Welcome to our new blog! I am thrilled to share our projects with you in an extended format. Here you will find answers to many of your questions about my home, links to products (both those we sell and some we don't), interior styling how-to's, our favorite finds, as well as interior designer spotlights. We're kicking it off by sharing our guest room makeover!
Our Guest Room Glow Up
A Quick and Easy Guest Room Glow Up
How to revamp your space without driving yourself insane (and spending a fortune)
I am going to tell you how I took this space from playroom turned furniture graveyard to a guest sanctuary in just 4 days.
Do you have a room in your house that just pains you? A room that literally doesn't fit with any other space in your house and you don't quite know what to do with it? That was my guest room.
When we first moved into our house, this space was actually our playroom. And when I say playroom, it was really just a place where my kids made a giant mess and a place where I could contain their toys .
Fast forward to when I started business and needed to convert our downstairs guest room into my office. This left our beautiful Balboa Bed by Serena and Lily without a home. Naturally, I couldn't get rid of it so I moved it into the playroom. In one day, my two kids lost half of their play space and I unintentionally created a furniture graveyard. Has this ever happened to you?
When one of my best friends planned a visit from out of state, I used her upcoming stay as motivation to create a space I'd be proud to share with her. This space took me 4 days to put together. 4 days! That's it! Let's talk about how I did it.
I started with paint. Okay, maybe that's not mind blowing but hear me out. People tell me all the time, "but I don't know where to start!" Well, we tend to overthink design.
Start with one thing and work your way from there. If you try to start with everything, you’re likely never going to start. Am I right?
So I started with paint. You can start with a rug you like, or a piece of furniture you love. Pick one thing to start with and add pieces that go with it. It's that easy!
Painting a room gives you the biggest bang for your buck, as the room will naturally feel transformed with minimal effort (well, besides the whole painting it part). I promise you it can be this simple.
By starting with this green paint color (Lichen by Farrow & Ball) and knowing I already had the Serena and Lily bed, I really just needed to find a few pieces of furniture to work well with the natural color palette I had going.
Design Tip: I highly recommend a washable finish for paint.
I chose Farrow & Ball's Modern Emulsion finish, a matte finish which is both washable and scuff-proof because #kids.
Chip away at the design of a room like you would a to-do list.
You wouldn't try to do everything on your list all at once, so don't try to design an entire room all at once either.
The next item I chose was the rug. I'm a big fan of rugs over carpet, especially if you don't love your carpet. No one will notice your old carpet when you have a beautiful rug catching their attention. I went with the Jules Lagoon/Brick rug from the new Chris loves Julia x Loloi collaboration because I wanted something beautiful, vintage looking, and budget-friendly.
You might think this is crazy, but I spent about seven or eight minutes TOTAL selecting the furnishings for this room.
Design Tip: Do not overthink it.
Now, I'm not talking about major design decisions like knocking down walls. You should definitely overthink that. But something which can easily be changed should not require hours and hours of contemplation.
If you have a vision, trust your gut.
And if you love the first piece of furniture that pops up online, don't search for 30 different options afterwards. Go with your gut and choose your first favorite.
I talk a lot about using a high/low approach when it comes to design. Design Tip: Invest in pieces you interact with most and save on pieces you'll likely swap out quickly or won't use much.
When I'm searching for budget-friendly furniture, I always check Target first. Their Studio McGee collaboration has been a game-changer as far as their furniture offerings and I really went big on those pieces in this space.
After choosing the rug, I needed a few additional pieces of furniture. Just outside this bedroom door we have black metal stair railings. I liked the idea of bringing in some black to complement what was outside this room, ensuring the design would flow with the rest of the house. This black wood and cane desk from the Studio McGee x Target collab fit the bill perfectly! Simply styling this desk with a few intentional pieces of decor elevated the look.
I'm not kidding when I tell you I only spent 7 minutes shopping for all of this furniture on Target.com.
I found this woven console (also from the Studio McGee line), which with its lighter tone, was the perfect complement to the bamboo bed frame I had already.
If you're willing to assemble your own furniture (I promise, it's not that hard), you can save yourself a lot of money.
A little elbow grease and Target will make your instant gratification dreams come true.
For the record, I am not suggesting you buy all of your furniture from Target or big box stores. Throughout my home, I have a well curated mix of items from smaller, boutique shops. I just needed to complete this room in a very short amount of time on a fixed budget.
For the nightstand, I decided to use just one as I didn’t have space for two. I also don’t think you need two for symmetry necessarily, especially in a guest room where you'll likely only have one guest at a time.
Now I did splurge a bit on this light fixture but again, thinking about the high/low concept I mentioned, this is something I likely wouldn't be switching out for some time.
This semi-flush mount pendant is from Rejuvenation.
Now let's talk finishing touches!
Pillows and art are like the cherries on top of a sundae. You can't start with the cherries! So I had to end with them...obviously.
To finish off this space, I chose two of our Ruth floral pillows, as well as our Lost and Found lumbar. The umber color of our Ruth pillow complements the green walls so beautifully and the hand-block print works nicely with the vintage-inspired Loloi rug.
Fun fact: these Ruth pillows are hand-block printed by an artisan family in India. They literally stamp the print over and over on a yard of linen fabric to create this beautiful, truly handcrafted design.
And finally, (are you still here?!) I selected our Vintage Landscape framed art for above the bed. It's distressed texture really creates an aged-look, bringing character and dimension to these otherwise empty walls.
Design Tip: Hang art about 4-6 inches above furniture so it doesn't look like it's floating in space.
All in all, while redesigning a space might feel overwhelming, trust your gut. Start with one thing and move outwards from there. Don't try to take on an entire space from the get go. And remember, you are designing a space for you. Not for Instagram, not for Pinterest, for you to live in. So pick items you love and you can't go wrong.
xx,
Lauren
Shop the Room
Photography by Public 311 Design for Elsie Home.
Disclaimer: This post contains some affiliate links and I may receive a commission from the purchase of items from these links. I only recommend pieces I truly love and use in my own home and I have not been gifted any of these products nor am I being asked to post about them.