The Guest Room: Inspiration & Reality

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the guest room lately. It all started with this Pottery Barn "Rosalie Paisley" bedding. I just loved the colors and pattern. So when I saw it on sale, I purchased a queen duvet and two shams. In the catalog it's shown with this "Coleman" white iron bed. I think it makes a great combination.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm liking BM Sea Foam for the walls. It's an extremely light greenish blue. In direct sunlight, it almost looks white. However, this room will have north facing windows, so the color should be more noticeable, but still very subtle. The trim will be BM Super White.

Next I started thinking about a dresser. This room will be fairly small, but there's an alcove that will just fit a small dresser. Since it's a guest room, I'm not really worried about not having enough storage. I loved the idea of a painted piece. I found this gorgeous dresser from Maine Cottage in "Goodegg". The color works really well with both the wall color and the bedding.

For a lamp, I'm  looking for something in white so it would stand out against the wall color and with an interesting shape. I think this Ballard Designs' "Madison" lamp fits the bill.

I love the look of woven wood shades for the window. These, in natural wood, are from Smith + Noble.

Finally, I'll need some art for the walls. I liked this vintage-y seaweed, shells, and coral print from art.com.

So that's the wish list. Now here's the reality. The bedding was originally $150, but with the sale and a 15% off coupon, I was able to get it for $94. Not bad. The bed, however, is $799. The dresser is $1890. The lamp is $249. The price of the woven shades varies by size. A 36" x 60" shade is $303. The framed print (24" x 32") is $294.

Are you doing the math? Not including the bedding, it's over $3500. Way out of the budget. So, I have some plans to recreate this room for substantially less money. In fact, I'm going to see what I can do for under $500, including the bed, dresser, lamp, window treatments, and artwork. In upcoming posts I'll be documenting my progress. First up, recreating the dresser for under $100. Stay tuned.