Helping My Mom with Her Upstairs Bedroom

So, when I moved out of my parents' house, and this room specifically, to go to college, it became a junk room for my mom. She got rid of all my belongings (toys, mementos, old clothes...) but kept the old handed-down furniture, thus making the room still feel pretty claustrophobic. She moved her sewing items into this room, but she hasn't sewn in years. Neither her nor my dad has used this room in a long, long time (a decade?). Recently, she expressed some interest in fixing this room up so that her grandkids can have a sleepover at her house. I think this is a great idea! Here's what I suggested to her...

A Multi-Colored Rainbow Room

Image 1: Moodboard

Image 2: Inspiration Room

One of my favorite things to do with my three-year-old is to look through design magazines and pick the rooms we'd like to live in. My son picked out a room he particularly liked (Image 2), and I created a moodboard for it (Image 1).

Links:
Image 1 (Moodboard): Pink bed, navy and white duvet, green rug, nightstand, abstract art, panel curtains, cute planter, white table lamp, multi-colored fleece throw blanket, lumbar pillow, blue square pillows, yellow square pillow, multi-colored chair, euro shams, typography "wonderful" print, typography "stay wild" print
Image 2 (Inspiration Room): Anne Seike for Pinecone Hill Palm Springs Look

The trick with a "rainbow" room is to have areas where the eye can rest, like the white duvet. In the inspiration image, the white rug also does this, but white rugs are impractical, so I replicated the greenery outside the inspiration room's window with a rug solid rug in the moodboard. The white prints in the moodboard also serve to create some visually quiet spaces.

I will say that the moodboard was not meant to replicate the inspiration room precisely because I wanted to stay true to my own personal style. For example, I don't really like the chair in the inspiration room. And I inserted my own bedside table in my moodboard (if you were doing this for your room, you'd probably want to choose a white bedside table).

Advice for Guest Bedrooms and Hosting Guests

After commenting myself on this WaPo Live Chat, I decided to better organize my thoughts and write this post based on my recent experience staying with family out-of-state. This advice is particularly applicable if some of your houseguests will be children.

1. Air Mattresses - If you have one, make sure they it does not have a slow leak by testing it over the course of 3+ days before your guests arrive. No one wants to wake up on top of a deflated air mattress.
2. Wardrobes and Dressers - If you have one in your guests' quarters, make sure it is completely empty. If it's full, it just takes up space where your guests are going to want to put their luggage.
3. Infants and Sleep - Have your guests bring their pack-and-play from home, or have one on hand yourself. They are relatively inexpensive and easily fold up for travel or when not in use.
4. Kids and Sleep - Consider investing in a cot that can be folded up when not in use. Alternatively, if the child is age five or under, you could use an inexpensive crib mattress that can be placed on the floor, and stowed under a bed when not in use. As a third option, consider a twin bed or a twin air mattress. A fourth option would be pull-out chair or sofa, though that would be the most expensive of these options.
5. Fans - Especially if you do not have a ceiling fan, consider placing a fan in the room. Guests like being able to control the temperature of their room, and some also enjoy the white noise and / or air flow that a fan can provide.
6. Hooks - Consider installing hooks that your guests can hang their bath towels (or wet swimsuits) on. Install the hooks in either in the bedroom or in the guests' bedroom, depending on where you have space. These hooks could also be useful for winter coats and sweaters when the weather changes.
7. Simple, Layered Bedding - Opinions will vary widely on this, but personally I prefer doing only a fitted sheet (no top sheet), one to two bed pillows per guest (no throw pillows and no bed skirt), a freshly laundered duvet (as opposed to a comforter or quilt), and a folded blanket at the foot of the bed (or stowed nearby). The absence of a top sheet and throw pillows will make it easier for your guests to easily make their bed in the morning (cramped spaces always look better with a freshly made bed). The absence of a bed skirt will make it easier to spot guests’ items that have inadvertently rolled under the bed. Further, both throw pillows and a bed skirt can collect dust which may irritate some guests' allergies. A duvet is easily machine-washable (unlike a comforter or quilt which may be too large or heavy to launder at home, and bulky to store when not in use). The addition of a blanket will help guests if using a duvet is too warm or not warm enough (depending on if the blanket is used instead of, or in addition to, the duvet).
8. Room-Darkening Curtains - Consider installing light-blocking curtains or blinds - some guests may not care, but others cannot sleep with mere sheers on the windows.
9. Waste Basket - Provide a small, freshly-emptied waste basket.
10. Limit Occasional-Use Furniture - Unless you have a lot of space in your guest bedroom, do not provide a large-scale reading chair because guests can always read elsewhere (e.g.: in bed, in your living room, or in a smaller chair). Also, try to choose smaller-scale furniture for your guest bedroom which will allow for maximum flexibility in terms of how guests use your space. For example, if you are going to include a reading chair, consider choosing one without arms. Note that all too often, a guest bedroom can become a dumping ground for furniture that should be discarded (or placed in storage), rather than merely relocated / relegated to the guest bedroom. Personally, I’d prefer a small bench (to sit on when putting on my shoes) or a folding luggage stand (to place my suitcase upon) over having a chair in a guest bedroom.
11. Toiletries - Consider providing travel-sized toiletries for your guests. Just the basics will do, and just one of each product is sufficient (shampoo, conditioner, bar soap, and a sealed travel-sized pack of Kleenex). Also, you may want to provide a couple of other new items too in case your guests forget to pack theirs (a fresh toothbrush and razor are sufficient).
12. Electronics - Consider providing a power strip (and / or a USB outlet) near the bed, and a sign with the Wi-Fi network name and password information (blank templates are available online for free, or you could make your own).
13. Water - Leave some bottled water (two bottles is sufficient) on the nightstand - it’s much hard to inadvertently knock over than a carafe.
14. A Small Refrigerator - If an only if you have sufficient money and space to purchase and keep one, consider having a small fridge in the room that can be plugged in whenever you plan to have guests. It’s great to have for storing anything your guests need to keep cold: milk (for kids or babies), orange juice for the morning, or leftovers.

