Timeless Farmhouse Guest Room, Makeover

After months of planning and sitting on the ideas forming in my mind, I was finally able to bring my vision for our guest bedroom to life.

While this room was cool to start, it didn't reflect my style at all.  It was dark and felt closed in.  I love bright, airy spaces, with a lot of white, and some wood to warm it up.  And the dark gold wallpaper, while kind of neat and cozy, just wasn't for me.

This room had so much potential from the start.  My favorite features are the original plantation shutter window coverings and the matching shutter door for the adorable little closet under the staircase.  I also love the higher ceilings, tall farmhouse baseboards, and the upper wall molding.  All of these features are full of character, and sparked my vision into gear.

Check out the before of this room.. hmmm.. 

My goal was to create a space that my guest's could feel comfortable in.  A place where they could retreat and relax after a long day of fun and adventure together.  A space of simplicity.  Uncluttered, yet perfectly placed details that invite and draw your eyes to the timeless pieces from the past.  I don't know about you, but I feel a peace that is indescribable when I'm surrounded by beautiful treasures that have hundreds of stories they could tell.  Our cute little farmhouse is 110 years, and I can only imagine what these walls would tell us if they could talk!  

When I was ready to start the renovation of this room, I made a list of all that I desired it to entail.  I have added this list of the key elements I used to create my timeless farmhouse guest room below. 

1. Shiplap walls

2. White painted walls

3. Antique wood dresser or trunk for side table

4. Vintage brass bed (and I happened to come across this gorgeous cream and brass bed!  Yay!)

5. Simple neutral bedding

6. Vintage lighting

7. Vintage gold mirrors and frames

8. Sliding barn door

9. Two rustic beams
10. Antique wall sconce
11. New antique looking desk for hubby
12. Original artwork in beautiful gold frames
13. Velvet and floral pillows to add some additional color to the bed.

You may be noticing that some of these elements are not yet in this room.  Well that is the fun part!  I will be able to share along the way as I add the next key element to my design.  Some of these pieces are already in my possession, and some I still need to create.

Before my first guests arrived, I went out and freshly cut some of my gorgeous hydrangeas to set on their bedside table.  It's all in the details right? :)

Isn't this gray washed velvet bedding luxurious!?  Its simple yet cozy, and the color is so soft and muted.

We are just waiting on our sliding barn door hardware to show up on the front porch, and then we can hang this beauty.  I will soon be sharing with you all on how we built this rustic barn door.

We still have several things to do to finish this room up.  In addition to being our guest bedroom, my husbands office will be in here as well.  I will be building him a custom desk to fit in with this space.  I will incorporate some antique turned legs as well as discretely house a two drawer metal filing cabinet.  I have already sketched out my design for this and cannot wait to build it! 

What would your dream guest room look like?  Are you into the light, airy look as well, or are you into the darker, moody look?

Well, thank you so much for taking the time to read today.. I hope to see you back here soon to check out our future farmhouse updates, custom furniture and restoration projects!  

Take care and God bless.

xo Jen

A Custom Bookshelf Makeover

Today I'm sharing my latest makeover!  I've had this bookcase in my garage for over a year now, and finally decided it was time for her overhaul! 

It's not like it started out that bad, but I saw a lot more potential.  Plus any excuse to make sometime more my own always sounds good to me.  So this piece was custom built out of alder wood.  It has some lovey moldings to start with, and also features adjustable shelves.

I didn't get a picture of the shelves, but they were just your standard 3/4" thick shelves.  I personally love a more beefed up look ;)  So I ran the shelves through my table saw and then pin nailed an 1 1/2" self edge to the fronts.  So now the shelves look double the size and this was honestly so simple to do.  I must admit, this was my first time using the table saw, all by myself, with no one around... I felt like such a big girl! haha.  I just get nervous using that tool.  Probably because everyone that has one has told me not to cut my fingers off.  Way to freak me out people!

After my shelves were complete, I decided I wanted an applique on here somewhere, so I simply just cut a 1x4 piece of pine to size, and pocket holed it into the top and sides.  I applied wood glue as well for extra strength.  Next I simply glued my applique on, and used my micro nail gun to secure it.  Walla!  Now we're talkin!

I gave the whole thing a few coats of a gorgeous creamy white paint, did some distressing and sealed her up!

Have you done some fun makeovers recently?  I love making new creations out of boring things!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

xo Jen

ORC ~ My One Room Challenge!!

