The Guest Room Reveal

erinkestenbaum

7 years ago

Many, many months ago (nine to be precise) when we first moved into our house, I had the naive ambition to finish our guest room first. I was so excited to finally have a space for friends and families to stay that I didn’t think through the practicalities: there’s a ton of stuff to do when you first move in, and a guest room is not exactly a priority when you don’t have any upcoming visitors…

So alas, we demolished the built-in bookshelf that was killing the layout and then the room sat for months. Now, the room is finally complete.

You can read up on the process here.

And because no reveal is complete without before photos, here goes:

And now, for the after photos. By far, the highest impact improvement was the panel moulding on the walls and the epic grey paint (Worsted by Farrow and Ball).

We were stumped when we went to find a pair of nightstands that were narrow enough for this small space but also airy enough not to weigh down this wall. I love the contrast of the lightness of these vintage plant stands against the solid masculine bedframe.

The sconces were a great Craigslist find for a fraction of their retail price. And thank you to my husband for figuring out how to wire up all the electrical (ceiling light included!).

The federal mirror used to hang in our bedroom (and before that over a bench in our apartment) and it helps to create a light focal point on this wall.

Because it’s infinitely easier to match paint to fabric than the reverse, the initial starting point for this room were these luxe crushed velvet curtains, and about 7 paint samples later we found a near perfect match in Worsted by Farrow and Ball.

We had originally planned on building a radiator box for this 1970’s radiator, but once we got a coat of paint on it, you barely even notice it.

I searched for months for a dresser for this room and all my inspiration photos were of burl dressers or the Witco tiki ocean dresser. I finally found this one on Facebook marketplaces and it was easily worth the drive to Jersey to retrieve it. Then, two weeks later I stumbled upon another burl wood dresser, also for a steal, at a church tag sale. So now I’m the proud owner of two vintage burl dressers (no complaints over here).

I was worried that this Serge Mouille reproduction light fixture was going to drop too low into the room, but my husband had a friend at work shorten the vertical poles, so it’s a perfect fit. I love that we now can get light into the corners of the room.

While I know we removed built-ins from this room because it was a layout killer, I didn’t feel so guilty because we have this little nook on the other side of the room. Painted grey and with upgraded door hardware that actually allows the door to close fully AND that cute little mirrored knob from Anthropologie and this corner shines.

I love using round mirrors over dressers to contrast the shapes, even more when there’s a rectangle of panel moulding surrounding the mirror. I didn’t want a wood mirror or to replicate the huge brass mirror downstairs, so this Anthropologie mirror lends the right amount of worldly eclectisism to the space.