In addition to the items above, I wanted to add a note regarding communicating your feelings to your guests. If you have a problem with something your guests are doing (lifestyle, etiquette, habits, or anything else), consider bringing it up as soon as possible - waiting until the end of the trip gives your guests no time to adjust their behavior, nor does it provide them any time to make alternative lodging arrangements for the duration of their trip if the behavior cannot be helped. Any group of people living together is going to eventually hit bumps in the road, and stewing about it helps no one. Keep your tone constructive rather than adversarial, and keep your comments as focused to the specific issue(s) at hand.

Toddler Bedroom Update

You may remember that I redid my son's bedroom in November. I have since added a new toddler sheet set from Land of Nod that my son got as a Christmas gift.

5-Day Do-Over: My Dining Room (and it took me MONTHS)

The After Photo

This didn't have to take me months, but it did. I had a baby, and my priorities changed during the "newborn" period.  Now that I have finally finished the room, here is how it went. I didn't do all of these steps exactly in order, but you get the idea. Note that I previously did this for my living room (see that post for more info.).

The Before Photo:
We subsequently replaced the tired rug, sold the console table, repainted, and cleaned

The end of the first day

The furniture was rearranged, and this is the new rug (based on people's comments, I moved the table closer towards the center of the room later on)

The console table is gone; the art is still the same

Another shot of the same thing; note the relatively small and dark art on the walls and the different objects on the table

A close-up of the old art

Notice the blue kitchen cabinets, which were subsequently painted white, and that I'm experimenting by trying different artwork on the walls

This was the photo that convinced me to change the railing (behind the table / in the background) to a half-wall - it's just a lot of bars to have in one room given the obligatory baby-gate to the kitchen (in the foreground)

The baby that changed everything

It got messy

Once we repainted the walls a calmer blue-gray color, the autumn colors outside really popped

Notice the white kitchen cabinets, and the kitchen walls were repainted gray (before they were a buttery color)

Obligatory cute kids photo

The after photo!

The after photo, zoomed out so you can see the half-wall

A close-up of the items on our table

Another photo of the half-wall

A significantly zoomed out shot

A close-up of the new artwork

"Day" 1

• Pick a room: I chose our dining room.
• List all of the decorative items in the room: I had several photographs on the walls and also several smaller framed photographs on the desk (photos of horses, rams, reindeer, and an owl), as well as a cat postcard, and a green placemat that was serving as a small table runner.
• Of the above items, which do not seem to fit in: The ram photograph and the black horses photograph didn't seem to fit in the most (they didn't convey the airy, spacious feeling I was going for).