Hello everyone!  

Today marks the first week of the One Room Challenge Link Party!  I am so excited to jump in and be a part of it!  I have been wanting to change every a few rooms in my house, and just don't carve out the time.  So a six week challenge is exactly what I need!  One Room Challenge was started by Linda of Calling it Home, and I am so grateful that she thought of this!  Thank you Linda!  To follow along with tons of others, visit her blog!

So the way this whole thing works, is every week I will post an update of the progress I have made on my room!  And the final reveal will be in five short weeks!  Make sure to check back each week to see what I have done!

My One Room Challenge 

I chose my living room.  The living room is the first thing you see when you walk in the door, and I just really want it to reflect my style and taste.  It's not a bad room to start with, just not something I'm crazy about.

So here's the deal.. My husband loves this brick, but I'm not diggin it.  I never have.  I feel like everything I put on top of my mantle just competes with the brick.  I find it very busy.  I like a little more simple, lot's of creams and whites.. more details, but not busy.

Here are a few more before pictures of the room.  I also included my entry, which basically feels like it's part of the living room.  I'm going to include that in my challenge!  I hope I'm not setting myself up to fail! haha I think I can do this though!

Needed:

Woodwork surround on the fireplace

Custom Built Bookshelves to each side

Accessories

New wall paint

Fireplace stove repainted

New pillows

Something to be done with the ottoman

New clock idea

By the way, that wood square on the wall.. that's an unfinished project. ;)  I have a lot of those around my house.

This picture below.. it's not bad, but not great.  I feel like something more needs to be done with this space.  My ceiling is at it's peak on this wall, and leaves it feeling kind of bare.  If you have any ideas on how to make this a better focal point, but not too busy, please feel free to share!  I will definitely be doing something different with the pillows.  

 

Needed:

Different Pillows

Accessories

Something more to the wall space?

Picture below, I want to do something with a little more pop, and maybe some balance?  I'm also going to build two matching end tables to go on each side of this couch.  Add a new lamp, and accessories.. 

See that concrete foundation just above the carpet?  Well, that has been driving me crazy for years now!  It used to have carpet on it, but when we replace all our carpet, I said, nope.  I don't want carpet going up my wall! haha.  So I will be trimming that out to match the rest of the wood work, a creamy white paint of course. 

  Needed:

Two new custom built side tables

New Lamp

Accessories

Something more uniform on each side of the curtains

Here is my entry.  Not bad right?  But not what I want.  I have had this more contemporary console table for about eight years now.  Ready for a change.  I am going to build a new console table for this spot.  Something that more reflects my style.  I also would love to change this mirror up a bit.  I have a few ideas, but something to make it larger and give it more detail.  I hope it turns out like I'm seeing it in my head!!

 Needed:

New custom built entry table

Mirror built up for a larger look

Accessories

Maybe some woodwork on this wall? Not sure yet...

So now onto the plan!!  I have mentioned several times, "not my taste/style".  So what is my style?  Well, If I could have my perfect home, it would be a French Farmhouse with a Coastal Cottage flair!  Might sound like a lot of different looks, but it seems to work for me. :)

Here are a few inspiration pictures to give you an idea of where we are headed.  This part gets me really excited!!

I will be adding horizontal planking above the fireplace.  It's very cottage-farmhouse, and I'm in love with it!  I will also be building bookshelves to frame in the fireplace, so the backs will be planked as well.

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Above, I love the blue and white grain sack striping.  This pulls in a little bit of everything for me.  Farmhouse, old French grain sacks, and the blue and white are a coastal combination.  I may include this look using pillows, but not totally sure yet!

I love the look of old and new white pitchers.  So I will include some of these in my accessories.. I have a few already, though nothing like this collection below!

 

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I love this look below for my new entry table.  Something lighter, more rustic, and more shelf space.

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I could post inspiration pictures all day long, but I think this gives you an idea of where we're headed.  I look forward to starting this next week and sharing the progress with you all!  Any tips or ideas are welcome!  Thank you for stopping by! 

xo Jen

Linking up at:

Calling it Home: One Room Challenge

Just for fun...

I love antique china... white dishes... old platters...  Anything with gorgeous patinas and antique patterns.  I had some fun photographing some new pieces I picked up at an estate sale recently.  

 These little cups are just tiny!  Only about 2.5" tall.  So cute!

I hope you enjoyed these photographs as much as I did!  Thank you for stopping by.  Until next time.

xo Jen