We moved to Pennsylvania about 8 months ago now and I’ve slooooowly been trying to complete our spaces and make this place feel like home. With little Chad’s first birthday quickly approaching, we needed to get the guest bedroom/our office completed for his grandma’s visit.
We had purchased a bed and desk back in probably August? I think. So we had the basics, but we needed everything else – bedding, nightstands, lights, textiles, finishing touches, etc. I am a shameless procrastinator, so the majority of the furnishings were purchased from Target or Amazon.
Since the room is quite small, I wanted to keep the color palette light and bright, so it is mainly neutral – white, beige, and a bit of natural linen color. There’s also pops of green in the print on the wall and the houseplant.
Here’s what it looked like before:
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It was a completely blank space. The first thing we did was paint the walls and ceiling and replace the carpeting (it was very dirty and severely damaged). Those two things alone made a huge difference. The plan was to set it up as an office for us most of the time, but we also wanted a bed for when family was visiting.
I saw a post on instagram about the IKEA Hemnes day bed and how it has a trundle that turns it into basically a king (!!!) bed and knew I had to have it. With that as the base, I went in search of a small desk that Chad or myself could work at when needed. I found this desk at Target. I love the light wood with the metal legs. While it is a bit modern for my taste, it works perfectly for the ambiance I wanted in the room – warm, cozy, a little moody.
Since the bed has such high sides, I knew I needed taller nightstands. I found these on Amazon. They are 28 inches tall, which is perfect against the 32 inch sides of the daybed. They look very similar to the IKEA Hemnes nightstands but having owned those in the past, these are much larger. Such a great affordable find and they were a breeze to assemble.
I kept the bedding neutral because I wanted it to feel light and bright. The bedding is mainly white and a lovely shade of beige. I got the Casaluna linen comforter with matching large pillows and king size shams from Target. This bedding is really lovely, although I would recommend taking it to a laundromat if you need to wash it. Our machine was not big enough for it and my mom’s front loader was barely large enough. The throw and decorative pillows are all from Target as well.
I wanted a natural linen color drapes for the room and to my delight, my mom happened to have a set she wasn’t using that she kindly lent me. They are from Pottery Barn and blackout curtains, which works great for this room being on the front of the house. We also installed faux wood cordless blinds on the windows from Home Depot. These blinds are great for keeping our kiddo safe from long hanging cords.
For the finishing touches, I considered what I would want in a guest room if I were the guest here and a few things came to mind: a lamp, clock, small mirror, rug, pretty wall art, catch all for my jewelry, plant for homey-ness, space for hanging my clothes, snacks. Most of the items pictured are from Target or Amazon.
The piece de resistance in the room is this gorgeous wildflower print I got off of Etsy. I am obsessed with how pretty it is. It fits the color scheme I have going on perfectly and was under $4. I had it printed online at The Stackhouse and paid about 25x the amount for the print to actually print it, but I would say it was 100% worth it. The frame is from Target, but I am planning to try a DIY frame build for it because there are a few things about this frame I’m not crazy about. Stay tuned..
We still need a desk chair for the space. Currently I’ve been stealing a chair from our breakfast nook when I use the desk, but that’s not a long term solution. I also would like to put a slipper chair in the corner so there’s another place to sit and somewhere for guests to set things or themselves. I’ve been debating this one. I’d also like to add a shelf above the desk for some of our files, books, and other small decor pieces.
Overall I’m very pleased with how this room came together. It is currently the only room in the house that feels complete (despite it 100% not being complete). I enjoy just popping my head in to look at it when I’m on that side of the house or just kicking back on the daybed watching my little babe explore.
Let me know what you think in the comments!
