the big reveal

For those of you that have been reading for a while you now get to see the big reveal of my guest room redo.  If you're new to vintage cottage I started redoing this room over the fourth of July weekend.  Look at the decorating sections of the blog for additional pictures and projects.  I wanted a to redo the room to be lighter, brighter and less cluttered.  It still needed to function as a guest room and keep all the storage.  The room is hard to work around.  There are 6 doors and 2 windows, it is off the main bathroom, goes into the kitchen and the office is through another door.  The storage pieces are huge and the bed is queen size.

The first thing I did was strip the wall paper on the one wall, repaper and paint all the trim and the other 3 walls.  The first picture is the wall paper before, pretty but I was over it.  The cabinet is an antique that used to belong to a dear friend   It is known as a knock down cabinet.  It collapses into pieces that end up as a pile about 8" high.  It would have fit in the floor boards of a covered wagon and  is solid walnut..

The next pic is the small dresser I painted (check previous post).  This hold most of my grand kids toys, books and puzzles.  The front cover is burlap and slides on a small rod.  You can see the wall paper I've used it's really a dark aqua.








My ever present helpers, Harley and Callie.  Anything I
 did in the room they were there to supervise.

The walls look bright green, but are really a soft aqua.  It was early in the morning and the room faces east.  The cabinet is filled with dishes.  The basket is filled with quilts.  The shelves next to the cabinet hold my decorative vases, candle sticks etc.  This was originally a door that went outside.  It was closed in and we finished it out and put in the shelves.

A better look at the shelves.  I've done a little tweaking since this was taken.  The shelves are narrow but they do hold a lot of stuff.  Since I am the self proclaimed Queen of Stuff, I need all they storage I can get.

 The window treatments are lace panels and a butterfly pickup valance.  Instructions are on this blog.  It's a simple rectangle with hems at both ends held up by a tassel in the center.

The next picture shows my oak china cabinet that holds most of my good dishes.  It's turn of the century and I love the way it looks.

 

 A closer look at the quilt shelf and some of my collection of pitchers.  My mother made the quilt and didn't like the colors.  I think they go great in here.

 

Harley on the finished bed.  He thinks it's his special space especially when the sunlight is streaming in.
 A close up of the bed.  It is on bed risers for added storage.  I tucked lace panels under the box springs so the skirt would look long enough.  I added a white bed skirt, a white bed spread that looks like lace pieces sewn onto it.  I made 2 24" European shams in plaid to match the valances, 2 ivory shams and pillows in antique his and her pillow cases.  I then added a burlap roll and a small rectangle from the plaid of the shams.  The blue at the bottom is an antique bedspread I've had for years.

These matching pieces were the inspiration for the color scheme in this room. They were a RS find for $4.00.  They are lamp bases but as soon as I can I'm going to turn them into plant stands.  I'll paint a pizza pan to look like copper and attach it to the top.  This is the room I keep most of my house plants in in the winter.

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This is the wall above the bed. I filled it with an antique mirror, shelves and an interesting carved sconce that I grunge painted.