Here's "Take 2" of my bedroom redo posts. In my last post I chronicled the paint choice, linens, and a few pieces of furniture that we bought to furnish the "new" room. Like I said before, please ignore the poor quality of photos in this post. It's difficult to take good pictures in a basement -- just not enough natural light to make them look wonderful...Much of what I enjoy when I redo a room is collecting a few "finishing touches" for the new look. I try to repurpose as much as I can from the old room or collect items from around the house that will add to the new room. Sometimes a shopping trip is in order to find a few new gems for the room. Luckily with this room all the finishing touches were easily gathered. It's great when a room "falls into place" like that. You'll find that most of my "finishing touches" have a specific purpose. I only have a few things in the room that are nic-nac-ish.
I don't think I need to tell you that I'm not an expert when it comes to decorating. My philosophy for decorating is very simple and uneducated. I just like to be surrounded by colors and "things
" that make me happy. No matter how good an item would look in a room, I've gotta love it in order to buy it. I don't really care about matching styles, etc. I just surround myself with things that make me feel good. If you do that, it will be the look you love.I've already told you about my successful shopping trip to Marshall's for the bed linen, but what I didn't mention was on that same shopping trip, I was able to pick up three more items that I used in the room as accents. The first was a wall plaque with a set of three hooks. It's great for visitors to have a convenient place to store a purse, coat, or robe, so I snatched this up very quickly. Love the sleek black finish on this...
In addition Marshall's had this cute laundry basket with a liner in just the right aqua color that I placed under the hooks...
Finally, I picked up this metal wall calendar. Loved the color, once again, and the distressed, travel-like feel of it.
As I said before my intention for a guest room is to keep it fairly simple. I like a few homey touches, but I prefer not to have too much on the walls and just a few items on surfaces. I already had much of what I needed, but I went shopping for just a couple of little items to add a special touch.Our local newspaper had advertised a new home decorating store that opened recently, so I went to check it out. The store is called "Real Deals." This store is only open two days a week (to keep costs down) and let me tell you, it lives up to its name! Seriously, some really cute items for incredible prices. They have franchise stores all over the U.S. Here's what I found...
A blue bird of happiness, $3. I named her Gabby...
A distressed flower pot serves as a little bowl for midnight snacks, $3...
A "natural" nest with aqua eggs, $3, and a distressed Parisian clock, $9, love them...
And, finally, a black wire basket from Target (to cover up a stain on the carpet) filled with a few magazines and books...
The bedrooms in our basement are nice and roomy -- about 13' x 13' -- so there was plenty of space to add an oak desk in a corner of the room. This desk used to reside in a bedroom upstairs. I am still looking for a big splash of color for the desk. Right now it's pretty dreary, but I haven't found just the right thing...
I repurposed two objects for the desk. The first was the desk lamp that originally was stained an oak color and had a green shade. I sanded it down a little, spray painted it black, and popped a new shade on top. The second was the mirror. This used to be a stained oak frame that housed a fine art print. I roughed it up a bit and spray painted it black. Then I took the frame to a glass shop in town. They cut a piece of 1/8" thick mirror and mounted it in the frame. For $18 I have a large framed mirror. A bargain. I like having a mirror in each bedroom so guests have the option of getting ready in their bedrooms, which frees up the baths. That's actually a necessity when we have all 19 kids and grandkids staying with us!
Next -- the final post. "The before and after shots!"
