Room Reveal: The Second Bedroom

A few months ago I revealed that I have too much space (I know, major first world problem). My house is just shy of 1,000 sq ft, hence the blog title 'little house', but for one person and medium sized dog that is a lot of space. At least more than I was used to. The truth of the matter is that I do not need a guest room/office which I mood boarded here. So I decided it was time to face the fact that I need to rent the room out. My hesitation in renting before was that I really, really enjoy living alone. It is so nice and quiet, I don't have to wear pants like ever, and I can paint a room at 2 am with asking anyone's permission; it's basically heaven on earth. BUT, I was beginning to feel like a bit of a space glutton. I have this perfectly nice room that isn't being used and I can always use extra money so I (reluctantly) put on my big girl pants and looked into renting out the room. I debated about opening up the listing to friends but instead I opted to go a completely different route. I decide to host an international college student. The reason I chose this route is because it is extremely flexible. The students come for four week sessions and if I ever don't want a student for a particular month I can just say 'no.' I also have someone I can go to if for some reason things aren't working out and I want the student to move to a different home (you definitely don't have that option when you rent to a person on a one year lease!). I'm a little nervous but mostly I think it will just be really weird and interesting. Since I decided to host someone as opposed to rent out the room I had to completely furnish the room. Thankfully, I already had a rug, dresser, and bed so this entire room makeover only cost me $100. Not bad!

Keep in mind this isn't my best work. I by no means love this room and I didn't 'design' it like I have any other part of my house. But I figured that an international student who will be completely out of their element wouldn't really appreciate my putting them up in a room that had navy blue walls with orange accents. So I went for subtle and sparse instead which is basically the opposite of my style but ah well, here it is... Oh, if you want before pictures go here.

So we are in agreement that this is a really sad makeover right? It isn't at all what I would have done if the room were for myself. But, I do think it will be perfectly acceptable for a student. 

What I did:

- Since this was a zero to low-cost makeover I used the half gallon of paint (Behr- Graceful Gray) I had left over from the first kitchen wall color (here. It is also the color of the stripe in the entry way, here). I should get an award for this paint job. I painted the whole room with half a gallon of paint and I did it under an hour and a half! I just high-fived myself. 

- I got the desk chair and matching lamp set from a used furniture store for $44.00 total. I love the chair because it is that old kind that gently bounces. 

- I got this awesome desk on craigslist for $60. It was one of those old steel case desks that weighs about 200lbs (seriously). I love the green. I also really like how big the desktop is. It's perfect for a student. 

- I hung art that I had lying around. I tried to pick pieces that weren't offensive or anything. I got the vintage French ad for my 12th birthday. I was obsessed with it forever. The trend is way over but I still love that piece and I'll always keep it around. 

What still needs done:
-  I want to buy a box spring for the daybed so the bed will have more height. I saw some used ones on craigslist for about $35 so not too expensive.

- The lamps still need some love. The bases are in good shape but the lampshades have seen better days. I'm thinking about wrapping them in fabric or something. Stay tuned...

- I did not get around to changing the light fixture in this room yet, but someday I will. Thankfully the one in there is innocuous. Next time I go to IKEA I'll probably pick up one of the ones I mentioned in this post about lighting.

- Eventually, much further down the road, I will refinish the hardwood floors.

Overall, it's an improvement over the former storage room that it was, but not by far. 

Sad Sheep, Happy Me.

Sheepskins are super trendy and I'm happy to jump on any bandwagon for free so last week when I found a sheepskin rug in my parent's garage that was not being used I jumped on it.

I knew exactly where I wanted it to go - on the side of the bed in front of my nightstand. The reason I wanted it there because the zig zag rug in there isn't big enough to cover the whole floor.

I made a floor plan of my bedroom to help illustrate my point. Here you can see how small the 8'x5' rug looks in my 14'x11' room.

