I'm beginning to think inspiration and motivation only strikes me at certain times, usually when I'm super busy. Why is that? Why can't I be creative when I have absolutely nothing better to do? I just don't understand. Last week, I was lamenting the fact I haven't had a fun new project to work on in awhile, and this week, all I want to do is push everything else aside and work on our guest room. And eat Christmas cookies.
But such is life. Gotta take advantage of the motivation when it strikes, I guess. I just realized that HOLY COW CHRISTMAS IS IN ONE WEEK and I have so much left to prepare! And although we aren't having family over to our house for the holidays, I feel compelled to finally put together an inviting guest room, just in case. You never know who might need a place to stay for the night. Or who might be coming to visit me for a week in January (spoiler: it's Liz and I'm sooooooo excited!) Anyway, one thing I loved about this house when we first saw it is that it has a finished basement with a family room, bedroom, and attached bathroom. Absolutely perfect for guests. When we moved in, however, we decided it was just easier to put the extra bed in one of the upstairs bedrooms, since nothing was really put together yet. Also the toilet downstairs needed to be fixed, so the room downstairs has been sitting sad and vacant for four months now.
You know how one thing leads to another? See this is where everything gets complicated. I've been wanting to get my sewing machine back out and start sewing again, and actually open up my Etsy shop. I have ideas! I have fabric! I have finished projects! But there's still so much left to do, and I can't finish until I actually have a sewing room. I decided I want to put my sewing room upstairs for now, so it will be more easily accessible. So in order to do that, we had to move the guest room downstairs where it belongs. But in order to have a fully functioning bedroom, we need a working toilet, so I needless to say I have made several trips to Lowes and Home Depot this week. Last night, we finally bit the bullet, bought the right part for the job, and Jamey installed it. Problem solved. No more leaky toilet! Okay, enough rambling for now.
Here is our sad and dejected room after we moved the bed downstairs. That was a fun ordeal. We had to take it out the front door, through the garage, and into the basement because it wouldn't fit down the stairs otherwise. We don't have a headboard for this bed, so I decided to make do and hang curtains behind it. It actually turned out better than I thought it would.
We also moved this hutch in from the family room. I had hoped to have a dining room to put it in, but alas, our house doesn't have a formal dining room, so it will have to make do as storage. This hutch came all the way from Nebraska, and used to belong to my grandparents. I can still see this standing in their home, decorated with plates and fancy figurines. So even though I don't have a dining room, this baby will always have a place in my house because in a way it hold some of my childhood memories. I have a few ideas for how to arrange it, but for now, it's still void of decorations.
Here is the bed after hanging some curtains and making it up with fluffy pillows and cozy covers. What a difference. I have a night stand that will go on the left side, but I want to paint it before I can put it in. More on that project coming soon!
I wish I had taken a before picture of the bathroom, but it's easy enough to envision nothing but a toilet and a shower. The room kind of echoed. Now it's a tad bit more inviting. Still needs some rugs on the floor, but it's getting there. You can catch a glimpse of the lighthouse wallpaper border in the mirror - that will eventually go... Not really my theme. But I don't feel like scraping off wallpaper and repainting so that will wait for another day when I have nothing else I'd rather do.
I loved the look of this wire basket, so I decided to use it to hold extra toilet paper and wash rags.
And this might be my favorite part. You know how you go on vacation and inevitably forget your toothbrush or shampoo and try to make do without them because you feel awkward asking someone to share their toiletries? I compiled an "Oops" kit with extra travel-sized necessities like shampoo and conditioner, facewash, shaving cream, toothpaste, etc. so if a guest forgets something, I've got it covered.
And that's all I have for now! Still a lot to do, but I'm making steady progress. Stay tuned!
