Hollister Rehab – My Guest Bedroom

Well, I have had such a fun response to my first post that I thought…why lose momentum.  I will post some more!  I first want to say that I do have a full time job that has nothing to do with home or DIY rehabs/projects.  It really is a complete polar opposite job, but I also am passionate about what I do there.  Please forgive me if I miss a post as I juggle my life    Last night I decided that I would post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Today is Wednesday so I have another post for you about one of my favorite rooms, my guest bedroom:

What I don”t want this blog to be about is all about me.  Of course a blog allows you to write about yourself, your projects, and your point of view, but if I am not benefitting or interesting you..then what”s the point.  I might as well keep a journal to myself.  I live in a small town…Hollister Missouri.  I think its population is about 4,000 people.  Its right next to Branson Missouri.  (literally you don”t know when you have crossed the “city line”)  I was in Nashville last weekend.  It”s the city for new young artists.  Branson is the city where musicians come to retire.  I love it though.    I love small town community.  Decorating and rehabbing in a small town on a small budget can be challenging.  The biggest obstacle is that your options are limited.  Online is great but your stuck paying shipping.  Do any of you have this problem?  Do any of you read design/DIY blogs like I do and see how they do it but when you look at the project breakdown you realize that you have to drive 9 hours to get it?  Sometimes its worth the drive.  ( I take two trips to Ikea a year, usually on the way to another destination for work or family visits so I do sometimes make it happen)    I have learned a few tricks along my journey.  It takes some effort, some research,  asking the right questions,  creativity, and no fear DIY, but anywhere you are you can make your home what you want on a budget.  I hope to share my journey with you.

All that to say my house has been a work in progress.  Why?  Because I want it just the way I like it.   Its worth having an empty room or wall until you find what you want and save the money to pay for it.  There are lots more projects to do but I thought I would share with you my work so far and hopefully along the way.  Today we begin my house tour.   We are  going to start with my guest bedroom.  Before we get there I want to show you the floor plan for our house. If you come in the front door you would take this path to get to our Guest Bedroom.

When we first moved into the house I was not thinking about blogging.  In my mishap I didn”t get a good pic of the guest bedroom.  If you see from the floor plan you will see that the Guest Bedroom and Third Bedroom are one in the same.  They both had nasty carpet and some sweet wall paper borders.  Here is pretty much the before pic.

Yikes!    We did replace our bedrooms with new carpet.  That was actually a huge steal.  A friend of ours carpeted their basement and when it was installed the two pieces to be seamed were dyed a little differently.  It was super subtle but you only noticed it  because they were right next to each other.  Since it was the carpet company”s fault  they replaced it and let my friend have it.   It sat in their garage and they were wanting to get it out…so they gave it to us!  It was never used and since I have laminate wood flooring in the hall that separates the rooms you can”t even tell the dye is a little different.     The carpet was enough carpet for two rooms!  We only had to purchase one room so we matched it to some Stainmaster carpet Lowes had.  We bought underlayment and then paid a carpet installer.  The carpet for 3 bedrooms (approx 420 sq ft.) cost us about $350.00.  If we would have gotten the cheapest at Lowes to carpet all three rooms, it would have cost us about $700.00!  If I had to do carpet again, (the generous friend option is probably a once in a lifetime steal)  I would look for remnants at Lowes/HDepot or a carpet store.  I see great carpet remnants there all the time for super cheap.  One remnant might do the trick but if you have to buy a little that matches it”s really easy to do! Anyway, here is the after:

I wanted this room to be fun yet cozy and inviting for guests.  I needed storage for the massive amount of books we have.  A friend of mine, (yep, that”s you Jenny) had a bookshelf behind her couch in her small apartment.  I looked at it and said…hmmm….what if I did it behind the bed?  The headboard provided some hidden shelving for stuff we don”t use but want to keep (like our college pics).  Our house is small so we needed to have function for every space but I wanted it to look great to.   We wanted to decorate the room with a little bit of the hubs and my story.  It has pics from college, growing up, sentimental pics of family, and our story.  New York is a theme because the hubs sent me on a scavenger hunt when were dating.  It started in Branson and ended in NYC!  He proposed at Central Park.   Someday I will tell the story.