"Day" 2

• What categories* of decorative items are there too many of: I had way too many realistic photographs - I needed more variety in my artwork.
• Remove a few of those: Okay, so I removed all of the photos. Maybe I went overboard?
• Look around the house for some items with more variety to add to the room: I added sculptural items via the Korean wedding ducks, and I added a tray (at first I added the colorful circles tray, but later I swapped that out for a wooden turkey-shaped board). I tried adding a candle too but my toddler promptly destroyed it by trying to eat it.

*Categories could be: pillows, textiles, photos, prints, trays, vases, bowls, etc.

"Day" 3

• What items can be removed because they are not beautiful, useful, or meaningful: I feel like this is sort of a repeat/reincarnation of Day 2, but in addition to the photos I removed on Day 2, I removed the "desk" (or was it a buffet table, a sofa table, or a console table? whatever it was, it now lives happily in someone else's home), and I removed the extra chair. I also added a faux cowhide storage ottoman because the room lacked upholstered pieces.

"Day" 4

• Instead of buying things, create a "wish list" of items you would like to add to the room and gradually add those items over the next few months: I wanted a new highchair for the kiddo, a pony wall (also called a knee wall) instead of the metal railing, and to repaint the room - these last two things actually happened! I replaced the rug because it was old and stained, but I did that before I got to the Day 4 step.

"Day" 5

• Write down the colors in the room currently: The room had light brown, white/ivory, and blue-green.
• Choose a fresh accent color to add to the room and add it in at least three places: I chose maraschino cherry and added it in the framed print on the wall and the tablecloth - I guess the bill on one of the ducks is also red so that's three!
• Remove a color (optional): I removed some of the brown (thanks to the artwork swap) and I also removed all of the blue-green thanks to a new ivory rug and new steely-gray wall paint (the new wall paint harmonizes with the gray and dark blue in the adjacent living room).

Reflection

• There is a lot of overlap between Day 2 and Day 3, which are the steps when things are added and removed based on their decor category (Day 2) and their use/meaning/purpose/sentimentality (Day 3). Although things are also taken away and added on Day 5, at that point it's based on color and seems like a clearly separate idea.
• I posted a midway photo of the room to people and their main suggestions were: the art is too small (agreed), lower and center the chandelier, add a table cloth (done), and change the upholstery fabric on the dining chairs. Lowering/centering the chandelier sounds like a simple thing, but it's not - first we'd have to remove links from its chain to do it right, and second, it is impossible to actually center the chandelier over the table (because the table would then be too close to the kitchen), which I feel is less noticeable if the chandelier is way up high. However, I did move the table so that the chandelier is closer to being centered than it was. I would still like to change the upholstery on the chairs someday (if we still have them), but it's not a priority for me.
• I'm most happy with the change in paint color (it feels so fresh and sophisticated now), the half-wall, and moving the ottoman here (which frees up a lot of space in our master bedroom). The half-wall was a game-changer because it's better at holding up our baby gate (which is on the other side of it), it's a nice place to put things temporarily, and nothing "falls downstairs" under the railing anymore.

Note: Because I lost my paper files thanks to a rambunctious cat and a spilled Brita pitcher, I can't quite remember everything that happened.

Infographic

I made an infographic because everyone loves infographics!

Sources
The existing table and chairs are from CraigsList. The existing chandelier is from Lowes. The new tablecloth is from Home Goods. The turkey cutting board is from Etsy. The Korean wedding ducks were a gift. The curtains are from JCPenney. The new rug is from World Market, although the fibers aren't strong so I wouldn't recommend it. The new art print and frame are from ArtCrate. The ottoman is from Overstock.

Fake It 'Til You Make It: Yellow, Ivory and Tan Bedroom

I found this inspiration image, originally from Atlanta Homes Mag, and wondered, how could this look be achieved at home? Here is my answer, with affordable sources!

