Basement Guest Room {progress} Reveal

I totally meant to do an update post on the guest room...weeks ago.  Then, I didn't get as much done as I had planned, & sort of forgot about it...

So, here's where we're at right now.  The pictures aren't great...but the room is very dark, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to shoot it with the mix of natural light from the window & artificial light from the ceiling.  You'll just have to deal with it while I cringe over here.  Ha.

The whole thing began with some pallets that I snagged from my mom's work.  I had no clue where I was going with it, but I knew I wanted to build a headboard.  In one night.  This is what I came up with & these are the only two pictures I have. 

Ignore the garage door in the background...this was while we were in the process of stripping & sanding it...I'll post pictures of it before & after once it quits raining around here.  :)

Then, I whitewashed the yellow-y wood & mom & I hauled it downstairs & attached it to the bed frame.

Trimmed out the windows & hung bamboo blinds.

Created some wall art & temporarily hung it with washi tape.

And voila!  A semi-finished place for our guests to rest their heads!  When I get some free time to do some tweaking, I'll post pictures of the other side of the room (dresser, mirror, etc.).  I also need to get a new lamp for that side table...& get rid of that old Ikea one...it just doesn't work in the space.

Not too bad for starting out like this a few days earlier...right?

Basement Guest Room Remodel

I just realized that I've never really posted anything about our basement (other than our bathroom remodel a year & a half ago).  That's probably because A. my brother lives down there & I normally don't invade his space, B. most of the work was done before I created this blog, and C. we haven't really touched the space at all since then.

A couple of weeks ago, one of our college friends & her husband were planning on crashing at our house for a wedding in town.  I hadn't done a project in a while, & thought it'd be fun to work on the guest room.  The tiny guest room.  The one that we hadn't quite got around to finishing 4 years ago when we gutted the basement.  Oh, & I only left myself a week to get it done.  Pro. cras. tin. a. tion.

This was the mood board I came up with for the room...rustic/cottagy, in charcoal, coral, & light blue.

Here's a quick layout of the basement so you can get your bearings - & see how small the room really is - 9x12 - only enough room for a full-sized bed - cozy!  (The guest room is highlighted in blue.)

This is what our entire basement looked like when we moved in.  In all of its paneled, sagging ceiling, no flooring, exposed pipe glory.  Can you believe the little old lady who owned the house actually had people paying to live down here?  Yikes.  Needless to say, my brother was pretty skeptical about living down there at first.  Ha!

We tore out everything down to the block walls.  There was NO insulation behind that paneling...brr!  I bet it was freezing in the Minnesota winters.  Below is the "naked" guest room - & my brother & dad working hard at demo.

We framed up everything, insulated it, & hung new drywall. It's slowly getting better!

We painted it a deep charcoal gray, added recessed lighting & bead board paneling in the bump-up by the windows, laid carpet, & hung crown at the ceiling line.

Then we let it sit like that for 4 years.  Without the windows trimmed out, no return vent, & three pieces of crown lying on the floor waiting to be hung up.  Embarrassing.  It seems like the little things are the hardest to complete sometimes.  :)

On the list before our guests arrived:
Trim out windows, caulk, & paint trim white.
Hang remaining crown.
New return air vent.
Window treatments.
Build a headboard of some sort (pallets?) & purchase a frame.
Create some fun art.
Purchase &/or make bedding.
Move in furniture & accessorize.

And just because I can't wait to share it - here's a sneak peek of the whitewashed pallet headboard I made...all by myself...the night before & day of our guests arrival.  Nothing like the last minute! :)

Stay tuned for the full room reveal later this week!