{Home} Home Tour II : Guest Room

06 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by Karen B. in Accessories; details, Bedrooms, Decorating, House and Home

Tags

I promised to share more of our home with you so…walk this way. I have shared this room before, it was in my post about finally having a blue and white room, thanks to a major remodel my friends Carol and Barry completed a couple of years ago. During their remodel, they bought a king size bed to replace the queen in their guest room. The custom blue and white linens were offered and I was like a kid at Christmas with joy.

The walls are painted Brown Tepee, Behr. {they look like there’s more green to them than in person} My painter talked me into eggshell finish and I’m not thrilled with the glossy look of it. I understand from a few friends that know more about design trends than me, that eggshell is the preferred finish on walls now. Share your thoughts on this with me, I’m curious. Is it just me? Am I the only person that doesn’t care for eggshell finish?

The blue and white toile is so pretty and Carol had a round table covered with a cloth of this fabric, so I was able to upholster the little French chair you’ll see below. The framed prints are from a family art book which I posted about HERE.

I know you will understand when I say almost everything in our home has a story and a memory attached to it. This little French chair was in the back room of an antique warehouse I used to frequent with my friend Carla, back before I was working 40 hours a week. It was dusty and the seat was missing, but as Carla pointed out, it had great detailing and because I had a store credit from a return, I bought it. It’s very sweet and works well in our guest room. A place for our guests to sit and put their socks on.

The same goes for this nightstand…it came from one of my favorite antique stores in San Clemente, Stanford Court Antiques. It’s one of those places where there are many different stalls but the owners are very particular and the stalls are staged and very appealing.

This mirror started in our guest bathroom years ago. When we remodeled the bathroom I decided a mirror in this room could come in handy so we hung it where it can reflect light from the window on the other side of the room and I hung a few of my favorite blue and white transferware plates {which were part of the generous gift of blue and white goodies from Carol and Barry}

On this side of the bed is a repurposed Pottery Barn lamp from Mr. B’s year long job in Northern California. I always liked the lamp and with a new shade, it works in the room.

This French nightstand used to have feet that elevated it, don’t hate me, but I had them removed because I like the height better for the bed. The chair is Ikea, I personalized it for our granddaughter’s visits.

The Beatrix Potter books were well-used during our son’s years of a story before bed nightly. The Van Gogh print was brought back from the Museé d’ Orsay by our youngest son, Kevin, on his trip to Paris during his spring break his senior year of college. It’s “Siesta” and seems appropriate for the guest bedroom, right?

I hope you’ve enjoyed Tour II of Bethany House. I’ll work on another room in the not too distant future.

Enjoy your week and as always, thank you for stopping by, you’re the best.

{GHP} We’re having another baby!

16 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Karen B. in Bedrooms, Decorating, Family, House and Home

≈ 28 Comments

Tags

kid's rooms

If that heading didn’t make you look then I don’t know what would. 🙂

Those of you who read my posts may know we have 2 adult sons, both are married to wonderful women…we really lucked out.

A little over 3 years ago we were blessed with our first grand baby, a sweetie-pie named Olivia. Olivia lives with her parents in Austin, Texas. Her California grandparents (Mr. B and me) visit as much as we can and they come this way at least twice a year, sometimes more. We love Austin and as a plane-ride destination to see your granddaughter, it’s the best.

{Livi now sleeps in a big girl bed (twin) and has Pottery Barn linens in her favorite color}

Our youngest son married in December 2012 and they have just announced that we can expect the arrival of our second grand baby sometime in late October of this year. We’re over the moon with joy!

This got me thinking about nursery design in this day and age, and kid-friendly rooms in general. I thought I’d share Pinterest images I’ve discovered, as well as a few blog and retail sites whose images I was able to gather, for some great examples of bedrooms for children of all ages.

It should not surprise anyone that the newest generation of parents have some pretty amazing ideas for their children’s bedrooms. Gad, I wouldn’t mind having one or two of these rooms to daydream in myself.

Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware have revolutionized the options for the nursery. Sarah, our daughter-in-law/mother to be, selected this crib for Baby B. The bed was “inspired by a French antique”.

{rhbabyandchild.com}

The youth bed conversion is so pretty. I could see using this as a piece of furniture in another part of the house once baby has outgrown the bed.

{RH Belle Upholstered Crib}

The possibilities are endless where nurseries/kid’s rooms are concerned and most of us seasoned [read: older] moms know, babies, all over the world have slept in less stylish digs and thrived. Still, as someone who dwells on feathering the nest, including each and every room of our home, it’s fun to dream of how we would design a baby’s/child’s room in this 21st century.

{unknown source}

{RH}

{Elle Decor ~ photograph by Pieter Estersohn}

From the opulence above, to the reality below…

{tumblr}

…children really only need space to dream and feel comfortable and secure in. As a mom, I can say the years from birth to college years pass by in the blink of an eye. The needs change too, so sometimes it pays to decorate with an eye to the not too distant future to avoid need for costly renovations.

This is a room that, except for the wagon of toys and the trundle bed, any guest would be delighted to slumber in. It’s also pretty unisex, no striking pink or blue touches.

Same with the room below. Although I’d think this might be a boys room, what do you think?

{source}

I love the wallpaper and roman shade in this room. Furnished with a larger bed, or a desk this space could serve any purpose in the family home. I could see it as a guest room, TV room and/or study. For now it’s a great kids room!

{Elle Deocr ~ Photo by Miguel Flores-Vianna}

A cowboy themed room is fun, but you can see that it wouldn’t take too much to convert it to a college age person’s bedroom, right? At least one of our son’s would have loved this and probably would want to keep the carpet with it’s cowboy and Indian images through the college years! Why not?!

{unknown}

The nice thing about a tepee is you can store it and no one would realize this was a little boy’s room.

I love built-in beds. Especially with a built-in book case. Would I enjoy making these beds, probably not. This is why we’d train the children to make their own bed at a very early age. 🙂

{Catalano Architects}

Whoa. How many will this room sleep?

I really like the idea of a window seat bed…this could easily transition to a room for any age person.

{Peter Dunham}

Just last a couple of weeks ago Belclaire House wrote about this fantastic Brunschwig & Fils wallpaper, “Battle of Valmy”. I love it and could almost put it in a room in our house. I think even a girl would like the horses, soldiers and flags, don’t you?

The nautical themed room (below) might be my favorite. Having boys, I tend to gravitate to something like this.

As I was proofing this post, I realized that nearly all of the images are geared to a boys room. I confess, I think that is my default. Raising two boys does that to me. So, to be fair, and because we have absolutely loved having a girl baby in the family, here are a few amazing rooms for girls only.