Some of our best friends from Norway came to visit last week (finally, it only took them 3 years!)  and we were so excited to have them! I was especially excited (no offense, guys!) as this gave me a chance to give our guest bedroom a little face lift! I can’t pretend I didn’t know about their visit a couple months in advance, but 3 days prior to their arrival seemed like a perfectly sensible time to start thinking about how to make it nice for them. Then came a snowstorm. And yes, we did loose power. And our guest bedroom (and bathroom and one of our family rooms are located downstairs, underground, with only a small window providing daylight. The project would have to wait.

On the second day without power, especially when I realized there wasn’t much else I could do either; laundry, vacuuming, internet, writing on my dead laptop (yes, I do forget to routinely charge it), exercise (oh, did I mention our “gym” is downstairs too?), I thought, surely it must be possible to tidy up a little down there at least. Save me some time tomorrow. It was not. I could not see my hand in front of me half-way down the stairs. It’s THAT dark down there (the little window was covered with snow).

You’re probably thinking I could have found a different way to exercise, though. You’re right. I’m from Norway. I used to mostly go outside to do that there. But I live here now, and since this is a decorating blog, it’s also really besides the point!

Anyway, when power returned on the day of their arrival, this is what the room looked like:

 

Obviousy the first step was tidying up and cleaning, which hands down, if that’s all you can do, people are generally happy! Why is it though, that every room not constantly in use becomes a “throw it in there until I figure out what to do with it” space. Is that just me?.

Anyways, I wanted to do a little more, and after moving the dresser and seating area, 

I decorated the dresser using stuff I already had around the house:

Since this room is in a dark space (light paint on walls, but still a dark space) I tried to use bright, happy, beach-y colors.

And then I did the bed. Again, all stuff I already had, except the lamps, which are from Target. 

Please, keep in mind, I also had to do a bunch of other preparatory things that are too boring for pictures that day. And even if I had worked on it before our little powerless-fest, at that point I still wouldn’t have had  time or resources to make significant changes. But I so want to! I imagine happy paint color (not the faded beige/yellow that’s already there) and wallpaper, shelves and pictures, and some sort of lounge chairs. And obviously a real bed/headboard. And I promise, when and if that happens, you will hear about it!

Given the time at hand, I was happy with this, though. And our friends were too!  It may not be classy, and it certainly doesn’t really have a decorating “style”, but it came out very cozy and comfortable (my less than great skills as a photographer unfortunately doesn’t quite capture that), which is great for now. Also, it was also easy to do (about 1 hour) and cheap! The money I “saved” on that goes right into a “new chairs by the fireplace fund”. I can assure you my husband loves the way I reason.

So here you go again, before and after:

Let me know what you think! What would be a great color for the walls in this dark room? And what style should I pick for this room if we really re-do it? Leave a comment! Get in touch!

Thanks for visiting! Have a great week-end!

Wenche