Reworking Space: From Home Office to Guest Bedroom

Last November, we hosted family at our cabin for Thanksgiving. In determining who would sleep where, we decide to take our home office room on the first floor and convert it into a guest bedroom. This particular room is at the end of a hall with its own bathroom, so it makes sense for our out-of-town family to use this as a bedroom. Unfortunately, this is a last minute decision and at that time, the room is functional but not very appealing. Recently, I try to improve upon this space with some aesthetic additions.

The Before~Home Office

This is a good size room (12’10” x 10′) with an eastern window (for morning sun) and large sliding doors to a deck on the south side. As a home office, there is a desk and chair, a day bed and a green leather chair and ottoman.

I purchased this day bed long ago and we used it frequently when the children had friends sleep over. The bottom pulls out and pops up with another mattress. However, it doesn’t get much, if any use now. It’s one of those pieces of furniture that I wonder if I should sell.

Here you can see the green leather chair and the closet doors. This chair and ottoman are leftovers from the previous owner but I am fond of the color and wear of the leather.

This Hekman Queen Anne desk with inlaid leather is one that has been in three home moves. All the wall art (reproduction currency) belongs to my husband. I’m not a fan, but it’s a marriage compromise.

Moving it All

Since I really do not want to purchase any more furniture, we move these pieces to other parts of the cabin. The desk now is in our master bedroom, which has a larger enough space for it. The day bed and leather chair/ottoman go upstairs to another bedroom. A final deep cleaning of the berber carpeting, windows, and walls ready the room for the next step.

From an upstairs bedroom, we move 2 vintage mahogany Georgian style twin beds with a lovely acorn posts by the Van Stee Corporation from Jamestown, New York. I picked up these two sweet beds from a local thrift store at a fabulous price. BTW~have you seen the price of vintage or antique twin beds lately? If you ever see a beautiful set of twin beds at a great price, you may want to consider buying them.

Working with two twin beds allows a bit of flexibility. In this room, we push the twin beds together and use king size sheets, pillow top, comforter and quilt. If we need to separate the beds for two guests, it is rather easy to do as I have all the bedding for twins.

Window Treatments

Since the sliding doors are large and south facing, I get black out drapes from Pottery Barn in a soft blue chambray flax linen.

On the eastern window, we use a woven blind, identical to the cordless ones we use in the pool house renovation. From Factory Direct Blinds, we continue to be pleased with the quality and customer service they offer. I like how they blend in with the natural wood window trim.

Bedding

The walls in this room are SO white, but I’m not up for painting them. Instead I add more blues and neutrals~like the quilt set I buy from The Company Store.

I must have purchased it on clearance because I cannot find the exact one on their website. However, I find something similar on Amazon here. The top stitching and the pattern combination make this feel like a vintage piece.

Surprisingly, I find very cute throw pillows at the local Walmart. This 21″ x 21″ off- white knot pillow from the Better Homes and Garden collection is only $14.98. It is a good quality and the knots give it texture and dimension.

Another great find from Walmart is this very soft rosette plush pillow 22″ x 22″, again from the Better Homes and Garden collection. The ivory is the only color left and you can find it here. I try and stay away from the big box stores and support smaller local businesses. But up here in the mountains, the shopping is very limited and Walmart is a good employer of the local population.

Look how cute these pillows look on the bed with an existing embroidered Ralph Lauren one.

On the Walls

I love vintage and antique quilts and use them extensively here at the cabin. Typically it is difficult to find matching quilts for twin beds. A few years ago, at a Junk in the Trunk vintage market at Westworld in Scottsdale, I find these fabulous flower garden pattern with a scalloped edge . BTW the next Vintage Market is September 15-17th. If you want to attend, find the link here.

Since the unattractive orange peel textured white walls dominate this space, I use these precious quilts like art and hang them from a curtain rod. Our guests can take them off and use them for an extra layer, if needed.

We have a Big Lots store about 20 minutes away that I have recently discovered. What bargains can be found there! This 24″ x 36″ piece of canvas wrapped art work, on sale, is less than $20 (can’t recall if it was $9 or $19). The colors work with the room and I would be hard pressed to find a blank canvas for that price.

Extra Touches

With limited space on either side of the beds, I use a thrift shop find small end table that fits right up against the door trim.

On the other side of the bed, I am looking for either a small table or shelf. An old brass wall lamp is ideal since space here is limited.

I am debating about a dust skirt on the beds. Since the beds take up quite a bit of floor space, I think not having a bed skirt makes it feel a bit more open and perhaps, charming? Your thoughts?

Instead of the bulky green leather chair, I move a ladder back chair from another bedroom. Again, Big Lots has this great artificial plant and basket (on sale) that provides a bit of green to this corner.

Doorstops remind me of my childhood. Since we are at the cabin, this huge pinecone does the trick. I think this is a Coulter pinecone?

Overall, the transformation from home office to guest room is nearly complete. Now I’d like to create a special seating area just outside the sliding doors, so our guests can have private outdoor space too.

In the past, the master bedroom was the only one on the first level of the cabin. This newly transformed bedroom allows our guests to stay on the first floor and not need to navigate the stairs to the second story.

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