Sources:

Yellow cowhide rug

Yellow euro sham pillow

White stool with quaterfoil motif

Yellow glass vase

Wall sconce

Table lamp

Rustic nightstand

Headboard

Artwork

Burlap pillow

Duvet

Yellow sheets

Challenges:

The tan color was a little hard to source because there are many words that all can mean tan - flax, beige, camel, and sand can be the same color, but internet listings may not list the word you choose to search for in lieu of another, similar word for the same thing! Also, I believe the curtains and the pillow on the bench may be custom (made specifically for this room using fabric and some seamstress skills), so I could not find a ready-made close match for the curtains.

The Teal & Lime 5-Day Do-Over: My Living Room

First, a nice glossy after pic...

AFTER photo

Now that I've got that out of the way, here is what happened when I took Jackie Hernandez's (AKA Teal & Lime's) Five-Day Decorating Do-Over. I won't get into all of the steps since you can buy her book (it is her method after all), plus this post is more about what happened to me when I used her method of no-cost decorating.

Day 1 (in a nutshell)
First, pick one room. Do NOT try to do more than one room, seriously. Make a list of all of the decorative items in the room. Next, circle the items that do not seem to fit in.

• For my room, I cirlced the rocking horse, the Marimeko flower pillow, the tiny bunny rabbit pillow, and the painting of a winter tree.

My pre-cleaning BEFORE photo

I eventually did clean, just look at the after photos!

This dark blue throw blanket is actually staying in the room, but it's in the laundry now, so add it to the after photos using your imagination

Day 2 (in a nutshell)
Use Jackie's Decorating Staples Checklist and cross out items that you seem to have too many of. Then, remove a few and look around your home for some items with more variety to add to the room.

• For my room, I noticed that I had a bizillion square pillows, and also quite a few family photos. So I removed a couple of pillows and one family photo. I added a vase and a couple of sculptural items (in my case, a couple of decoy ducks).

Day 3 (in a nutshell)
Use Jackie's Decision Tree and the list you created on Day 1 to evaluate each item in your room. Remove anything that is not beautiful, useful, or meaningful.

• For my room, I noticed that the bar I set for "beautiful" was actually pretty high, and so I was able to remove things that I thought were pretty, but not as pretty as the items that remained in the room. The same goes for the bar I set for "meaningful."

This is more of a MID-WAY photo than a DAY 3 photo

Another MID-WAY photo - note the absence of the toy chest in favor of some dark blue IKEA trunks that the kiddo can actually reach into himself

Day 4 (in a nutshell)
Do NOT rush out and buy things. Instead, write a "wish list" of items you would like to add to the room. Revisit the list in a couple of weeks - you may be surprised to find that you no longer want all of the things that are on your list.

• On my wish list I put silver frames, less-sheer curtains, and a ceiling light. When I "shopped" my home on Day 5, I actually found some curtains that would work that were being stored in our guest bedroom.

Okay, and maybe a new gaming system is on the wish list too (XBox One, we covet you)

Day 5 (in a nutshell)
Choose a fresh accent color to add to your room, and add it in at least three places (e.g. in a throw blanket, in a pillow, and in a piece of artwork) by "shopping" your home for things to add to the room. Optional: Remove an existing accent color from the room.

• My existing room colors were light green, gray-brown, pale blue and dark blue. I tried to add either white or red, but I did not have quite enough things elsewhere in my home to add. So, I'm still going to tentatively try to add more white over time (I did add a white lamp and curtains that had thin white stripes). But the biggest change for me, I think, was removing light blue. I had already bought a replacement rug and a replacement coffee table before taking the Five Day Challenge, so this was still no-cost decorating for me. The rug change was purely pragmatic - the blue one shed too much. And the coffee table change was also purely pragment - toys and books were getting stuck under it, plus it had sharp corners and I have a kiddo running around.

Yep, I clearly did not stage this AFTER photo

Note that I added more light green to this room, shown here via the green vase; although changing the curtains actually made a huge difference to this room, this is apparently the only AFTER photo I have that shows them

That white nightstand is just temporary - I'm tackling one thing at a time here

These are the two pillows that I loved, so they stayed (again, totally not a staged photo)

As I mentioned before, I added more of the light green accent color

This room feels very livable to me (and I'm not drowning in pillows, although having one more pillow couldn't hurt)

Yes, we have an exercise ball in our living room - that is just how we do

Notes:
I know there is not a lot of art on the walls. I am getting around to that, I promise. Some previously ordered blue bins to corral the books below the TV are also on their way.

