Be Our Guest

The blue guest room.  

Lots of light! Well, even if my stellar photography skills have managed to show only shadows.

From another angle. 

The all-important straight shot into the kids' bathroom.

It has been an insanely long time since we’ve had a stop on the decorating tour of chez Hofmann.

Forgive me.

I recently completed this room and I love it so much that I just had to get the tour going again. I still plan to eventually hit all the rooms, but it’s just taking awhile! And when I run out, I’ll decorate somebody else’s house so I can keep posting. (Hear that, Mums?)

As I’ve said before, decorating is one of my favorite things to do. The trouble is time and money. The more time you have to DIY, the better. The bigger your budget? Why, that’s even better. Then you can HIRE painters.

Well, I didn’t want to spend a lot on this room, which is currently our second guest bedroom. Guest bedroom #1 has its own private bathroom, as well as a queen-sized bed, so when I give guests the option of this room or the other one, they always choose the other one. This room has a hard time competing with that bathroom.

We hope this room will eventually become Charlotte’s little brother or sister’s room. With that in mind, I painted it this pretty shade of blue. And yes, even if #2 is a girl, we’ll keep the room blue. I’ve always wanted a room just like this, and it came out exactly as I had envisioned. I love it.

One of the things I love about this space is its angles. It’s not a square like Charlotte’s room—it has 5 walls. (It’s also a smidge bigger.) I would have made it Charlotte’s nursery, but the room faces the street while hers looks out onto the back yard. At the time we moved in, there was only a big open field beyond our property and I wanted to be able to nurse her in the rocking chair by the window with privacy! That was my entire rationale for choosing that room for her.

Back to the room: The bed is a double bed, bought when my whole family came out last Thanksgiving and we didn’t want to demote anybody to an aerobed for an entire week. The jury is still out as to whether or not this will be Charlotte’s big-girl bed. I think probably so, but it IS nice having an extra guest bed. It has come in handy more often than expected.

The linens and window treatments (except for the down comforter) are all from Overstock.com or smartbargains.com. (I got the window panels—fully lined!—for about $10 each. One of my best bargain finds EVER. I adore them.) The window hardware and decorative pillow are from Target. The ugly (I’ll admit it) nightstand is from my grad school penny-pinching days, which means it must be from Walmart. The pretty turquoise candle was a gift from Chris’s mom—and it smells good, too. The light was Chris’s desk lamp from his entry-level working, bachelor days. (I was with him when he bought it--$4.00  in the Staples clearance rack.)

The black mirror I found in the clearance section of Bed, Bath and Beyond. The pretty artwork that CHRIS FINALLY HUNG AFTER 5 MONTHS OF NAGGING is from Bed, Bath and Beyond as well. And you know I had coupons.

Yeah, it’s a bit sparse. It needs more artwork and furniture. But hey, every room in our home is a work in progress. I mean, I don’t want the fun to STOP, do I?

Anyway, this room is one of my favorites. And I hope that it shows that pretty need not equal big fat decorating budget.