As part of my house decoration project, I’m blogging about each room that I need to work on. I’ve shown my kids’ room here, and today I’m sharing my Guest Room/Study:
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Now that all the permanent elements are in place, I can work on adding soft furnishings. The main goals for this room are:
-design a cushion for the window seat and add some pretty pillows (the window seat is one of my favourite places in the house – who doesn’t love a reading nook?)
-find a picture to hang above the bed
-add a cushion to my chair
-organize the walk-in closet so that my extra make-up/toiletries/spare clothes are easily accessible (the white door in the second picture leads to the walk-in closet, it’s not the main door to the room)
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| Hemnes add-on unit |
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| Hemnes Secretary |
The white armoire in the corner is my desk – we bought it this weekend and I adore it. I love that I can close it all up so that it doesn’t look like a home office. It also fits the shabby chic/cottage decor theme of the room…I think Ikea read my mind and designed the perfect piece of furniture for me 🙂
The upper cabinet holds my printer and folders, the fold-down secretary desk is where I keep my laptop, and my filing box (with all our statements/bills) is in the bottom cabinet.
The paint color we used for the room was Clear Skies by Benjamin Moore. I had first painted it Antiguan Sky.
However, on my walls, Antiguan Sky was a NEON blue – it looked fine in most photos, but in person it was horrible. I tried to capture the actual color of the wall (it appears a bit darker but you can see the brightness of the color):
I have no idea why it turned out this way – the painter used the right color and did 3 coats….but it was so depressing. There was no way I could live with it, so I went back to the paint store, bought some sample pots and painted swatches on the wall until I found the color I wanted, and then had the whole room repainted.
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| The paint swatches on the Benjamin Moore website – quite misleading… |
So that’s my current decor status- I’ll do an updated post when I’ve finished this room, but in the meanwhile, I’ll do some more posts about the other rooms I’m working on (Master Bedroom, TV Area and Entrance Room)
Wow, by the time you're done with your guest room your guests will never want to leave- haha. I really like that Antiguan sky color you picked, and it's a shame that it didn't translate to your wall the way that you thought it would. I wonder why it was so dark? I can't wait to see the final reveal!
Love those inspiration pics! This room will so cozy and inviting. I've always wanted a room with a window seat–what a dream!
OMG I LOVE the bay window! It's such a great idea to add a cushion–I didn't realize there was a seat until I read you were making a pillow for it.If I were doing it myself I think the only change for me you haven't mentioned would be to transform the current headboard into a tufted one.Great start!La_Professionnelle
MMC – Thanks 🙂 It really was strange to have the paint color turn out so wrong – it made me worry about all my other paint choices (but luckily those turned out ok).Andi – I've been curling up in the window seat ever since we bought the house 🙂 As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be "Mommy's special room" LOL!La Professionnelle – Thanks! It's funny you mentioned the headboard – I REALLY need to transform my master bedroom headboard into a covered one – and I don't know where to start! We're thinking about getting some sort of padded slipcover thing, to give the illusion of a tufted headboard – any tips would be appreciated 🙂
When can I move in? LOL! It really looks so warm and inviting. I'm so glad to have my little notepad. I've been having issues with trying to comment on your blog for about the last month. The kid's room looks so cute too. Your color choices are so nice. Good lucka nd can't wait to see the rest.
Beautiful! I love the little bay window as well – you really did such a fantastic job on the room!
Lindy – you have to come visit me now that I have a proper guest room 🙂 I've had issues commenting on some blogs too – I thought it was a firefox/google issue.Katherine – thanks so much! I can't wait to get a comfy cushion for the bay window area 🙂
wow, can't believe the color turned out so differently!looking forward to seeing updates! i don't have an eye for design, so it's always fun to see the progress of someone who does!
Love these pastel colours in photos:)
Elizabeth – thanks! I watched your TV interview, and your house was so lovely!Supergirl – the colours are very soothing, aren't they?
LOVE the armoire!! love your blog xoxohttp://makeupmajesty.blogspot.com/
MM – Thanks 🙂 Just checking out your blog – it's super cute, love your Harajuku MU case.
I love the Hemnes home office. Goodness, I was searching high and low for one and never knew this existed at Ikea. So I guess you have to purchase the add on and secretary and then nail them together?
CC&C – I was so happy to find it ikea too – I thought they'd just have "student-y" desks. Yes, you have to purchase them seperately – and if you're using them together, there is a way of assembling them so they fit together (must admit, hubby is the ikea-assembler in our house, so I didn't pay much attention LOL!)
I know this is from years ago, but I love the bureau and am looking at getting one – could you tell me if you can fit A4 ring binder folders on both shelves in the bottom cupboard? I’m wanting it for my music room to keep all my sheet music in. Wouldn’t be looking at getting the top part.