Mom's Guest Room Makeover

Yup, she beat me to the first do-over which was just a little over a month after we moved in!  I may have gently nudged her into the makeover, but only because some unfortunate hurried decor decisions really prevented the room from living up to its potential.  Also, as bright as most of the rooms are in their house, this particular room doesn't get great light because it sits in the shade of a giant oak tree.  Relating to the light, everything in the room was seeming to take on a sickly green tone, maybe from the leaves of the oak tree and definitely from the window treatments!  Here's the before:

That's the only photo we have of it because before it simply wasn't worth the space on the camera's SD card.  :)

So this room functions as an office space primarily, but the bulk of the space is used by a nice plush bed just begging for guests to come and visit.  The walls are a light tan/khaki - same as the rest of the house.  They bought an upholstered headboard in a fabric I believe was called either gray or platinum.  And if you could see the headboard outside of that room, it is kind of a neutral gray.  However, in their room it was very dark and greenish.  You can't even tell from this photo because of the lighting, but that quilt on the bed is a lime green color!!! After searching high and low for window treatments to inspire, she ended up with these semi-sheer seafoam green panels, which is so odd because she hates green, and the entire room was now green.  Except for the cute little desk they picked out, which was brick red.  Yes, a room full of varying degrees of ugly green and then a red desk.  Sorry mom, but you know I speak the truth!

In an effort to just finish the room, she hurriedly ordered a bedspread online, and though it took her a while to admit it, it was AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!  You know those really pretty quilted spreads you might find at HomeGoods in a soft french country yellow and blue floral?  This was its super ugly stepsister.  It was like a 70s yellow and olive green catastrophe, ironically with a really fresh pale blue and white stripe on its reverse.  What a shame.  So we attempted to salvage that purchase by playing with shams, reversing the spread to the stripe side, but that heinous floral just wouldn't go away.  Here is the bedding gone wrong.  No offense intended if you love it!!  I promise it's even worse in person.

So when mother's day rolled around and Brent and the kids and I gifted her with a full makeover to beat this room into submission. And mom was excited, but utterly confused as to what direction to go.  We thought about trying to find a different print for the bed that would tie in both the red of the desk and the green of the curtains - maybe a pottery barn paisley?

Like this?

or this?

and either of those could have worked, but I don't think it's what she was imagining for this room, and I hated the green curtains so I was looking for a good excuse to replace them.  So we went shopping and she gravitated towards all different things like soft spa-toned florals, crisp navy, and always the classic, solid white.  Afraid the spa-colors would take on too much green, we decided on a solid white cover with patterned shams and accessories so she can change on a whim, or even with the seasons!  I love the shams - a modern navy and white print, and we accessorized with a bright red pillow we already had.  

But you can't have pretty, updated bedding with an ugly fabric on the headboard!!  That statement isn't fair.  It wasn't the fabric's fault - it was the lighting!  So we gave the headboard a makeover too.  It had really nice nailhead trim, but was just a basic covered rectangle.  We removed the nailheads with the intention of putting them back on, but ended up deep diamond tufting the headboard instead!  We used a heavy navy blue duck canvas and what a transformation!  I wish I had full on before/after photos.

Since the window is not huge and the lighting is poor, we decided on just a valance above the white semi-sheer panels, and mom made the valance (twice!).  A subtle miscommunication led to a valance that looked more like a belt than a skirt.  :)  Take two came out perfect though!

The final touch (we thought) was a little accent table from my old guest room that I refinished in a color called "sundried tomato."  She moved the dresser out of this room and into her room and put the little table on that wall in front of the window.  But then, she got a new reading chair for her bedroom for her birthday which left the previous accent chair homeless.  This accent chair was part of my very first room makeover for her back home.  Do you know that story?  I'll tell you after the reveal of this room.  Anyway, it's a sweet little carved cane back chair that was painted Restoration Hardware silver sage and the seat was covered in a fresh mint paisley fabric.  So we decided to refinish that chair and give it a new life in the guest room and that really finished it off.  It got some white chalk paint and ebony stain to bring out the detail in the carvings.  Then we recovered the seat in a bright red and white chevron fabric.  Yes, it's a trendy looking chair, but it'll be refinished again before it looks dated.  :)

So here is the room all spiffed up.  Fresh and cheery!!  Much better right??  Amazing how the walls and everything don't look green since we took down the green curtains!

