From a Mess to a Guest

The "year of the merge" continues with the merging of two households, two families and two houses.  This summer we elected to concentrate on letting everyone just adjust to our new shared environment.  I'm pleased to report it went well.  We redecorated the twin's rooms (will show in later post/s) and decided to re-do the last room, after son G left for Grad School in Boston.  So, off he flies to start his next chapter in his life and my thoughts are - well, I really need to tackle that room before he returns for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Fast track to November with Thanksgiving and his arrival scheduled for next week.  Yikes!

Let me show you what I started with:

 

Sort of looks like a scene out of Hoarders!

 

But in fairness to a guy who keeps everything else in his world extremely neat,

I think it was his last hurrah at "let's have a mess".  Somehow he just crawled over everything and drove his father completely insane.....until I came up with a simple solution.

My suggestion - "Close the door until he leaves" :)  Worked like a charm!

 

I decide to turn this room into a guest room, that can function for anyone overnighting.....including him.   IF he can stand to walk into a room that has dramatically changed and keep it relatively clean, I think we are good to go.

 

Here's the revised version:

 

 

 

 I had all the built-ins removed, the Murphy Bed taken to the beach place

and now we have a nice comfortable bed for all to enjoy. 

 

 

 

While the room is not 100% done, I thought I had better take some pics before Son G gets home. 

It might not look quite this clean after his arrival :)

No, seriously - can't wait for him to get here and Thanksgiving fun, food and family time to begin.



Finally, something to share - The Guest Room

I am always so inspired by the blogs I read and the amount of work and DIY projects that can be "done on a dime"....because that's typically about all I have to spend. So, knowing that I will soon be having an overflow of tween girls here for 2 months of the summer, I set my next goal as getting the guest room ready to look a bit more cheerful and a bit more like something tween girls might enjoy. 

Might as well start with the before shot of the room that was drab and dreary.  Sorry it's such a bad shot, but it's the only one I have.

It's a small room, but has 2 windows and good hardwood floors.  First step, get rid of the weird green color and change it to a color match of Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage and paint out the trim in white, so that it looks fresh and crisp. Had the paint, so no money spent. Next up, a trip to IKEA for some new duvet covers to add a bit more color to the room.  Found something I thought looked "tweeny" for a great price - $24.99 each.  Now I pull in some twin beds that I have had forever and have a friend help me cut some new  secure bed slats.  Next up some accessories, with the smallest of budgets.  I had an old pine dresser that could work in the room and after I put it between the beds, I decided I needed 2 small scale lamps.  So, in a discard pile from a garage sale (as in free), I find 2 of these:

and after some

$9 lampshades at

IKEA, they now look

a bit more hip and

take up less room

on the dresser.  So,

I end up with 2 of

these for a total

$18!  Now that's

a deal that makes 

me very happy 

Off to TJ's for some funky pillows @ 12.99 each, adding a touch of texture and fun:

Beds up and made....hurray, it's now starting to look like a room.  Still need curtains and something on the walls - but figure the kids won't notice if I don't get that finished right away....their eyes will be glued to the small flatscreen on the door wall.  The best part of the story is that this room came in at about $100.  Fortunately I had the beds and mattresses and the pine dresser, so the costs were: Duvets $50, lampshades $18 and pillows $26.