interior design Archives - Darling Darleen

10 Ways to Prepare Your Guest Room

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10 Ways to Prepare Your Guest Room for Guests

Do you have guests coming in for the holidays? Have you prepared your guest room for your guests? We have quite a few family members coming in for the holidays, which is such a treat because we usually never get to spend the holidays with other family members! It’s so wonderful, and my children are so excited! With that said, I have been hustling in getting our guest room ready for their arrival. Needless to say, our guest room has become a clutter mess of randomness. So, I have been de-cluttering and attacking those neglected piles. While we don’t always have a ton of overnight guests, I will say that I am quite the expert of being a guest in other people’s home. So I feel like I know from experience of staying in a large number of family and friends’ home what a guest wants and how a guest room should be set up to make the stay comfortable and really like you haven’t left home. So, I am sharing 10 ways to prepare your guest room for overnight guests. Remember that it is the little touches that can go a long way.

Clean Linen, Pillows and extra bedding–You definitely want your guests to sleep well, so preparing the bed properly is essential and probably the most important part of preparing a guest room. The obvious is clean linen, so if needed maybe buy new linens if the sheets have stains or old. Make sure that the sheets have a high thread count like 300. These are my favorite high thread count sheet set. It just makes slipping in the bed so relaxing and smooth. Have at least 4 pillows! Some soft, some hard. I sleep with at least 3 pillows. My husband sleeps with one pillow. Lots of pillows are a plus. Also have extra bedding like a throw blanket, coverlet and comforter. The Sferra throw blankets are best and a favorite in our home.
Nightstand and Table Light–Having a nightstand near the bead is nice for the guest because they will be able to have a place for a cup of water, or contacts, glasses, phone or other personal items. A table light is convenient in case they need to get up in the middle of the night especially if they are not use to the room and need to find their way around at night. These two items are essential. I like to include a pretty bowl for the guest catch-all like jewelry or change. Reading material or magazines are a plus. Leave a note on the nightstand with your wifi-password
Fresh flowers–Having a small vase of fresh flowers is just one of those little things that makes a guest feel like they are truly welcomed in your home. Place one on the nightstand and another in the bathroom they will be using.
Bathroom Essentials–Stock the bathroom with toiletries like a body bar, shampoo, conditioner and lotion. Have towels and washcloths easily available. If there isn’t a bathroom attached to the guest bedroom, then place the clean towels on the bed so they don’t need to ask for it.
Have a Sitting Area–if you have the space, set up a comfortable chair in the corner or reading for catching up on their social media outlets. This is also nice to have a chair to sit when putting on shoes.
Window Coverings–there is nothing worse than waking up because the sun is shining in your face. Make sure your guest room has proper window coverings. Maybe get black out curtains or shades. Also, it adds privacy.
Have a pack to unpack–Keep your guest room clutter-free. Move items that might get in the way of your guest’s luggage. Include a closet or hooks for them to place their coats or hang their purse. Also, decorate sparingly. Don’t clutter the room with too much furniture.
Welcome Goodies–place a basket of goodies on the bed or nightstand as a welcome gift. Nut bars, power bars, candy, mints, snacks, drink mixes are a fun surprise for guests and will always put a smile on their face.
Make the floor comfortable–Your guests are walking in an unknown space with their bare feet, so add a rug near the bed especially if you have hardwood floors. Or make sure your carpets are clean! Try to get rid of stain or hide them with a cowhide rugs or sheep skin rug. Currently I am loving the look of layering rugs. If you have an old rug, place a complementing newer rug on top of the old one.
Clean and then Relax–I know this is so obvious, but it does have to be said. There is no excuse for a dirty guest bedroom. Get it cleaned and make the bed before your guest comes. Clean the bathroom they will be using. If your guests are family, it’s still not an excuse. Then once it’s clean, relax and enjoy their company!

What are some of essentials you think a guest room should have?

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DIY Abstract Art Painting: Anyone Can be an Artist

DIY Abstract Art Painting: I am determined, and have set a goal to get our home finished this year. Which means, I need to fill empty walls with pretty pictures. Doing a DIY Abstract Art tutorial has been on my to-do list for some time. I am by no means a professional painter, but I have taken many art classes and know the basics. But really to make a DIY abstract art painting, you don’t have to be a professional or have taken an art class. Any one can do it! Even a child because I’ve done many with my own children, like this DIY abstract painting. Abstract art is my favorite, and I love how you can take different views and perspectives from it. So, grab some paint, canvas and brushes, and let’s make a DIY abstract art painting for you to admire!

Supplies

water

Any canvas will work to make a DIY abstract art painting. It really depends on your wall space. I painted on a 30×36 canvas and bought the cheapest one. If you don’t have one, set up a work space. I used two stools and leaned the canvas against a wall. Make sure to cover you space with paper or an old cloth. Also have a paint palette to hold your paint and mix colors.

