Update: We brought in a few of the items on our to-do list below and it changed everything! Well, not everything, but a few pieces left the room (goodbye brown blanket) and a few things got shuffled around. Those last-minute tweaks made a big difference. See the full reveal here.
Here’s how the room looked an hour ago when we snapped these photos and uploaded them:
It’s definitely an improvement from Monday’s much more spartan version, though there’s still work to do and some items haven’t found their final spot yet. Below is what we’ve accomplished so far:
- Cleared out unwanted items (donated via Habitat for Humanity ReStore and moved some things into the playroom)
- Purchased a mattress and box spring, plus a basic bed frame
- Dressed the bed with existing bedding
- Added bathroom essentials like a shower curtain, new towels, and a toilet seat cover
- Painted the room
- Hung curtains
And here’s our remaining to-do list:
- Hang artwork or a mirror above the bed to balance the large window on the left (a round mirror is our top pick to soften the straight lines)
- Add a nightstand and table lamp
- Style or replace the empty bookcase between the bathroom and bedroom doors—eventually this will become a functional dresser for storage
- Wash and hem the curtains
We experimented with nearly every layout imaginable—diagonal bed placement, bed against the other window, centered on the back wall—and settled on the configuration that felt best once we included pieces we planned to keep, such as our green upholstered headboard (see the DIY process here) and the yellow Pottery Barn rug that used to be in the living room. We plan to get a larger rug later for Karl’s use, but for now this 5 x 8 rug works with the colors and scale of the room.
The rug sits slightly off-center at the foot of the bed, which wasn’t an obvious choice, but it felt right with the wall color and bedding. We brought in two slipper chairs (previously in the living room) and placed them closely together like a small loveseat, which helped anchor that side of the room and make the rug placement feel intentional. Once we add a night table to the left of the bed, the arrangement should feel even more balanced. Hanging a large round mirror above the headboard will further offset the window and introduce softer curves to all the rectangles in the room.
We added a $10 white bedskirt from Target to coordinate with the bedding we already owned from the old guest room. The brown-and-white blanket is an older Bed Bath & Beyond find, the white comforter is from Ikea, the printed pillowcases are Pottery Barn, the yellow pinwheel pillow is Target, and the long blue bolster came from TJ Maxx. The bedding isn’t finalized—we layered what we had and like the playful effect—so we’ll see how it evolves as we finish up the remaining tasks.
Psst—there’s already been an update and a few bedding items were switched out. See how the room looked when guests arrived in this post.
The curtains are from Ikea and cost $39 for a pair—about $19 per panel—for extra-long 95″ curtains. I prefer hanging curtains high to make standard ceilings feel taller, so the longer length was worth it. They still need washing and hemming, and we’d love to add crown molding above them eventually, but that’s a project for later.
We also swapped the closet door hardware—replacing the basic brass pull with a fun lime green-yellow knob that blends with oil-rubbed bronze accents and matches our curtain rods. The knob was an inexpensive Hobby Lobby find. The curtain rods themselves came from Target at about $9.99 each.
I’m off to tackle the last items on our list and probably move things around one more time, but here’s a reminder of how different the room looked just eight days ago. The progress is pretty remarkable—definitely a big change in a short time.