Category Archives: guest bedroom

Jul24

Curtain Tie-back Tutorial

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Hello guys and gals! I haven’t written in a while, it seems I just can’t get my brain to think straight!  As I have been experiencing changes during my pregnancy I have been referencing a book called What To Expect When You’re Expecting.   This book has helped bring some peace of mind since I don’t know what to expect because I have never done this before!  I usually consider myself a pretty organized, focused person.  When I start my day I typically make a list and spend the rest of my day accomplishing my list.  Well, lately that has just not been happening.  I can’t seem to get my thoughts in order.  I have no motivation.  I know I have things to do but when it comes to doing it I can’t seem to figure out how to accomplish it.  I find myself just sitting and staring then once I come to I can’t remember what I just spent the past five minutes thinking about.  The other day I opened the fridge then walked away from it leaving the doors wide open.  Joel noticed and asked what was wrong with me, I never leave the fridge open. It seems there is a haziness hanging over me.  The other night,  I was reading in my book about the symptoms I can expect during the fourth month of pregnancy and forgetfulness is one of them. Ha who would have thunk it?  Now that I know I’m not loosing it and that these changes aren’t permanent I’m just going to enjoy the ride of being a little scatter brained for a while.

On another note, I want to share this little tutorial with you.  I have wanted some tie-backs for our guest room curtains so I found this tutorial at Homemade Ginger, a precious blog with some great tutorials.

Here are what the windows looked like before the tie-backs.
Remember I had cut a table-cloth in half and sewed it for the half curtains and tea-dyed white Ikea panels for the larger curtains.
You can see my tea-dye tutorial here.

Here they are now.

I love how they soften the window.

Hope you all have a great week!
With love,
Lauren

Apr7

A Little More Home Improving

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Hi friends! I hope y’all had a great week.  Mine went by really fast.  Today is Wimberley Market Days and I’m sitting here trying to decide if I should go.  It is one of my most favorite places but I don’t really need anything and I know if I go I will buy something wonderful and amazing and it would probably look fabulous in my house.  OH I don’t know self-control….or no self-control??? I guess we will just have to see.

Ok, onto more home improving. The weather last weekend was so awesome so we wanted to do a bit of yard work.  We planted a few trees in the backyard 3 years ago when we moved in and haven’t put our green thumb to work since.  About a month ago our decision to landscape was set in motion after a quick search in the plant clearance section at Lowes. We found shrubs that were on sale for $1.75! We bought all 7 and figured we could find a place for them.  Our goal was to create 2 flower beds in the front yard and spend the least amount of money as possible.  This is how we saved money.

  • Instead of buying a truck load of dirt to create the beds we transferred a pile of dirt from the backyard.
  • We dug up a few plants that were already in the yard and used them in the beds.
  • USED PLANTS! Instead of buying all new plants, I dug up some from my neighbors and parents yards and bought a couple at an estate sale.

Sharing and transferring plants is the way my grandparents and parents gardened.  Growing up this is how my mom taught me to garden.  I planted a part of a plant, we call it a Maybelle plant, that came from my parent’s yard, that came from my aunt’s yard, that came from my grandparent’s yard, that came from my great-grandmother’s yard, that came from Maybelle’s yard, a family friend who my great-grandmother and grandmother lived with during the Great Depression.  I love having a story behind the things in and around my home!

Here is what the house looked like when we moved in.

Here is what it looks like today!

I bought two mature ferns at an estate sale for $3.50 each.  Next time you’re at a garage sale or estate sale look for plants.  Even if they look bad you can prune them and with a little bit of fertilizer and water you can give them life again.

These plants are transfer plants I had in pots.

I also did a little improving in our guest room.

Here is what it originally looked like.

Here it is after we put up the wall to enclose the extension on the guest bathroom.

Here it is today.

I also made window coverings.  You can see the blue tape that is still on the outside of the windows, oops:)
You can read my post about the inspiration I had for window coverings here.

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money so I used what I had.  This is how I saved money

  • I tea-dyed white curtains I already had from Ikea.
  • I cut up an old table-cloth my neighbor gave me and made the two 1/2 curtains and bought 2 tension rods.
  • I saved over $30 by making the curtain rod.  I bought the rod and finials unfinished at Lowes and the brackets unfinished at Hobby Lobby.  Then painted all of it in the trim color, Summer White by Sherwin Williams.

I took this piece down and put it over our couch.

And moved this piece from the living room into the guest room.

