When your children become adults and begin leaving the nest, you experience a roller coaster of emotions. You're happy they're launching their own lives, yet you're also mourning the fact that they are ready to leave you. One of the most difficult questions to answer is, what do you do with their room?
Upon realizing that my daughter was truly not returning, it dawned on me that the purple princess room, brimming with teenage spirit and a bed that was perpetually unmade, could be mine. ALL mine. The possibilities were endless! I got started by listing both needs and wants and creating a plan. This room would become my very own guest room-art retreat-office. A "gustartfice" if you will!
As a teacher on summer break, I knew this transformation would take a significant amount of time, and the clock would be ticking! The loftiest goal would be building a set of floor to ceiling arched bookcases sitting atop two dressers. A desk would be necessary for the office aspect of this room, as well as storage for art and craft supplies and a place for our guests to keep their clothing and toiletries. I chose to use two Ikea Hemnes Three Drawer Dressers as the bases. This would save time and help the budget.
Build Dresser Base and Dressers
The first step was building the dressers. I HIGHLY recommend searching for a YouTube video for this, along with the Ikea directions. This was a lifesaver! I won't say this step was easy, but it wasn't brutal and made the job go faster. I did add some extra supports on the inside for strength and durability. I built a base for them, lightly sanded the outsides and painted them with primer. Then I attached them to the wall studs.
Build Bookcases
Once the dressers were in, I started cutting the sanded birch plywood for the arched bookcases. These were sanded, primed and painted before being pocket-holed together, along with a liberal amount of wood glue. A straight edge metal yardstick with a hole drilled into it was used to create the arches. I drilled a small screw into the middle bottom of the plank and stuck a pencil in a hole drilled in the opposite end. Then I dragged the yardstick/pencil from left to right as pictured below. The arch was cut with a jigsaw and attached to the front of the bookcases with a nail gun.
Build Desk
Once the bookcases were in place, it was time to build the attached desk. To be honest, I would not build my own desk if I did this room again. Instead, I would find a desk ready made and attach it to the bookcases just as I did here, but it would be a lot easier! After several tries, I finally built a desk worthy of staying here. My favorite part was the drawer outlined with little half circle wooden beads to add a touch of character.
After securing the desk to the side of the dresser, I added both crown and base moldings. The room was primed and then painted with SW Porcelain paint. It's just the right amount of white and cream, but not too bright and not too yellow. I added a wood overlay to each shelf and painted the inside of the bookcases with SW Tricorn black. The decor is a mixture of travel finds, thrifted items and a couple other whimsical purchases to add interest and character. Brass knobs etched with a scaled detail finish off these drawers along with tape lighting hidden underneath to showcase the decor.
The Bed
The bed is layered with a gorgeous cream colored channel stitch velvet quilt, a handmade woven plush blanket (made by my daughter!), velvet olive shams and a black lumbar pillow with cream striping. The sheets are my absolute favorite Mellanni sheets with 340,000 reviews! The black framed cane headboard was the perfect size, however the caning was too yellow. I toned it down by rubbing on a little walnut stain/taupe paint mixture which did the trick!
The Final Touches
Gold and crystal door knobs replaced the builder's grade handles, giving even more of that luxury feel. A picture light was installed above the Catrin Welz-Stein art from ICanvas.
I happened to discover an adorable
antique rattan chair at my local
Goodwill store for $19! I cleaned it up and added a new cushion for some extra seating.
The tiered glass and gold chandelier was the icing on the cake. It added a touch of glitz and glamour and really pulled everything together. A diamond patterned jute rug was added to bring texture and also lighten up dark wood floors.
Initially, I expected to complete this project within a few weeks, but as usual, DIY tasks never go as planned. It ended up taking a total of 3 months from beginning to end!
Naturally, other aspects of life demanded my attention and kept me occupied, causing delays in finishing this guest room project. Since this is what I enjoy doing every moment I have available, I didn't mind the time at all.
I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out ! I hope you're inspired to create your own transformation.
The objective is to transform your home into a space where you always want to be, regardless of whether you are an empty nester or not. Happy building!
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