Guest Room Obsession

Over a year ago, way back in 2018, Todd and I sold our first house we lived in together. Then, we couldn't find another house right away - and if I'm being completely honest, didn't want to be stressed out with selling a house and buying at the same time. Plus, the market was super good for selling, not so much for buying, and everyone kept saying the bubble will pop and things will go down, which would put us in a great spot to buy, but that never happened - so we lived with my parents. For OVER a year. Yes. You read that right, let that sink in. I actually really enjoyed it, and realized I was finding a lot of things wrong with perfectly great houses because I didn't want to move out. haha. Todd and I had the downstairs master bedroom, which was pretty spacious, and had a walk in closet, its own bathroom, etc. So it was kind of like living in a studio apartment because we had our own (crowded) space. The only difference was my mom made dinner every night, and if we worked all day and then went to dinner and drinks with friends after work, there was someone built in to automatically to let our dog out when needed. Oh, and Cindy (my young, young high school aged sister) cleaned our room (almost) every weekend. I mean, we had to pay her, but it was pretty deluxe. Why would we ever want to move out? Plus, we all learned a lot about each other. I think living with your parents after you're an adult and have lived on your own is a totally different ball game. But, that's for a different blog post (or maybe at least half a dozen - a lot to say on that topic! ha).

 

All of that to say, that before we even sold our old house, I was itching for a new house for quite a while. I had several strong reasons  I would pester Todd with over and over again trying to get him to agree to sell. One of my (less convincing) arguments was that I wanted a guest room. Of allllllll the things, I wanted that. Bad. I have to admit, I didn't really realize how strange that sounds until I wrote it out just now!  I mean, I've said it a million times to Todd and my family, and I think they only listen to half of what I say, so maybe they never caught that part, but I've been over the top excited to have a guest room. We had two spare rooms in our old house, but one was used for an office/storage room for all the heirloom family furniture I was hoarding to use in our next house, and the other was my crafting/sewing room. There is also the small detail that no one has ever stayed with us. Ever. Like not even they would have stayed with us but didn't because we didn't have a designated room for them. Our families are both from the area and when friends come to visit, they usually stay with their families. 

 

Anyways, now I have a guest room. And it seriously brings me so much joy! Maybe I need to talk to my therapist about this, or have someone analyze this obsession for me, and only tell me why I "needed" this if its good news. ;) We leave tomorrow morning for a long weekend with 2 other couples, and I have had so much fun getting the room set up for our house sitter. Todd said she won't care enough to make how much time and energy I've poured into each detail, but I'm doing this for me. Self love. :) 

 

There are still things I want to do like get a plant or two, wallpaper, paint, get a rug, do some drapes, kind of all the bigger things. But a huge feat was completing the quilt on the bed. That's my pride and joy. Its a classic and traditional pattern, but I shrank down the block size, so there are a TON of tiny pieces, and it took for freaking ever - but now I feel so accomplished looking at it, and love how it turned out. I've been stalking this local florist that makes dried flower wreaths when she has extras left over, and thought they would be perfect above a guest room bed. Yes, I did buy these one at a time as I could get my hands on them over the time we lived with my parents. We didn't have a house of our own, but I had a lot of things and ideas for this new, unknown house. haha. And the antique bench was my Grandma's, and a perfect
setting for my favorite merino wool blanket I knitted years ago. I think it will be a nice landing spot for a guests suitcase as well. The night stand was also my Grandma's, and I love how unique it is. All the curves and notches and details. I've been hanging on to it for several years, and at one point took a bunch of wine out of the garage fridge and set it on that table to make room for all the Thanksgiving food prep, and as the wine warmed up, there was condensation, and it totally sank in deep rings to a really pretty table top. :( I sanded the top, splashed some metallic paint on there, and I like the slightly modern update it gives it. I do understand that it goes against all interior design rules to have the bed pushed up against the window like that, but that's Winston's favorite spot to look out, and since he has logged more hours in that room than anyone else, ever, I feel like he is deserving of getting a comfortable spot to lay and keep an eye on the house, and what happens outside of it, while we're gone. The garage is right below this bedroom and it is beyond adorable to see his head pop up when he hears me drive home and click the garage open.

 

So that's my guest room so far. And the story behind it. It's currently the most styled room in my house, and the first (and only) nails I have put in a wall - meaning we've lived here for maybe 5 months or so now, and literally have nothing on the walls yet. To say it feels sterile would be an understatement. But now that I have a good chunk of my dream guest room out of the way, maybe I can focus on something else now. ;)

 

Signed, ME {lv}