With love,
Lauren

Feb13

More Guest Room Reveal

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Hi ya there!  I hope your week is off to a great start.  Mine is going great, nothing too exciting.  We had a wonderful weekend that included celebrating our friends’ engagement, finding some new antique shops in the area and knocking out some sanding on the outside of our house.  We started working on the outside in October 2010 and we still have one side that needs work and we are hoping it will be done by the end of March.  I do want to share a picture with you.  On Saturday, we came in for a break, Joel sat down on one of our chairs and when he stood up this is what he left…

True artwork!

I have been chipping away at finishing out the guest room.  I’m working on a tight budget so it is taking me time to find all the pieces but I think it is coming together fabulously.  I bought an antique hand-woven rug on Saturday for $20! It needs to be scrubbed, I will share pictures once it’s cleaned.  I am still in the process of framing some art and making window coverings so I’m only going to share part of the room with you today.

I also wanted to share a little bit of what Rescued Home Interior offers.  Part of what I love doing is faux finishing.  I love to take a piece of furniture and through paint give it a new look or take a builder grade cabinet and make it look like custom cabinetry.  I applied a finish to this builder grade cabinet and transformed it from a light honey color to dark walnut.

You can click here to see all the services Rescued Home Interiors offers.  If you have builder grade cabinets or a piece of furniture that needs a transformation, send me a message, laurenlowry04@gmail.com.
I would love to help you get a new look for the fraction of the cost of installing new cabinets or buying a new piece of furniture.

Ok, now for the guest room.

Here is a picture I snapped before I re-finished the bed and side table that were both painted flat black.

Here is the after.

I painted the headboard in Beeswax by Sherwin Williams and distressed it.

I painted the side table to look like wood.

This picture was a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law.  I saw it at Goodwill but walked away from it because it was $12.  Goes to show how I only settle for a deeeep bargain!  $10 is usually my limit for a single item.  Joel told her I wanted it so she went back and got it for me.
I was so excited when I opened it!

The frame needed some help but it was nothing I couldn’t fix.

I found this chenille blanket at Wimberley Market Days for $10 and the pillow shams for $5 at a thrift store.

I bought this easel from an estate sale for $5 and the print “Dancers At Rest” from Goodwill for $7.

  

I will post pictures of the rest of the space as it comes together.

I also want to thank all my readers and all of you who are so encouraging through your comments.  I love sharing this journey with you.

With love,
Lauren

Jan24

Craft Closet

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When we started remodeling the guest bathroom we made the decision to keep the backside of the old bathroom that had been built out into the guest room because it houses some of the plumbing.  This left us with an awkward 4′ x 2′ space that we decided to turn it into storage and I claimed it as my craft closet.  For now it stores supplies I use for my house and work such as paint supplies, fabric and home decor items.  If the room becomes a nursery then we figured we could store kids stuff on the shelves in baskets.  In order to get my house back into one piece I had to finish out the closet quickly and did not have a lot of extra cash to buy storage so I purchased a few plastic shoeboxes and fabric for a curtain and used what I already had.  It is everything I dreamed it would be, and is completely full!

Here is the original space.

Here is the finished space.
I found ticking for less than $4 a yard that complimented the room color, made two panels and hung them on a $2 tension rod.

The top shelf holds home decor items.
The second shelf holds plastic shoe boxes filled with small items like shells, ribbon, small home decor items and upholstery supplies.
The third shelf has baskets and a wooden crate that holds projects that I’m working on.
The fourth shelf I used vintage Pepsi crates to hold some home decor items, paper and frames.
The fifth shelf has a wooden crate that holds paints and bottles, my sewing box and a wire basket that holds paint samples and paper work.
The sixth shelf holds my sewing machine, a lamp shade I will repurpose and a wooden crate that holds floral supplies.
The bottom holds two large plastic tubs that are full of fabric.  On top of the tub on the left is a basket full of my home decor magazines or what I like to call my “text books”.  On top of the tub on the right are baskets and serving trays and some left over wall paper I will use on a craft project.

The plastic boxes were $1 each at Wal-Mart.

I found all these wooden crates at a garage sale for $10 over a year ago and have not had a place for them until now.

My sewing box is an old suitcase that belonged to my grandmother.

I found this wire basket at a thrift store for a $1.

The rest of the room is slowly coming together.  I am just loving what I have already done, the finished product is going to be lovely!

With love,
Lauren

Jan18

The Guest Room Is Finished!!!

