Our Guest Bedroom Needs Work

Remember this frightening picture I posted a few weeks ago?

I'm happy to say that our guest room no longer looks like this. Whew! This was the leftover after cleaning out the office turned nursery. All that junk had to go somewhere, right? Over the past week we spent some time clearing and cleaning out this room. Our motivator was when we got one of these guys in the mail:

About every 4-6 weeks we get a notice of either the Veteran or Purple Heart truck coming through our neighborhood to pick up donations. The past two times we really took advantage and got rid of about a dozen boxes full of junk. This time around, we didn't have as much, but I still had no problem finding a good amount of things to donate. It's the best feeling. Not only to purge the crap that you've held on for way too long just in case you find a place to use it, but it's even more satisfying to donate rather than just toss it with the weekly trash pickup.

Now it wouldn't be a proper room introduction if I didn't give you a few shots of what the room looked like before we moved in. So take a look:

For the past few weeks the room looked better, but still a mish-mosh of everything.

In addition to getting rid of the small housewares/clothes, we decided to remove some of the larger furniture pieces that we just put in the guest room because we had no other place to put them. The white armoire was a Target piece that I had when I lived with my parents almost 10 years ago. It wasn't always white, but I repainted it after moving into this house to better match the guest room. In it's place? We finally put together the Malm dresser that had been sitting in our dining room for over a month.

After the great clean-out/furniture swap, the guest room is looking better today. The daybed still needs to be brought to Goodwill, we just need to borrow my dad's truck to do so. 

Like I said, it still needs work. So, what do I have planned for this room? For now I'm going to keep the bold color on the walls, rather than paint over with a neutral color like I did here,

and here,

and here. 

We are going to purchase two of these Lindved side tables (only $19.99!) for nightstands on either side of the bed. 

Because there is only one window and no light fixture in the ceiling, proper lighting is a huge problem in the guest room. While I plan to put lamps on both of the night stands, I also want to put a set of three large mirrors on the huge blank wall to the left of the bed.

I'm hoping that they will open the room and help it to feel less narrow as well as reflect some of the natural light that comes in through the window to help brighten up the space. Because I plan to put three of them, I wanted to pick a simple mirror to repeat on the wall. Something like this Stave mirror ($29.99) that comes with a basic, thin frame. The question is, which color?

The mirror above the TV stand will obviously go and the Audrey pictures may relocate above each nightstand for a balanced look around the bed. I'm not sure what to do with the wicker chair. I may need to replace it with a bench or smaller chair. Something for our guests to put their belongings on, but a little more appealing to the eye.

We have an IKEA trip planned for this weekend to pick up lots of goodies for the nursery. I plan to keep my eyes peeled for some guest room ideas while we are there.