Project: Overhaul {Guest Bedroom/Art Studio}

When we moved in to our house in September of 2009, I had the best intentions of keeping this room organized and usable as an Office/Art Studio, designing ideas for an office with the desk in the closet. I was inspired! And then life happened.

This room didn't get used, except for when my step-daughter Megan used it as her bedroom, or when guests stayed over. The Queen sized inflatable mattress served it's purpose for a time, but for over a year, I've been scheming and dreaming of creating an actual Guest Bedroom that serves as an Art Studio with a workspace that's accessible.

At first, this was a great idea. But we got a new computer, and set up a desk in the living room.

After the wedding, I used this room as storage, and just to get things out of sight.

I hung all of my reptile paintings from college in this room, with no rhyme or reason.

The only thing that was used on a regular basis was the bookshelf and filing cabinet.

- A F T E R -

We purchased a new bed for the Master Bedroom (it was over 10 years old!) So our bed got moved to the guest room.


I moved the makeshift desk from the closet to the room, to make it accessible to use. (I purchased a piece of wood at Lowe's, sanded and coated 3-4 coats of polyurethane for the desk top, and used shelves I already had for the base.) I moved the filing cabinet into the corner.

Using frames and postcards I already had - I hung some new art. My mom gave me the clock, and I up-cycled it from antiqued silver to Turquoise to go with some of the decor I had in the room.

A lot of the decor I had for our wedding, the birds and owls and cages decorate the top of the filing cabinet (which I painted over a year ago) I gathered up some art tools and put them all in one location here on the desk.

Frames and postcards, again, and the wood carved crown in the middle was in the room before (look above the filing cabinet in Before Pictures) but I painted.

More spray paint work (see next blog post for "How to Spray Paint the EASY Way") - Mirrors all rescued from my mom's collection of Yard sale junk.

Side by side, here are the before + after photos:
(Click to Enlarge)