We finally painted the guest room! And Burger, as you can see, is THRILLED.
No more over-spray marks from door painting forming a lovely “accent wall” over the bed. Huzzah!
The color? Sparrow by Benjamin Moore. It’s a color we’ve loved for a while now (it was one of our whole-house-color-palette guesses from last year) and we thought the guest room was the perfect place to try it out since it gets a lot of natural light from that giant triple window along the back wall.
Since it’s a deep color we used a tinted primer first, and as usual I did the cutting in while John did the rolling. Oh and we painted the ceiling first (Simply White like the trim, but in a flat finish instead of semi-gloss) just because it’s nice to do that at the same time while the room is cleared for painting if you have the energy. Sparrow is more of a brown tone with gray undertones than a cool/flat gray color (you can see from the paint going on over the tinted primer that the primer definitely had a cooler/grayer tint going on).
With all the painting done, we decided we were over the blank walls in there, so we dug through our storage room for some frames and a mirror to complement the new paint job. A few old Ikea frames ended up in a grid over the chairs across from the bed.
They used to hang over our sofa in the last house, and they contain a few of our favorite instagram photos with big linen-like fabric mats behind them for some texture.
Over the bookcase to the left of the bed we went with another one of those Ikea frames, but we added one of our from Target along with some gold ribbon (to tie into the gold mirror we hung over the bed).
Here’s a panned out shot for you. The wall on the left looks weirdly yellow because sunlight is shining in and reflecting green from the trees, so the other photos are more accurate in terms of the color.
The gold mirror was an old yard sale find that used to hang in our last house’s laundry room, and when John held it up over the bed we both liked how it looked with the wall color. Originally we thought we might want to hang something on either side of it to fill things out (like some small candle sconces, ledges, or art) but there’s something simple and sweet about the gold mirror without a lot of other stuff going on.
We also switched out the luggage-tray-turned-side-table for something a little more substantial with a drawer for concealed storage and a cubby for a few books and magazines. We found two of these tables for $11 at a yard sale a few years back, and I’m glad to have a spot for this one again – especially since it meant we could add a nice big light that felt more to scale than the tiny one that used to sit on the luggage rack.
The flowers are just a grocery store bouquet leftover from Clara’s party (alstroemeria for the win, they tend to live for 3-4 weeks!).
We still have a few things on the to-do list in here, like adding crown molding, eventually updating the seating area to a sewing spot so the room gets more use, and making a new headboard (we’d love something more substantial – and maybe with an interesting shape). I’m sure we’ll also upgrade some of these working-with-what-we-have-items over time (like the art, the bedding, the rug, or the curtains) but for just a gallon of primer and paint and some stuff that was sitting around mocking us in the storage room we’re really happy with the new vibe.
The guest room is at the top of the stairs, so we both do that “ooh!” thing when we go upstairs now. It’s amazing how blind you can become to certain eyesores (like those over-spayed door marks) but when you finally take care of them it’s like a breath of fresh air.
What did you guys do this weekend? Anything fun? We had a nice balance of work and family time – and spent a lot of time being grateful for everything that Memorial Day stands for. Hope you had a happy one!
Psst- Wanna know where we got something in our house? Just click on this button:
Ohhh, I LOVE it! It reminds me a lot of the color in your Master Bedroom in the old house. I’ve been craving some deeper/richer colors as of late as well – loving the contrast it adds with the crisp white trim!
It looks fab-u-lous! I love that color and will be bookmarking it for when I own a house and can actually paint my walls. (Woe to renters!) Thanks for sharing your guest room makeover. :)
Beautiful!
Wow, that room is GORGEOUS!
We spent our weekend taking the dog to the beach (as of Memorial Day the beach has pretty strict dog restrictions) and did an 11 mile hike through Shenandoah National Park… Beautiful, but my legs still hurt!
I love the punch of bright colors against the paint color. I think any guest would feel happy staying with you in that room!
WOW!!!! I love it!! It amazing how quickly you guys can turn around a room!! It takes months over here!!;) AWESOME job once again!!!