On your palette, I organized the paint by color family (pinks with pinks, blues with blues, neutral with neutral). Make sure you have white paint. That was color I used the most! I have two different shades of white. You can use any color you are going for. These are just the colors in my house. So if you want to use reds and yellows or some other color, go for it! I just suggest getting three different shades of the same color family. One medium, darker and lighter. Unless you know how to mix colors!

If you’d like you can prime the canvas with a color. Use Gesso paint to do that. A primer also helps to control the texture of the paints. But I didn’t do that with mine. I just started with a blank canvas. Begin by painting with the medium color with brush strokes of up and down or side to side anywhere on the canvas. This will set where that color family will be located. Make sure you have a few different brush sizes to create different lines.

You can start by making horizontal rectangular formations of brushstrokes. Start out with a vague plan of composition and color
Work around the canvas in your color family, but be open to change and let go of out expected outcome. That’s the fun of abstract!
Start blending the color families together connecting them with complementary colors
Add white to paint over areas you don’t like or want to blend together or want to lighten. I used a lot of white!
Don’t be afraid to create depth and use circular motions and patterns. I wanted to tone down all the up and down strokes so I changed to circular patterns in the middle.
Once you are satisfied, paint the sides of the canvas to create a finish piece

I also suggest walking away from your DIY abstract painting and then coming back to it 10 minutes later. You might see it in a different way and add more colors or different patterns. To finish it off, I added gold metallic acrylic paint to create depth and interest.

Once dried, you can add a finish gloss over your piece. Don’t forget to name it and sign it! This piece is called Ocean Rainfall. Then display it and create more!

Get the look:

At Home with Amy Howard

At Home with Amy Howard: If you follow me on IG, you may have noticed I have been talking quite a bit about Amy Howard Home. Well, I recently was invited (along with 13 other bloggers) to attend an Amy Howard Home Painting Workshop in Memphis to learn all the painting techniques, which I can’t wait to share with you in the coming months. One night, we were invited to dinner at Amy and Gene Howard’s Home. Every corner of her house was impressively decorated, and I love how she incorporated traditional pieces with a touch of modern.

The first thing that caught my eye and made my mouth drop in admiration was her white painted hard wood floors. I really wish I captured better lighting but it was at night, so these are the best I could do. Amy and her team are currently developing a paint for floors that are strong enough to handle the wear and abuse from children, dogs and husbands too! Her white floors looked amazing, and I saw no marks on the floor. How gorgeous is that dark oriental rug against the white? I love the Restoration Hardware milk globe light fixture against her traditional pieces.

White painted floors! How beautiful! One of the things I came to really appreciate while browsing around Amy’s home is that most of her furniture pieces were rescued and refinished. But you wouldn’t have thought! Her paints do an amazing job making them look real or as though you bought it at a high-end furniture store. They just looked so perfect and new. Her farmhouse dining table and mismatch chairs and antique chandelier were a gorgeous surprise to her elegant home.

The little girl’s room was probably my favorite room! Schumacher navy blue wallpaper against pink curtains was a darling combination. The beds are restored and reupholstered in a velvet blue fabric. The restored lamps were laquered in pink, similar to my lacquer lamp.

Kitchen and bathroom shot of at home with Amy Howard. The acrylic bar stools with cow hide were custom made. And her bathroom floors were marble tile that she had placed in a herringbone pattern to give it a richer look. Sea grass wallpaper in the bathroom and the abstract painting gives the right amount of color to the room. I always love a good kitchen and bathroom!

The last bedroom was so impressive! The room’s walls were completely covered in a Schumacher damask fabric! The bed was restored using Amy’s toscana paints and then upholstered in the same fabric. The lamb fur benches give the room a touch of modern.

Amy and Gene were so gracious to open up their beautiful home to us! It was quite a treat !

Get the look of At Home with Amy Howard:

DIY Tassel Pillow

Cost: $15 (includes pillow insert)

Project Time: about 1.5 hours

I’ve become obsessed with tassels and making them is so easy! So sticking with the tassel theme, I am showing how to make a DIY tassel pillow that would look good on a sofa or bed. This pillow is inspired by this Anthropologie pillow and less than half the price.

I cut out about 32 tassels, and made most of them while listening to my 1st grader read for his daily 20 minutes of reading. Multi-tasking ladies!

