Hello, friend! This is the day! In our English cottage style guest bedroom remodel series we have finally reached the end! Today we will actually set up the room. Once the furniture is moved in we will hang curtains, style the bed, the chest of drawers, the nightstand, and everything in between. There is a special surprise you've yet to see that I'll share at the end. It's one of those special touches that leaves your guest with that warm, cozy feeling that they were a treasure to host and very welcome to return again soon. Let's get started!
Here is the before! This is where we started after buying the house and setting up our first guest bedroom.
This is our first house and our budget is smaller... I picked up the headboard off the roadside, and the lamps and artwork were given to us. The room is a good size with a nicely sized window and a small closet.
Even here, I was tinkering with a gallery arrangement with the art I had at the time.
The room is dark and feels dated with the heavy orange-ish paneling. I knew paint was in order, and I really wanted to give wallpaper a try! So we'll choose wallpaper first, then pull the paint colors from there.
I discovered this charming, worn-looking wallpaper on Etsy (the link is in the description box in the video). From here, I pulled the colors, both by Sherwin-Williams. Ivory Lace 7013, and the mushroom brown Universal Khaki 6150. I had no idea at the time we were remodeling this room that these two colors would become the basis for creating our unique home color palette!
Even before finding the color palette, I knew the style was English country cottage. Knowing these two things informed my shopping, and I began picking up furniture, textiles, accent lighting, and art.
Here is the first "haul"! This lovely antique headboard was found in a junk shop for less than $5!
Here is the second "haul", including furniture, curtains, and more pillows. Imagine how thrilled I was to discover this shell-backed, tufted, cozy little apricot reading chair at the thrift shop for $25! It was just the right size & so cute!
One day, just down the street, our neighbor was having a yard sale, and I picked up this side table for $5. This would be a simple DIY project! a coat of paint and new hardware to pull this little table from farmhouse to cottage vibes.
For the warm, ambient lighting we so love, I picked up a couple of lamps. The brass lamp turned out to be a vintage French Bouillotte lamp and was worth much more than the $7 I paid! The vintage-looking peach lamp had nice lines, and I felt it would go well on the side table next to the bed.
Over the summer, we took an anniversary trip and (of course) went thrifting, flea marketing, and antiquing. This green hand-knotting wool rug from India was the score of the trip ~ it will add such wonderful texture and pattern to the room!
Now, I've been collecting art for a gallery wall in this room as well as for other areas in the house for over a year. Here is the collection I felt would best complement the feel and color palette of the room. This may be the part I'm most excited about!
Everybody loves a good "before" & "after"! Paint and wallpaper make such a tremendous difference ~ this doesn't even look like the same room!
Now it's time to move in the furniture, hang the gallery wall, the curtains, and sprinkle in the cottage style home décor! Once the chest of drawers and settee were in place, the exact area for the art could be measured. My goal for this collection was to fill the space while dropping the art below the level of the chest of drawers, as well as wrapping the art around the adjacent wall.
Now that the main part of the gallery is up, we need to hang the curtains to see just how much space we have for the art on that wall. Now, the pieces for this side were difficult to find since they had to be a certain size...
Just two weeks before we finished the remodel, this lovely original watercolor popped up at the thrift shop for $5 and has moved up near the top of the list as a favorite piece! It was painted by a lady named Vera Scrivener in 1940 and has wonderful wavy glass.
Now to balance the wall on the other side of the curtains...
All done! Now let's look around our finished country cottage guest bedroom...
To create a sense of privacy and welcome for our guests, we have put some extra touches into the closet area.
With some of the remaining wallpaper, we covered one side of the closet. I painted the inside of the closet door to match the mushroom brown behind the gallery wall. To further tie the closet to the room, I "gilded" the frame of the full-length mirror with an antique gold-tinted wax called Rub 'n Buff. I'm thrilled with how this turned out!
To provide a further sense of welcome for our guests, storage and extra hangers are provided to encourage guests to make themselves at home. Some guests tend towards being cold-natured, so an extra blanket is included ad on the bed, and both firm and soft pillows are available.
Thank you so very much for coming along with me in this bedroom remodel series! I have enjoyed every moment in sharing this journey with you. I hope more than anything you were inspired to consider cultivating the art of homemaking in your home and in your spaces!
Warmly,
Rachel
