawn on it at all times. Or if it were the nursery you could but a daybed there- we have one in storage from Gracie’s room in Austin- and still fit a crib as well.

Decor-wise I painted the walls Mint Julep by Benjamin Moore. I thought I was going to be able to use my great-grandmothers burl wood headboard but it was a full, so instead I made this red tufted guy with some leftover velvet I had. The wall shelves were found on 1st dibs. I knew even with the full size bed there wouldn’t really be room for a bedside table, and this piece has little drawers and room to place a glass of water. 

On the shelves are the Beatrix Potter collection I had in my bedroom growing up, as well as some special items people have given Gracie that are a bit too fragile to live with her right now. Designing the initial plan for the room I wanted to balance the preciousness of those items and the vintage headboard with some kookier, less feminine elements.

When I saw this rug at Furbish I knew it would be perfect. It had some of the mint on the walls in it, with a lot of black and other unexpected colors. I love it in there. I think we are going to add curtains in a print, and recover the glider as well.

China Rose would be so good.

Part of me wants to just go ahead and rip out the closet and get it over with, but part of me says we should wait and see what happens with our, ahem, family planning in case that makes me rethink the plan.

In closing today, Pete and I started Mad Men a few weeks ago. I know I know. We don’t know how we haven’t watched it until now yet either. But we are flying through it and are on Season 2 now.

ANYWAY

In the Season 1 finale Don gives Peggy this advice:

“Think about it deeply. Immerse yourself in it. Then forget about it, put it out of your mind. And an idea will float right in front of your face”

Or something like that.

And I think in terms of a creative process, that is pretty close to what I do.

When doing a whole house, I don’t really come up with a whole color scheme or style at once.

I start with one room, and I really think about it. I am a really tactile learner, so I usually have to draw it out and draw in different furniture plans. I make lists of ideas. I stare at pinterest images, I pour over fabric selections, sometimes I select one thing like the curtain fabric or the rug or the headboard.

And then I move on and don’t really think about it for awhile.

And what I have found is that after I put it out of my mind, the idea for the room really does just sort of come to me. Like with the Furbish rug, I would never have said “Oh, I need a red and black and yellow kilim in here”. And if I had been looking for it I probably would never have chosen it. But I was looking through Furbish for a client and it just popped out at me.

I think creativity works better when it is spontaneously recalled rather than forced. 

You’re welcome.