Ignore the weird colors and patterns, the idea is for you to see the basic shapes. Originally I place the rug this way because it is the most logical but it didn't look great. Only about a foot of the rug was showing on the sides and foot of the bed which is not the best way to maximize rug coverage so I tried position two:

With the rug this way when people walk by or into the room it looks like the rug covers the whole floor. Most people don't walk over to the other side of the room, so the rug this way actually works. But, since I walk on the other side all the time I really wanted something soft over there and I knew an animal skin would look great. IKEA sells sheep skins for $30 so I thought next time I go I'll buy one, but then my parent's garage sheepskin came into my life unexpectedly - Yay!

I said ignore the colors and patterns of these floor plans but can we talk about how freakin' adorable that mini cow rug is???? I mean, if it were real that would be sad because it would be from a baby cow, but you know me and miniatures.

Now both sides of the room have happy rug love!

Blue, Baby Blue.

I did a crazy thing the other day. I painted my room super blue. Not just regular blue, it is seriously super blue. When I moved in my room was a creamy white. The walls were clean and the paint job was pretty new so I didn't touch it for the first seven months. In fact, for those seven months I tried to convince myself that I liked white walls. Why you ask? Because white walls are so artsy and cool. See proof: --

Source: https://www.ikeafamilylive.com/en/room/uncluttered-bedroom-779 --

Source: http://www.countryliving.com/homes/decor-ideas/bedroom-designs-gallery#slide-49 --

Source: http://ticktockclock.tumblr.com/post/5934694451/uydurrukcu -- I mean seriously, so fresh, bright, and classic. Here is my attempt at white walls: --

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-- ...eh...kind of depressing, right? Somehow my 'white' didn't translate as cool, hip white. It was more like 'I'm a renter white' which is silly since I own the home and can do whatever I want. So after months of convincing myself I liked it, I changed my mind and decided to just go crazy. I'm really drawn to super saturated colors. Like these: --

Source: http://www.mixandchic.com/2012/04/home-tour-stylish-victorian-rowhouse-in.html#comment-form --

Source: http://prettystuff.tumblr.com/page/9 -- I was especially inspired by designer Emily Henderson's office space. I loved this blue.

Source: http://www.stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/?currentPage=2 -- That isn't the best image but from other photos I could tell I really like the color. And since one doesn't want to mess around with shades that extreme, I color matched the exact color she used. It is Loyal Blue by Sherwin Williams and I had it color matched from Behr. It was only slightly scary because, hey, it's paint so it's an easy fix if I don't like it.

What do you think? I really like it! Is it crazy bold? Absolutely. But I lived with "tranquil" white for a while and it just wasn't me. I'm no photographer so the color reads weirdly in some of these photos but the truest likeness is the photo of my bed. It's very royal blue. It's deep and my art and furniture really stand out now. In the future I'll add some lighter curtains or Roman shades to lighten it up a bit. I also may switch out that black bookcase for something lighter, but for now to darkness doesn't bother me. In fact, I feel like I'm in a warm cocoon of blue.

Jenny Lind

I love Jenny Lind beds. I like that they are a classic style with a touch of whimsy. They are so cute in kids rooms, especially when there are two of them. Like this (Source: Design*Sponge):

Or in a crib, like this (Source: EmmylouBeeDoo):

But here's the thing... I don't have kids yet. And I really like Jenny Lind beds so I happened upon one on Craiglist and guess what? It was a full! The exact size of mattress I have. So I sprung and got my self my own Jenny Lind bed. I paid $150 for it. I'm very happy with that price. When I went to pick it up I found out that the bed was built in the early 1910s as a wedding gift for the woman's grandparents. Her own mother was born in it! She was very sad to sell it but no one in her family wanted it. I can't even imagine! So I assured her that I would give it a very loving home. Here she is:

I love it so much. I like how high it is. I feel special when I get up into it. It is very distressed from the past 100 years of use, but it is still very sturdy. I've thought of maybe sanding it all down and re-staining it or possibly painting it. I love the look of a bright, fun bed frame, but I'm still undecided. For now I am happy to have my very own Jenny Lind bed!