Kimi, keep that in mind this is a full time job for two people. That’s what I have to do when I see bloggers constantly doing house projects and then remember I work 50-60 hours a week and then have to cram the same amount of house projects into 2 precious weekend days. It’s gonna take a little longer that way ;)
Love the paint with the bold bright colours
Your guest room looks great! We’re 11 months into our new home and slowly but surely painting every room. We’re going for rich neutral-ish tones and this color would fit right in with our decor. I like how you recycled colorful items from your last home for this guest space.
LOVE the color. We just painted our Master Grizzle Gray by Sherwin Williams. We are in love with how our Master is turning out.
Kelly
Kelly,
Thanks for posting a picture! Our old Victorian has all dark wood trim and we wanted to go gray without painting the trim. (we love white trim but this trim is too pretty to paint. LOL)
Grizzle Gray is perfect with your dark wood furniture! You have found our gray!
Sheila
Really cozy!
xo
s
I like that color! My master bathroom is currently brown on brown on brown, and it is all my fault. We have brown floor tiles, a lighter creamer wall tile, and mosaic accents that are you guessed it brown. It looks good but I need color (). As it comes off our purple master bedroom I have been hesitant to add too much color. The color I really liked was a deep bright teal, but I wanted a deeper darker color above the tub in order to hang some Moroccan style lights.
The hubby and I put in almost 200 linear feet of 6 foot tall fencing this weekend. Even with a friend over to help and an auger to dig the holes it was a lot of work. I am currently sun burnt and sore sitting at my work desk hoping no one makes me move very far today. But we tripled the space our pups have to play (at 80 lbs a piece) and they are happy, the things we do for our fur babies.
Did I over share?
That sounds like a ton of work! Bet the pups are so grateful!
xo
s
The room looks lovely. I’m a sucker for gray and yellow. And I’m amazed you’re doing so much painting so soon after the barnacle’s birth. Huzzah to you. Question though, how do you decide on placement of the area rug? Can’t tell from the picture if the rug would be under foot when the guest got out of bed, yet still leaves enough at the foot of the bed to fill the empty space.
Ideally this room would have a larger rug, but we just sort of moved this one around until it looked the most balanced from the door (scooted in more meant an odd looking sliver at the bottom of the bed).
xo
s
Looks amazing! What a beautiful, inviting guest room! And I LOOOOOVE that paint color.
LOVE IT!! What a great paint color. Couple of questions…how does the mirror look hanging on its side? Also, in real life are the floral pillowcases working with the ikat curtains? I would never have thought to put them together!
We tried the mirror both ways (on the side was our first instinct too) but it seemed sort of squished/squat so we liked the height of it being vertical (it balanced the tall vertical curtains). As for the pillows and the ikat, we don’t mind them together but you’re right about it being a random pairing! We just tried it and said “weird! We like it!” They might not be forever but they’re sweet for now.
xo
s
Looks great! I was also thinking the mirror would look better turned the other direction, and would take up more horizontal space while still keeping the simplicity of only one object hung above the bed. Plus, when you hang crown molding there will be less vertical space to fill, so the mirror might feel too squished vertically then. I also feel like the mirror hung vertically actually competes with the vertical curtains instead of complimenting them. But hey, it’s a beautiful mirror (did you already say where you got it?) so you really can’t go wrong. I’d love to have a guest room as beautiful as this in my own home!
Thanks Anna! It was a yard sale find a few years ago!
xo
s
Love the wall colour! I agree that the mirror looks too small above the bed. I was thinking it would look better horizontal as well. Personal preference I guess.
I agree on the mirror, my first instinct was that it needed to be horizontal. Maybe when you do the crown.
But the room looks great!
I agree. It would look 100% better if hung the other way.
I think the mirror would look a little squatty hung the other way. I like how there is still room for the headboard to “breathe” – I think it would look a little cramped if the mirror was any wider and stretched almost the whole width of the headboard. I love how everyone has different preferences though! If everyone had the same taste the world would be very boring. :)
Could you guys use that West Elm desk from your first house for your sewing table?
Yes! That has been my plan unless we end up using that in the office as a craft/photography spot, in which case we hope to find something else with a nice clean look and small-ish footprint.
xo
s
Looks great and love the sparrow wall color. Quick question – where did you get the pink & green chevron pillowcases?
thanks!
Those were HomeGoods finds!
xo
s