Once the walls were painted and the great tree finished, it was time to add some finishing touches to the guest room. First, Agent Smith patched the hole in the floor where the furnace register once was (pic 1 below)–a pretty simple fix, and we didn’t bother to carpet over the area as I decided to rearrange the furniture and the bed would soon cover that section of carpet. (By happy chance, I had found a really cute duvet on Amazon (pic 2). It’s reversible and has a pretty patchwork look on one side and dinosaurs on the other. How could I not buy it?)
The one gotcha: while painting the tree, I accidentally knocked over the floor lamp, breaking two of the five glass shades. I swapped it out with the one from the blue room, since we were due to have guests occupying the room soon. I then reused the double curtain rod I originally purchased for the boys’ space (pic 3). Before we painted the north hallway, I used some curtains we had on a pair of French doors at our old place on Potrero Hill, but after painting the space, I ordered a gorgeous set of drapes and valance for the space and squirreled away the big rod.
Below is the dining room and master bedroom of our old house in San Francisco and said curtains. Digging up these photos makes me think I should post about our old place at some point. We lived there for almost 7 years, which for me was the longest I lived in any spot–although we’re approaching five years at Purgatory, so that record may eventually be broken.
But I have digressed wildly. The old curtain rod came in very handy and I ordered two sets of curtains: basic blue to match the bedding, and a set of very flouncy sheer curtains. I’m quite happy with the end result as the curtains, which replaced cheap honeycomb blinds that didn’t really fit the window, really soften the space.
Here are some shots of the mostly-finished space. The bedroom set in the guest room originally belonged to my maternal grandparents. When my grandmother passed away I took the dresser, mirror and headboard (which was once a desk but my grandfather crafted it into a headboard). There is a matching desk that my parents have at their house in Ohio, and this summer when we head there for a wedding, I will pick it up and bring it back as the space under the tree could actually make very good use of it. Amusingly enough, the lights on the sides of the headboard once belonged to my paternal grandparents. Sadly the old long-wave radio on the dresser doesn’t work. Someday I may find someone who can repair it or mod it into something useful, but for now it’s just a nostalgic bit of decoration.
A few months after finishing the room, I tried to find replacement shades for the ones I broke and failed miserably. That’s when Agent Smith got busy with our 3D printer. He crafted some incredibly gorgeous plastic shades that actually work better in the room than the old multicolored ones did.
I hit up Amazon and found some tiny shelves and a mobile of three swallows. The shelves were mounted on the walls where I had painted thick branches and the mobile was hung above the tree. Some small model cars and other car-related items went on the shelves and the end result is absolutely lovely.
A few finishing details still remain: besides the aforementioned desk, I want to replace the blind on the French door into the room and do something with the cover of the electrical breaker box, but the room is vastly improved over its original look and feel.
Here are three shots showing its evolution: the original wide-angle, professionally-lit listing photo; right after we moved in; and today.