Materials:

embroidery thread (multiple colors). For a 20×20 pillow you will need about 16 threads

scissors

pins

sewing machine

white thread

pillow cover (I used Ikea Gurli pillow cover)

pillow insert (I used Ikea Fjadrar pillow insert)

Instructions:

Follow these instructions to make the tassels. Some modifications are that you won’t fold over the embroidery thread. You will just make one tassel on each end of the embroidery thread (so 2 tassels for 1 embroidery). I used the same thread color to tie the tassels. No need to put a jump ring on it. You will sew it instead. I cut my tassels about 2 inches.

So for a 20×20 pillow I made 32 tassels (8 tassels for each side). Once you finish making your tassels, lay out the tassels evenly along the edge of the pillow. The ikea pillow cover I bought was a flange pillow so I made a little cut between the seam and wiggled the tassel in between so it looked like it was sewn into the pillow cover. If your cover doesn’t have that, then you can just sew it on the outside and keep that side of the pillow against the sofa.

After you pin all the tassels along all 4 sides of the pillow, sew a straight stitch right along the edge. Be careful if you have a zipper that you don’t sew the opening shut! Once done, put the pillow insert in and enjoy!

diy tassel pillow, anthropologie inspired, tassel pillow, ikea hack, bohemian

Here are some options if you don’t want to make one:

Vintage Dresser Re-do with a touch of Modern

diy, staining, vintage dresser, renovation, refinishing

Mirror: Ballard Designs style Atoll (sold out) (similar) || Lamp: West Elm || Dresser Handles: Amazon

Repainted Vintage Dresser: We found this vintage dresser hanging out in the front yard of an abandon house. It was going to be junked so we snatched it. This is very much out of my element (grabbing random furniture off the side of the road), but we saw potential in the piece, and it was solid wood and very well made. They don’t make furniture like they used to! We cleaned it and kept it in the garage for a while. Then one weekend we got the urge to finally refinish and stain it. My husband spent a full day sanding, taking off the decorative items and filling any cracks. Here are the befores:

After sanding, we stain the piece with Varathane sun-bleached . The color is beautiful, but I will say that it’s more gray than brown. Once we stain the entire piece I was thinking it looked a little too gray and flat. We have gray walls so I didn’t want the piece blending with the walls.

After it dried, I then did light sanding and applied one quick layer of Miniwax Special Walnut wood stain. I let it dried and then touched up with Amy Howard’s One paint in Java, which I applied only a little bit to create more variation and texture. With Amy Howard one paints you have to finish it off with a wax. My local store that sells her products were all out of the wax and because of timing I decided to reapply a quick coat of stain to seal the paint. Afterward I felt satisfied! I like how you can still see the sunbleached peeking through, and the other colors giving it more depth and texture. I am wondering if instead I started the base with special walnut and then added the sunbleached over if it would give it a different look. We bought new handles and kept the hole width from the previous handles. Overall I think the vintage dresser came out good.

To make the vintage dresser look a little more modern, I styled it with a modern pillar lamp from West Elm and a white-framed mirror from Ballard Designs. The decorative vases and tray are items I had around my house.

Don’t want to DIY and just want to buy it? Here are some options:

White Leather Modern Chairs

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White Leather Modern Chairs: Under $500. White leatherette and modern chrome create an edgy lounge chair. These chairs have a minimalist tone, but can work with any room decor. This is a great way to bring in a modern style and pair it with a traditional sofa, similar to the image below.

Image

The ones listed above are all under $500. I just ordered two of the Rialto Bonded Leather chairs for an office room I’m helping with decorating. They look so good and comfortable to sit in. Now we just need a rug and decorating accessories.

Guest Bathroom

Guest Bathroom: Before + After. We bought our southern house about two years ago from a builder. It was a spec home, which means it was a new build but not custom (we couldn’t pick any of the finishes out) and everything inside was builder grade. We have been slowly making changing throughout the house, especially with the light fixtures. The house was all brown when we bought it–outside, inside and all the details. As my Dad would say…’cum on builders! Get with the program! And I would finish that off with…that’s SO 1998. Well, first thing we did was paint the entire house a soft gray, switching out the brown paint color. We added wallpaper to many rooms. One was the guest bathroom. And we just finally switched out the light fixture and mirror in the guest bathroom.

Here are the before “progressing” pictures. I didn’t get a picture of the bathroom right after we moved in without the wallpaper, but you get the idea. We never painted this room but instead just added wallpaper.

Here is the “after”. Just a few minor changes can make a big impact. I wanted to keep the southern feel of the house, so I didn’t want to go too modern. But the light fixture has a traditional contemporary look. The light fixture is suppose to face down but because of the mirror size, I had to flip it facing up. It works because of the height of the ceiling and still adds a ton of light. I will say that to update the house I’ve been going with a chrome finish on fixtures regardless that the faucets and door handles are brown antique bronze. I think it is OKAY to mix metals in a room. All the links and resources are below.