Guest Bedrooms

The guest bedroom is the perfect place to implement a design that would be a little out of the ordinary.  While the master bedroom is your sanctuary, the guest bedroom is a place where guests will stay for short visits.  Since you will not be in the room constantly you don’t have to worry too much about the choices that you make.  Don’t be afraid to make bold decisions that are a little out of your comfort zone.  Make the room fun, yet inviting and most importantly comfortable (but not too comfortable or your guests might not want to leave!).  Make your guest room special for your visitors and don’t hesitate to add the element of surprise!

Add a little something extra to your guest room to make your visitors feel welcome.  Here are some ideas to accessorize your guest room that will make it more than just another room in the house and will show a little extra hospitality.

Add some fresh flowers to your bedside table.

Carafe of water and glass

Alarm Clock

Add a throw blanket to your bed.

Basket filled with goodies

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Lighting Effects

Lighting is a crucial design element when it comes to accessorizing and decorating your home.  “Lighting is not simply to eliminate darkness; it is a creative ingredient in successful design,” said Deborah Kreye, ASID, interior designer with Vogue Interiors.  Part of a design plan needs to include how to illuminate a space effectively and not to simply focus on the fixture itself.  Make sure that your rooms are correctly illuminated with just the right amount of light.  Over-lit or under-lit rooms can become uncomfortable rooms to be in.  To know if a room is illuminated correctly take the total number of watts in the room (generally a 4″ can will have a 65 watt lamp) and divide by the square footage of the room.  You want to be as close to .8 as possible.  Here are some examples of different lighting applications. 

Creating A “Path” Of Light 

Use wall sconces to create a subtle “path” of light through the home.  This can create a directional visual element to lead people in a logical progression. 

 

Lighting Artwork 

Highlight artwork in your home with spot lighting or track lighting.  Spot lighting can be focused directly on one piece whereas track lighting can illuminate an entire gallery. 

Track Lighting

Spot Lighting

Lighting For Architectural Details 

Architectual details of a home can be accentuated with lighting.  Highlight a recessed cove with concealed cove lighting. 

 

 

Ambient Lighting  

Ambient lighting can be either direct of indirect.  Ambient lighting can be a hidden light sources that washes a room with a glow.  Temporary ambient effects can be achieved with a dimmer. 

 

 

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Decorating With Gray

Gray is the ultimate neutral.  It looks good with just about any color and ranges from cool to warm.  Gray can provide the perfect anchor color and can also be used to offset moldings, flooring and ceiling in a room.  Because gray looks good with just about any accent color you can’t really go wrong!  Check out gray with these hot new color trends for 2010!

Gray and Yellow

Add a little cheerfulness to your gray with a beautiful yellow!  If you have gray floors, gray walls or gray bathroom tiles work with what you’ve got to incoorporate color.

Gray and Turquoise

Turquoise is a hot color this season and will surely make any room pop with color!  Blue evokes a calming emotion and between that and gray this color combo will keep you at ease.

Gray and Orange

Orange is becoming more and more popular these days despite how much your mom may hate it!  If you use it sparingly you might not hate it 20 years later as much as your mom does.

Gray and Pink

So, pink might be a little touchy especially for the guys or if you live with a guy!  Chances are, that you might not get your husband to agree with pink in a common area, but you might be able to swing it in a children’s room or guest bedroom.  However, if you live alone this could be the perfect color palette just for you!

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Space Saving Ideas

Looking to get the most use of space out of your home?  Check out these space-saving ideas that are practical, functional and fun! 

Desk Bed

Make your office serve a dual purpose.  These modern desk beds are a perfect space-saving idea.  It acts as your office desk and when guests are in town the desk converts into a Murphy bed. 

Wood Coffee Table With Additional Seating

Glass Coffee Table With Additional Seating

These space-saving coffee tables are a perfect solution for when you need additional seating in the family room or living room.  They are easy to access and when not in use, are conveniently stored under the coffee table and out-of-the-way. 

Office In A Closet

Don’t have a spare room for your office?  No worries!  Get The Container Store’s  office in a closet.  You can have a fully functioning office right in your closet.  And when it is not in use, it stores neatly away behind your closet doors for no one to see your mess. 

Toy Storage

Store kids toys without having it look tacky!  Use a cubed bookcase or partition and insert storage bins filled with your kid’s toys.  Bookcases of all sizes can be found at Ikea or various furniture stores.

 

Closet System

Now this one is not surprising, but the usage of closet systems lets you maximize those small closet spaces.  To do it for less, go to a place like the Container Store, have their associate design a layout on their software program and then take the printout of the parts and pieces you need to Home Depot or Lowes and buy the less expensive system.  It will work just as well as the fancy closet systems!

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