Guest Room Part Deux

or in other words, how to turn a yucky dated room into a relaxing and luxurious guest room.

Last week I finally revealed the guest room's lovely tranformation. We put so much work, research, blood, sweat and tears into that room. I am so glad that it turned out well, because if it hadn't, well, let's just say it wouldn't have gone well. :-)

Once we had settled on the black and white color scheme we started shopping around for the particulars that would bring this room together. It was a little more difficult than we had foreseen to find pure black and white anything, so we ended up making a lot of it ourselves.

Finding the right wall sconce also proved to be a bit of a challenge. At first we couldn't find anything that worked with our color scheme and was in our price range. But trusty old Lowe's came through for us again, and this little light was only $35.00.

We hit up Craigslist for the headboard, mattress and boxspring. The headboard was originally a creamy country color that wasn't working for the room. We loved the curvy lines though, so we fixed it up with a dozen few cans of spray paint. The lines of the bed go perfectly with these dollar store mirrors in the cubby above the desk.

We found the sheets at the bargain outlet (they're white with three embroidered black stripes) and the bed linens, rug and towels at Walmart.

I put my craftiness and sewing skills to the test making curtains, a bedskirt, the decorative throw pillow, the window seat cushion and the damask stencil on the wall.

For the curtains I chose a honeycomb smocking pattern (tutorial here) to do in black on white muslin. Although I love the final effect, it was very complicated and took a really, really, really long time.

The bedskirt was very easy. I took an old sheet, sewed it to some black broadcloth and then ironed on white grosgrain ribbon with hemming tape. It took maybe a couple of hours and the effect is so elegant, I love it.

The blue satin throw pillow was also very easy. I used a pattern, and the whole thing took maybe two hours to complete. The hardest part was working with the slippery fabric.

The window seat cushion is made out of a cotton quilting fabric, some piping and the fiberfill. Again, very easy, and it looks great. The last DIY project in this room was the stenciled damask design on the wall by the closet. A word to the wise, do NOT choose an uber complicated stencil when you plan on covering a wall with the design. What you see on the wall took me approximately ten hours to complete. :-(

I found the little votive holder on the shelf at a garage sale, and the lamp at the Christmas Tree Shop (it was a brown lamp clearanced out to 0.97 so I sprayed it black and added an inexpensive white shade) I also found the black frames above the bed there and the prints are some of my own black and white shots. The nightstand was a free handmedown.

I found the blue glass vase at the dollar store, and the metallic blue frame at Goodwill. The print was super simple to make in Photoshop, and I love the little saying : The ornaments of your home will be the guests who frequent it. The "guest book" photo album is from Hobby Lobby. It was marked down incorrectly, so I scored it for only $3.50

Overall this was a fairly inexpensive project with the breakdown as follows:

• Various gallons of white paint $50.00
• Headboard from Craiglist $40.00
• Queen mattress and boxspring from Craigslist $80.00
• Spray paint for drawers, lamp, and headboard $20.00
• Pulls and knobs for drawers $12.00
• Supplies for bedskirt $20.00
• Supplies for curtains $30.00
• Supplies for window seat cushion $10.00
• Stencil and paint for wall design $15.00
• Rug $45
• Bedspread $65.00
• Sheets $30.00
• Supplies for pillow $5.00 (We had the insert, which made it much cheaper)
• Towels $25
• Wall light $35
• Lamp for nightstand $1.00 plus shade $5.00
• Various white and black decorations $20.00
• Frames and prints for wall $25.00
• Trashcan $1.00
• Sconces and candles $2.00 (We already had the sconces, so we only needed new candles.)
• "Guest book" photo album $3.50
• Pillows for bed $20.00
• Baseboards $20.00
• Curtain Rods $7.00 and Drapery Clips $7.50

Grand Total: $593.00

Considering that this total includes renovation and decoration costs, I think we did a great job.

Total man hours: if I had to guess, I'd put it at around 100 hours of work. Not for the faint of heart I tell ya! So what do you think? Was it worth it?