Create a guest room without guesswork
Makeovers
My empty-nester client was ready to reclaim her home after her last child went off to college. Her plan, like many empty-nesters before her, was to re-purpose several of the unoccupied bedrooms and to freshen up her home, which she felt had been neglected during her parenting years.
I find that many parents of adult children go through a shakedown of their homes once it looks like the house will be theirs alone for the first time. This can be a daunting and painful process for some couples, but it has many rewards. After analyzing how they would like to use each space, they experience the freedom and joy of making it beautiful and useful. It not only helps with finalizing their children’s passage to independence, but making postponed repairs, updates and enhancements also increase the resale value of their home.
Some of my clients in this situation also are preparing for downsizing in a few years. Why not get your home in ready-to-sell condition now so you can enjoy it for years to come?
This bedroom had been one of her daughter’s and had become “the closet.” Anything that didn’t fit in other rooms got stashed here. She was expecting houseguests, and a foreign-exchange student after that. She wanted to clear out the room and make it comfortable for guests.
Before
•You couldn’t get in the room. Things that didn’t belong in a guest room needed to be sorted, removed and disposed of.
•Somewhere underneath all the mess was some furniture. Was it set up in the best possible arrangement? Will a guest have what he/she needs to stay comfortably?
• We needed to add some beauty so guests would walk in and say, “What a lovely room!”
After
•It took a while, but we were able to go through the boxes and house detritus, delivering things to other rooms and to a donation zone in the garage. This can be a challenge for homeowners because things usually get stashed because they don’t know where else to put them. My presence encouraged my client to make decisions and to stick to her goal of creating appealing sleeping quarters.
• We unearthed some basic bedroom furniture: a bed, nightstand, desk and dresser. The bed and nightstand were in the best location possible, but we rearranged the other pieces (out of view) for a more balanced look. We also found a lamp that worked so that a guest could read in bed.
•My client had lovely bedding and we used it to “drive” the decorating scheme: pastel, floral and feminine. On the nightstand we placed two scented candles on a book about flowers, and arranged some figurines and a book on the shelf over the bed. Some handmade pottery completed the arrangement.
My client’s guest’s truly loved the room and so did she.