The Six Tenets of Home Spending List

Ideally, you can afford to maintain your home as needed and, by saving up, you can afford to make periodic upgrades, and to do one room makeover a year. By "maintain your home," I mean that you can and do have routine maintenance performed (ex: yearly HVAC servicing) and can and do repair or replace all items that are unsafe, hazardous or broken (ex: a broken fence). By "periodic upgrades," I mean that you can go beyond maintenance and actually improve your home and thus increase its resale value and livability (ex: tearing down a wall between the kitchen and dining room to create a more open layout). By "room makeover," I mean that you can alter the functionality, comfort-level, and appearance of an existing room. Sometimes, life takes an unexpected turn – for example, if you suddenly had to renovate your whole house to make it wheelchair friendly – and your home spending budget will get blown out of the water. But for the most part, if you buy a house that you can comfortably afford, save up for larger purchases, have a rainy day fund, and be thoughtful with your home spending, then you will be able to do the three things I mentioned above (1. Maintain Your Home As Needed, 2. Upgrade Your Home Periodically, and 3. Do a Room Makeover Periodically).

Here are Six Tenets of Home Spending that will help you to be thoughtful with your home spending:

1. Have a monthly home spending budget. Some months you will go over it, and others you will go under it, but it helps to have a general goal / target in mind.
2. Make sure your spending habits are sustainable. For example, top-to-bottom holiday decorating for every holiday is financially unsound - it's better to prioritize one or two holidays a year and under-decorate for the rest.
3. Track your expenditures and spending categories. So you can see where your money is going, here are some basic spending categories to get you started: mortgage or rent, utilities, education, entertainment, health care, transportation, clothing, food, and home furnishings. Create some additional categories (or subcategories) that are relevant to you, specifically – here are some ideas that might be applicable: books, charitable donations, restaurants, groceries, pets… You can track your spending yourself, or you can let a site like Mint.com to do it for you. One thing that’s nice about Mint is that it will show you a monthly pie chart that is divided into various spending categories, and you can customize the categories. Knowing how your money is being spent can help you make meaningful decisions about where to cut back on spending.
4. Accept that everything you can buy is temporary. Nice items, although they do last longer than cheap items, will eventually wear out and need either replacing or repairing. I used to think of home furnishings and upgrades (e.g. new kitchen cabinets, flooring, hardware fixtures…) in terms of creating a nice infrastructure that I could then blissfully forget about. Subsequently, I realized that besides an initial investment cost, everything has an associated maintenance cost and time, a life span, a resale value, and a movability factor. Only once I consider all of these additional factors will I determine if an item is right for me.Take granite countertops for example – they require sealing annually, they last for a long time, they add to a home’s resale value, and I will not be taking them with me if I move / relocate.
5. Avoid total gut jobs if possible. Frequently on design blogs and in shelter magazines, I see whole-house renovations. While these are great for before-and-after photo comparisons, these are very expensive, and usually not affordable or practical for most people. For example, even if you had saved up $50k to entirely renovate your kitchen, how long are you willing to subsist on takeout food and disposable cutlery? Additionally, doing a top-to-bottom large-scale renovation now will probably look dated in ten years. That’s because tastes change, and because buying everything at one time means that you’ll probably purchase (intentionally or not) things that are trendy / trending at that time. My case in point, the makeovers in reruns of the 2011 season of the HGTV show PropertyBrothers which now look very 2011. Assuming that your house was not the victim of a catastrophic event (like a flood) and that it is structurally sound, try to identify the things that must be replaced and focus on those “mandatory” things first, rather than doing a total gut job.
6. Try to make double-duty purchases. These purchases fall into more spending categories than just one, just stretching the value of your buck. For example, if your hobby is building things (DIY), then your home DIY spending is both home spending and entertainment spending. Alternatively, if you love going to flea markets (or estate sales, or auctions, or yard sales), then money spent on those trips doubles as part of your entertainment budget. There are endless examples of double-duty items, and they’re not limited to just home spending. For example, to a person who loves to cook, high-quality spices and organic ingredients would count as both food and entertainment. If the food was particularly healthful, I might even include it in my health and wellness category. Generally speaking, you can justify spending slightly more on items if they’re double-duty (multi-category) items.