Guest Room Revamp

Hope everyone enjoyed their long Labor Day weekend! This weekend sure was full of labor for me and I'm so happy I finally got to tackle one of the (many) items on my 'to-do' list...fixing up the Guest Room. Naturally, this decision happened Friday night, around 10 pm, with no plan, but a lot of desperation. This room, along with our bedroom, has been neglected and was in need of a mini-refresh.  I'm definitely in no position to spend a lot to design this room right now, so I decided to do what I could on a tight budget, during a long weekend.  

Here's the "BEFORE" before (yes, two "befores") pictures...when the house was purchased. 

Yeah... IIIIII know 

(in a Monica from Friends tone of voice)

Although, this room wasn't even comparable to one of the other bedrooms we now call the office.  I'll save that pic for another post...because it definitely needs a post of it's own!

Anyway, my husband's friends lived here before we got engaged.  So my father-in-law painted the room with left over Ben Moore, Shaker Beige.  After they moved out, the room became a little less "bachelor pad-ish" but, as most spare rooms are, ended up being thrown together with random furniture and very little attention.

These photos were taken Friday night and Sat. am, when I was originally thinking of going the Navy Blue route...as you can tell by the paint samples hanging :)

Guest Room / Before

Guest Room / Before

Guest Room / Before

Old painted over wall art on the floor...nice touch, K.

As you can see, this room needed some work. 

I decided to use Benjamin Moore's Chelsea Gray for the walls (as you can tell from my fan deck on the bed) and made sure to touch up the trim that was literally peeling off!  As I said before, this was a super budget-friendly job.  So instead of getting the paint from Ben Moore, I had Lowes match it for me.  The paint was only $20 after a $5 rebate and I used Olympus Paint and Primer in one. I also picked up Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter for the hallway. 

So I took some pics today...please excuse the poor quality! 

DIY Reverse Ombre Starburst Mirror - Total cost - $5.81

Interested to see what I did by only spending $50 - 60?  Tune in tomorrow for the details and DIYs! 

Rome, Italy - Part 2

On our second day in Rome, we visited the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, and the ruins.  We had lunch at Cafe Romano by the Spanish Steps, walked around the city a bit, then came back to hotel to regroup.

Back to the Motherland - Rome, Italy, Part 1

So, I admit it, I've been on a bit of a hiatus with the blogging...but I promise there is a lot to share!  Starting with... our recent trip to Italy.

My husband and I just celebrated our first wedding anniversary and we wanted to do something special for the milestone.  When his cousins mentioned a trip to Rome and Positano, we thought, "Why not?"!   I went to Italy about 10 years ago and was lucky enough to visit Rome as part of that trip.  However, it was before I went to school for Interior Design so, although I was definitely excited to see the historic sites then, I knew I'd appreciate it even more this time around.  My girlfriend at work likes to refer to this as the "old lady version" of my trip back to Italy. ha!

After the, oh so glamorous 10 hour flight....yes, 10 hours. Eight actually flying, two sitting on the tarmac...with no sleep... we landed in Roma. Of course, we were jet lagged but the adrenaline and excitement of finally being there took over and we were ready to go after we freshened up at the hotel!

The Spanish Steps were by our hotel, so that was the first thing we checked out.

 

 

We then went to grab a pizza for lunch, here are some of the streets we passed on the way.

 

 

 

From there we visited the Trevi Fountain. It was, of course, packed with tourists, but we managed to get to the bottom so we could make our wishes without hitting anyone with change!

 

 

Then off to the Pantheon we went! On our way, I saw so many beautiful architectural details.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pantheon is one of my favorite buildings.  The "eye" is just so incredible and there are so many beautiful features about it.  It's such a great part of architectural development and history.   I felt really lucky to be able to be there twice in my lifetime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the piazza, there was singing, dancing, and...gelato.  Ooh, Gelato. The first one we had was outside of the pantheon.  This would be the start of a true addiction that the four of us will have a problem breaking!