The headboard is made by me!   Here is the pic of just the headboard.

This was a project that I always wanted to do and one day just went for it.  I just had the metal bed frame.  It was a hand-me-down from my parents somewhere along the way.  I will post a “how to” eventually because its easy.  I have done a few, one day I would like to make them for people.

Left to do:

• Not much but I want to hang a few aussie pokies download more things on the wall
• I want to spruce up the thrift store lamp on the dresser
• I want to refinish that dresser
• Eventually I would like the hubs to build a nice closet system in the closet.
• I also would love to change the fan.  It was brass and I spray painted it for now.  I would love to put a fun light fixture but the function of fan is nice too.  I am still deciding.
• I would love to get rid of the popcorn ceiling.  I should have done it before we moved it but it wasn”t a huge priority.  Every time I get motivated to do I just get overwhelmed. I am not afraid….just lazy I guess.
• I would like to jazz up those teal pillows.  Maybe tuft them with buttons or get fancy with fabric paint.  Maybe sew a flower on them….give me ideas if you have them!

There are a few “how tos” that will come out of this room but for now, here is the cost/product break down:

• Bed frame: Free, it”s a hand-me-down.
• Headboard: $35.00. (yep, $16 – fabric, had the plywood, $10- staples, used an old egg crate for foam, 4 for mounting screws, $5.00 for button kits)
• White Duvet – Ikea, Alvine Stra $49.oo. I used a Gift Card that I got in my stocking Christmas “09.  Thanks mom!  So $0 for me. ( I wouldn”t have spent 49.00 if I didn”t have the gift card.  I would have made it with fabric or white sheets  It does have pleats on it that you can”t see.)  I had the down comforter.
• Quilt – I made it (it was my first quilt to make) fabric is Michael Miller I get my fabric at a local warehouse store called F&M. It was $5.99/yd. I used a cut up king sized quilted mattress pad for the batting. and an old black sheet for the back.   $30.00
• Gray Pinstriped sheets – Kmart, Cannon Brand (couldn”t find online, but I saw them in the store last week) 19.99
• Pillows – I had them (two came with Kmart sheet set) and made the teal ones from old sheets I had.  It got the yellow striped fabric from FM fabrics and made them.  $14.00
• Night light Clamps:  Ikea, I couldn”t find them online but I also saw some just like it at Wal-Mart the other day.  I paid $5.00 for each $10.00
• Window Shades – Kmart, Essential home - $14.99 a piece. -$ 30.00
• Window Curtains - Walmart, full sheet (they are not online but its the cheapest flat sheet they have) cut in half and heat bonded – 8.00
• Curtain Rod – free, I had it from my single days.
• Bookshelves – Wal-Mart Mainstays,$ 25.00 a piece, Couldnt find it online but its the basic one they have in the store. -$100.00 (biggest purchase but so worth not having boxes of books in my limited closet space)
• Books and decor – had it.  This is why I had to figure out some storage.  The hubs likes to read.  I do to but not as much as he does!   If you wanna borrow a book, we got some good ones.
• Mattress – Craigslist $30.00.  It was a steal…clean and from a good home.
• Paint – Lowes, Oatbran by Valspar with low VOC -$ 20.00
• Closet Curtains – Made by me.  I found the fabric for $7.00 a yard at FM fabrics in Sprindfield. – $35.00
• Pics on top of bookshelf – DIY from extra plywood after cutting the headboard/and extra chalkboard paint I had on hand.
• New York Map – Ikea, BILD poster  $12.00 ($0 for me….gift card.  I always get gift cards for Christmas, birthday.  I save them and use them all when I take my annual or bi-annual trip to Ikea.)
• Pics on the Wall:  I had them or were gifts.  The big times square one my mom got me at Allposters
• Dresser: is a Danish modern dresser I found on Craigslist.  I paid 40.00 for it. (the hubs installed a Craigslist app called CraigsNotifica you can set it to notify you when something is posted what you are looking for!)
• Lamp: $5.00 at a hotel sale!  I spray painted it white and bought the shade for $3 at a home re-store. -$8.00
• Grand Total Spent: $379.90 (this cost has been spread out over three years as well.)

Thanks for reading!

Jennifer

P.S. I have updated my guest bed room a little more.  Check them out here and here.