I should have turned the lamp off - it's giving the walls a yellow tone.  Oh well.  The first couple of pictures have very accurate wall color.  and tsk tsk mother, you really must manage those cables under the desk better!

As promised, here's the sidebar on mom's original bedroom makeover way back when... Mom and dad had just remodeled their entire house in 2009 and she made several attempts to re-do her bedroom and she finally gave up when none of the stuff she was buying seemed to work.  So they went on vacation and Brent and I completely, and I mean COMPLETELY redid the room.  We moved an electrical electrical to wall-mount her tv and run the cables behind the wall.  We repainted.  We hung a giant mirror, artwork, replaced the bedding with lots of luxurious layers and pillows, hung new window treatments, and accessorized to high heavens.  Most of the accessories were projects themselves like painting and recovering an accent chair, painting lamps, etc.  I had spent weeks preparing before she left, and she had no idea so it was like that old "While you were out" tv show except she didn't have cameras following her around all week on vacation.  :)  We worked all weekend as soon as they left, and then every night after work to get it done before they got back.

Forgive the photo quality - this was before we had kids and before we invested in a good digital SLR camera!!  The pictures don't do the "after" photos justice.  Sadly the before pictures are right on.  :)

BEFORE:

OK, here's a very important decorating tip!  You may find paint you love in somebody else's house with different lighting conditions, and it doesn't mean it will look the same in your room or your house!  She loved my "formal" living room color and went and bought the same paint for her room and it looked NOTHING like it because my room was on the front of the house, and we had 4 giant windows open to the foyer with sidelights, a second story window, plus the windows in the dining room.  She had two small windows on the back of the house.  In our living room it was a very soft muted lilac with lots of gray tones.  In her room it was a deep, fully saturated purple!  Please bring swatches into your room and see if you like them before you go buy a gallon or two of paint!!!!! 

My "purple" living room is in the background of this photo.  The dining room wall color was called "Flax" from Restoration Hardware.  It was a soft milk chocolate color.

And here's the "after!"  I chose a color about 6 shades lighter and just slightly more blue than red undertones. Basically everything you see except the nightstand, dresser, chest and tv were all new.

I was running out of time and was supposed to pick them up at the airport when they got back, and I sent Brent instead.  Mom was a bit irritated that I didn't show up to greet them, but little did she know I was doing touchup paint on the chair and getting the last staples into the seat cover!  I turned on all the lights and she noticed from down the hall and panicked that she had left the lights on all week.  It was so hard to play it cool and wait for her to wander down the hall to see it.  :)  Good times!!  She's still using most of these elements in her new bedroom, and you should recognize the little cane back chair in the corner.

So I hope this was a fun post - I'd been promising an update on her room for a while now.  My cousin's dresser for her nursery is refinished and on its way to Massachusetts via Fedex.  I think it's PHABULOUS!!!  Fingers crossed that it arrives in good condition.  It took about as long to pack it as it did to paint it.  Literally, we used 3 blankets, 150 feet of cellophane furniture wrap, 100 feet of bubble wrap, 3 re-purposed boxes, and 3 rolls of heavy duty packing tape! :)  Now that it's shipped out, I'm on to my office makeover!!  It's killing me because my new window treatments, rug, and fabric for the chairs are just sitting in the foyer waiting for my attention.  The doors are off the gold beast armoire waiting for its new look.  It'll be a while, but I'll try to take good in-progress photos this time.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, my little doodle is having minor surgery tomorrow.  I say minor, but it feels major on my heart, and she will be under general anesthesia.  Please keep her so obnoxiously in your prayers that God can't possibly ignore us.  :)