We Sold...

...our guest room.  Not the actual room.  Just nearly everything in it.  It's a long and rambling story as to how we went from this:

to an empty room, but the short version is that we bought Lucky a bigger bed in order to use her twin mattress upstairs for a project in our spare bedroom upstairs.  The spare bedroom had been used for storage of items we weren't using and are now in the garage sale pile in our sun porch.  While looking for a full sized bed/headboard for her, I fell in love with the Julian bed from World Market.  It unfortunately did not come in a full size.  The queen size, however, was on super duper clearance with a coupon making it nearly impossible to walk away from.  Yes, I found plans on Ana White to make the same bed in any size we want, but we both shuddered at the thought of planning, building, staining and sealing it ourselves.  (Honestly, if we were able to find the same bedding from Lucky's twin sized bed in a full size, we would have bought the bedding, rotated her headboard horizontally, moved a few pictures and called it good with a metal bed stand.  The prospect of another huge project that we hadn't anticipated was not good.)

In the end, we opted against building Lucky a bed from scratch.  Instead, we bought the queen size Julian bed that I totally loved from World Market for $213 (with a coupon:)) for our guest room, and decided to go a different route in Lucky's room.  So not only did we still not have a bed for Lucky, we also needed to get rid of the old guest bed so we could move the new one in.

Enter Craigslist.  We ended up selling the old bed frame, box spring, side tables, lamps and bench, along with the duvet cover and bed skirt for $500.  In order to break 'even' so to speak, I have a lot of work to do and not a ton of dinero.  We'll see how it goes.  I'd like to add curtains, night stands and lamps.  Bedding would be nice as well:).  A little art work wouldn't hurt either:).  More to come on this subject, once I track down the more that's going to come.

As for now, here's our new guest bed:

And just so you know, I love this bed...but I have no vision for the rest of the space, as of yet.  I think I need to break out my inspiration binder:).  Wish me luck and stay tuned.

P.S.  The other half of the room is looking like this right now. AHHHH!!  I'm remaining calm and calling this a 'summer project' to go with all the others we have planned:).

Getting Guest Ready: Sunburst Style

Back in April, I introduced our basement guest room in this post.  Not much has changed in this space, except for a little furniture rearranging in one corner and one big wall addition.

For a quick refresher, here is our guest room:

This is the view as you walk in the room.

Here is the view of the wall you see while on the bed:

Nothing too special was going on here.  

With the help of Janell's sunburst mirror tutorial (Isabella and Max Rooms), a couple bundles of sticks (one was from my mom when she sold her house last year and one was a Target clearance bundle for under $2), a $2.48 Target clearance mirror, some spray paint and my hot glue gun, here is what I ended up making:

I wish I had more before and during pictures of the project, but if you guessed that I lost them in the great photo card tragedy of 2011, you were right.  So here are some more after shots:

It was really an easy project, but it was a bit time consuming.  I'm not sure the mirror will stay white for long, I'm thinking a nice grey may look nicer in the space against the yellow walls, but for now, it works!

Project Cost

Mirror $2.48

Sticks $1.48

Spray Paint $3.24 (Primer on hand already)

Total Cost: $7.20

General Ideas to Get A Spare Bedroom Guest Ready

And while I was in the guest room yesterday getting the room ready for my parents, I thought it would be nice to do a quick post about what I like to do to make sure guests are comfortable while staying in my home!  Here's the run down:

1. Write a welcome note:

This may seem a little silly, but I love doing it!  I think it sets the tone for a nice visit, and lets people know that you really want them to be comfortable and enjoy their stay!

2. Leave water and a few snacks:).  Our guest room is in the basement, and since we don't have a bar area set up on that level currently, I like leaving a few snacks and some water.

3. Magazines/Books

I know I love reading a bit before bed, and it's easy to forget night time reading material when you travel, so I like to leave a few magazines in our guest room.

4. Lots of Towels

We have towels out on a bench at the end of the bed, in the bathroom and spare towels in the closet as well.

5. Closet

Our guest room closet has two sides.  One side is not camera ready.  It's full to the brim with our suitcases, camping gear, etc.  The other side is all about our guests.  There is hanging space for clothing and a shoe rack.  

There are spare sheets, towels, blankets and pillows.

There are also spare toiletries in a bowl, as well.

6. TV and Computer Access

In this corner of the room, we've moved our sun porch television in for the winter.  An in room TV is always a nice bonus in a guest space.  We also have a computer station for our kids and guests that is set up in our basement.

Other general ideas include having an area for guest suitcase storage (think a dresser top, a bench or a suitcase rack) and also a nice mirror (bigger than my sunburst mirror ideally) so that a guest can get 'ready' in their room if they so choose.

One area of our guest room that I would have really liked to address before our holiday guests arrive is this:

...our curtain is still the make shift shower curtain that we have had up for about a year:(.  The good news is we've decided on and ordered permanent window treatments for the entire basement, including this room.  The bad news is that they won't arrive until later in the week, which means they won't be installed before Wednesday.  Sometimes progress is slower than we'd like...but we'll get it done nonetheless!  

Window treatments aside, here's hoping Oma and Opa enjoy their room for the long weekend!

Linking up to Finding Fabulous.

Linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick.

Expecting Company!!

We're so excited to be having company this weekend.  My good friend, Christy, from my undergrad days at UW-Madison is heading west from Madtown to see us.  I figure since I'm planning to spruce up our new basement guest room a bit for her arrival, I might as well post a few pictures of the room while I'm at it. 

Generally speaking, this is the one room in our house that stays nice most of the time.  It is probably my favorite room in the house right now because it's permanently picked up.  (We keep the door to our guest room closed about 99% of the time.)

Here it is:

This is the view as you enter the room straight ahead. 

This is the wall to the right.

This is your view to the left side of the room.

Close-Ups:

This is your view laying on the bed straight ahead....umm, not so much going on there:
 

I have an idea for a project for this space, and I already have the supplies.  Now, I just need to find the time in the day to get it done!  Soon!

Everything in the room (except the striped comforter cover, grey tray, and yellow throw blanket) was in our guest bedroom at our previous home.  I love the grey, white, black and yellow color scheme in there.  It makes me happy!   Is anyone else loving that color combination right now?

Aside from wall art, other to do's for this room include:

• putting a small desk in the room so I can set up a closed door sewing station when guests aren't in town. 
• I don't love the tall, black book shelf placement in the room, so it may have to find a new home or make it's way to Craigslist.  We'll see. 
• Actual window treatments would be nice too...instead of the extra shower curtain tied with twine that we're currently using. 

As with every room in my house, it's a work in progress. 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!