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We did it! This is the fastest remodel in The Rescued Home’s history, 21 days!  Our goal was to finish in 5 days, I think we had some unrealistic goals but they sure did put some fire under our butts.  Now, I have to put our house back in order, it is absolutely filthy.   We finally took down our Christmas decorations.  Every time I looked at them and the layer of thick dust that covered them I was reminded that we were not yet finished with the remodel.  I experienced such freedom after we shoved the Christmas tree back into the attic.

I think we are going to take a break from projects for a while, we need rest.  Here are some highs and lows of the whole process. To see the beginning stages of the remodel click here (All of the posts are archived in Dec. 2011 and Jan. 2012).

High: See another space transformed
Low: See our whole house turned upside down in order to get there
High: Refining our home remodeling skills
Low: Not having every home remodeling skill
High: A beautifully wallpapered ceiling
Low: Must I say anything:) Click here to see our wallpaper post.
High: Making memories with Joel
Low: I don’t think there is a low for that
High: Laughing hysterically at midnight
Low: Having to spend an hour chasing a bird out of our house at midnight. Click here to see post.
High: Having a new space to decorate
Low: Not having any money to decorate because we spent it all on drywall, caulk, insulation, paint, wood and crown moulding
High: EXPERIENCING GOD’S PROVISION THROUGH IT ALL

Ok, I’m going to stop talking and let you see for yourself.

This is the first thing you see when you walk into the room.  The bed will be on the wall on the left.

The entrance to the room is on the left.  The new closet is on the right.

The finished closet! New light and all.  After this picture was taken this space quickly filled up with Joel’s hobby stuff.
I guess he can have a closet too.

My finished craft closet.

This wall is going to be home for a row of theater seats we own and have yet to find a place for.

 These past four weeks have been so precious.  I have grown as a person in so many ways and will always remember this time in my life as the time God showed up in powerful and intimate ways.  Thank you for joining us on another one of our many adventures.  You are always welcome!

With love,
Lauren

Jan13

Window Coverings and An Unwanted Guest

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We are in the last few hours of the guest room remodel and I’m so ready to be done!  Joel’s allergies have really kicked up from all the dust in the air, the poor guy can’t breathe and I’m going to go crazy if I spend one more day inside my house.  I feel like I have been locked in my house, buried under dust for a month, only leaving for food and water.

It is definitely time for a change in routine.

I was describing these times to someone the other day and told them we mark the days by the meals we take.  Wake up, coffee and breakfast, work, lunch break, work, dinner break, work, shower, bed.  Repeat the next day.

Since the remodeling part is drawing to a close that means decorating is about to be in full swing and that is why I do all this hard work, just so I can have a pretty place to decorate.  Pretty silly!  The first thing that needs to go up is window coverings so I have been browsing blogs to find some inspiration and I found these.

Steampunk Home
I like how these look like a bustle on a Victorian dress.  I also like the painted window sash.

The Lettered Cottage

Savvy Housekeeping

Decor Pad

Cottage Living
These colors and style are what I would want for a little girl nursery.


Better Homes and Gardens

Which ones do you like?

I’m going to a sewing class tomorrow and I thought it would be good to make them then but I have to decide which ones to make! Can you help me decide?

I have a “I’ve never experienced that before, until now” story.
It was around 11:30 last night when we finally pulled the plug on our utility light and decided it was time for bed.  We showered up and were getting in bed when I remembered we needed to bring in our plants off the porch because it was going to freeze.  I grabbed a hanging plant and brought it inside and before I knew it something was flying around our living room.  Yep, I brought a bird into our house at midnight last night.  I think we were more freightened than the little guy.  It was flying everywhere, slamming into walls and the ceiling leaving small feathers stuck to every surface.  We grabbed blankets, towels, a fishing rod and even a colander in an attempt to swoosh it out the front door, but it kept taking refuge in our Christmas tree that I have yet to take down.  After shaking nearly all the ornaments out of the tree in an attempt to get it out it would fly into another part of the house but would not go out the front door.  At one point it was standing on the ground by the front door and we were praying that God would lead it out the door but it just looked at us and took off toward the ceiling.  I just wonder what people were thinking as they drove by and saw us running around our house waving blankets, a fishing rod and colander in the air.  We opened windows in every room and after an hour of trying to swoosh it, trap it, scare it, and poke it, it landed on our kitchen window sill and flew out the window. When we got back into bed we started cracking up saying that will go down in our book of greatest memories.

I think these past few weeks have been some of the funniest and fun times I have had with Joel! I’m so grateful for this life.

With love,
Lauren