Guest Bedroom | Our New Home in Concord | Refreshing a Guest Bedroom

Before : Guest Bedroom

As I've mentioned, we have several house guests coming to visit over the Summer - the perfect excuse to refresh our guest bedroom.

As guests rooms seem to do, ours had filled itself with the 'extra' stuff that we didn't have a place for anywhere else it the house.

I had put some old bedding on the bed, without much consideration how it would go with the wall color, and the furniture consisted of a black desk and chair, and an old table that used to fit in our living room.  I felt like the room was too dark and heavy.  I wanted the room to feel like the room from our hotel in East Hampton - light and fresh.
 

I painted almost everything in the room white, except for the black iron bed and drapery rods.  I think that too much white can seem blah.  The black contrasts with the white and actually makes the room feel brighter.

For bedding, I like to keep the palate bright and white.  Two large down euro pills, two standard pillows and one accent blue pillow with a hemp trim.  I always use all white sheets and pillow cases (and towels!).  Colored linens just don't feel as fresh to me.  I dress the bed with a lightweight duvet in a white cover, then I put a heavier down comforter folded at the foot of the bed in case they get cold.

I painted this once black desk a fresh creamy white.  I thought I was over my all white furniture phase from the shabby chic trends of 2000, but it was the only thing to do on a shoe-string budget to makeover the room and make it feel fresh.

The room completely changed when I added the white upholstered chair from our old dining room.  It filled it and made it feel cozy almost instantly.   

I got out my light grey/almond spray paint and gave this once black painted chair a new look and a stack of fresh towels.

The bedside table (also painted a creamy white) has a photo of Peaches, a handmade bowl we received for a wedding gift from Mike's parents, a framed sketch of Seaside where we got married, my gold engraved confirmation Bible and some hydrangeas from our yard.  You might recognize the lamp - it was once brass in our old bedroom.  I used the same paint as the chair - they sit in opposite corners of the room... talk about balance!