Be Our Guest

The guest room. Ugh.

Up until now, this room has served several purposes, and none of them well, causing a severe identity crisis:
bedroom/bathroom for guests to use during their stay
home office for both Jon and myself
storage room for everything that hasn't found a "place" in the house (AKA the junk room)

We have been focusing on a word in our house recently: simplify.

This word is being applied in several areas of our life, but in this case, we applied it to our "stuff" being held captive in our guest room.

We have been cleaning out the guest room- throwing away papers, organizing important items, and even selling things that are nice, but we simply just don't need.

Man, it feels good to clean out and simplify!!

In the midst of this simplification process, I decided it was a perfect time to "redo" the guest room. After all, our families both live out of state, and they will need a place to stay upon visiting us.
(Remember I said I sold items online? Well that cash was just burning a hole in my pocket. I was in search for some killer deals!)

These are before pics of our "guest (miscellaneous) room":

This redo involved my first try with Annie Sloan chalkpaint! Although I didn't opt for the dark stain/antique look, I still loved working with this paint. There was no prep required before use! It gave such a fresh look to pieces our families have had for nearly twenty years! 

Reclaimed furniture = my favorite.

The best part of the redo- most things used in the room were items we already had in other areas of the house! We just recycled them for a different use. 

The only items purchased were: one new lamp (TJMaxx), one new curtain panel (Target clearance), and Annie Sloan chalk paint/wax.

So... what do you think?!

Working on a next-to-nothing budget, I am beyond pleased with how the room turned it.

It really is a calm, peaceful, inviting space now.

Family, come be our guests!