Guest Room/Guest Time

You know it’s funny...as I began this post and had to determine the category it fell within, it occurred to me that maybe I need to add a brief “design” or “decor” sub-header, until we’re finally good and settled from this renovation. Because heaven knows I’ve posted a ton about the process, and “random” just doesn’t seem to cut it!

But I’ll noodle on that later.

For now, let’s talk about guests.

And how we just had one (hi, Nanna).

And how we’re about to have more (hi, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and great aunts).

We’ve always been so fortunate to have grandparents on both sides who are game for regular visits, so we’ve pretty much had a constant rotation of somebody around for a few days, every 6-8 weeks, since Chica was born—which I love.

It means so much to me that the kiddos see their grandparents with such frequency, and, let’s face it: nearly seven years into our parenting lives, the hubby and I have yet to hire a single babysitter. So it’s grandparents or nothing, to get a date night!

Of course, we’ve gone and complicated things by moving a non-reasonably-drivable distance away from family. Boooooooo. 

I mean, yeah, sure, you can drive it if you want, but not with ease, and not with speed, so it’s just not feasible for a quick weekend—and really un-fun for my family of five.

So we’re going to have to keep an eye on fares for flights, and keep doing our best to con/guilt/beg/shmooz family into coming to see us down here in South Texas.

Now...all of the above said: it was very important to us during our house hunt to find something with a designated guest room. Better still—we needed it to have a bathroom, as well. Luckily, we found what we needed, with only some minor work to make it exactly right.

Here it is, before and after (minus curtains and some wall decor that hasn’t gone up):

Hardwood instead of carpet, and my trusty Light French Grey paint. Some plantation shutters to finish it off, and the foundation was set.

Of course, I just had to play a little with some color, after a few weeks of general angst, trying to decide how to tie it all in. We’ve got a tricky combo of teal, upholstered bed, but parchment-colored dresser/nightstand now, and it was causing me mental pain trying to make it jive, ha.

Luckily, when I decided to steal the grey duvet that used to live in the guest bedroom and utilize it in our master for the time being, it freed me up for new, slightly obnoxious bedding in here. And when I came upon this wild (literally) pattern one day, I snort-laughed in the store, just imaging all my beloved family and dear friends who would have to sleep in the jungle, hehe.

Naturally, my kiddos about died when they saw it—especially the orange, cheetah pillow shams. Hehe. And suddenly, with one stroke of comforter luck, I was able to tie it all together in a way that gave me a chuckle.



Unfortunately, the safar has continued beyond the guest room with some super-fun, kitschy, inexpensive serving platters and plates. Again...the kiddos exploded with happiness.



When the curtains go up in the guest room, they’ll be a fun peach/tangerine with some fringe accents. Super subtle. ;) And eventually, I’ll be able to find the appropriate spot for these awesome animal frames (four, in total) that I snagged.

I’ll share more about the bathroom overhaul that was required at a later date (it needs some art flair in there, as well).

Basically, the guest bathroom was only accessible via the hallway, instead of through the bedroom, to make it a true en suite.

So we rectified that.

Closed up the hallway entrance, and knocked out a section of the bedroom closet to make a passageway into the bathroom. Not too complicated, all things considered.

And it’s mostly complete—save for the missing moulding that needs to be installed around the new closet and bathroom door frames that were created with the reconfiguration. And some door paint, natch.

All in all...it’s close to fully functional, and we’re so glad we chose to tackle the reconfiguration.

In other fun news...today, the wall paper installation began. In our previous home, we had a gorgeous, metallic grasscloth on the walls in the piano room. But this time, we’re switching it up and going for a gold mica. Soooo gorgeous and glimmering.

I truly think this is one of the rooms that will undergo the greatest transformation from beginning to end, as it was originally used as a study—complete with ginormous built-ins, floral carpet, and lots of tans and taupe that just didn’t do the beautiful beamed ceiling justice, in my opinion. It really cluttered up a beautiful room right at the entrance of the home—though that’s certainly only my own biased opinion.

Knowing we would utilize it as a formal living room, the built-ins got the heave-ho looooong ago—during the second week of demo, way back in January—to make room for our piano (that survived the move, Halleluiah!) We added a chair rail and some crisp, white paint (and lighting fixture, of course), and already, it started to take on a whole new vibe.

But the mudding prep for the wallpaper was done today, and it made me ridiculously giddy to see the finished product, come Friday, when the work is done.

It’s been a joy to take more pleasure than pain out of some of the projects we’re tackling at the moment. There’s still a decent bit of unfinished business from the criminal contractors, but these things are just fun bits of flair that have no negative associations. And for that, I’m happy, happy, joy, joy grateful!

More mañana.

Over and out.