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| Before : Guest Bedroom |
As I’ve mentioned, we have several house guests coming to visit over the Summer – the perfect excuse to refresh our guest bedroom. As guests rooms seem to do, ours had filled itself with the ‘extra’ stuff that we didn’t have a place for anywhere else it the house. I had put some old bedding on the bed, without much consideration how it would go with the wall color, and the furniture consisted of a black desk and chair, and an old table that used to fit in our living room. I felt like the room was too dark and heavy. I wanted the room to feel like the room from our hotel in East Hampton – light and fresh.
I painted almost everything in the room white, except for the black iron bed and drapery rods. I think that too much white can seem blah. The black contrasts with the white and actually makes the room feel brighter. For bedding, I like to keep the palate bright and white. Two large down euro pills, two standard pillows and one accent blue pillow with a hemp trim. I always use all white sheets and pillow cases (and towels!). Colored linens just don’t feel as fresh to me. I dress the bed with a lightweight duvet in a white cover, then I put a heavier down comforter folded at the foot of the bed in case they get cold.
I painted this once black desk a fresh creamy white. I thought I was over my all white furniture phase from the shabby chic trends of 2000, but it was the only thing to do on a shoe-string budget to makeover the room and make it feel fresh.
The room completely changed when I added the white upholstered chair from our old dining room. It filled it and made it feel cozy almost instantly.
I got out my light grey/almond spray paint and gave this once black painted chair a new look and a stack of fresh towels.
The bedside table (also painted a creamy white) has a photo of Peaches, a handmade bowl we received for a wedding gift from Mike’s parents, a framed sketch of Seaside where we got married, my gold engraved confirmation Bible and some hydrangeas from our yard. You might recognize the lamp – it was once brass in our old bedroom. I used the same paint as the chair – they sit in opposite corners of the room… talk about balance!