The Design Resolution Challenge: The Guest Room

I am one busy woman, designer, and mom. Throughout the craziness of the year, it is not uncommon for my guest room to look like a storage closet. 

I live in an older home with limited closet space, so this room houses my second closet. It is also home to part of my library and where I store my luggage and extra blankets. 

So lets lake a peak at my disastrous before space......... 

This is enough to make anyone crazy!!

So where do you start? 

Well I started with seperating out all of my clothes. and I made a few simple rules to keep me on task.

The Closet
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1.As you hang things, hang them in sections based on the type of garment and color code. This will make it easier when selecting what to wear and help you create a system for putting things away!

2. Seperate out all those pants you have been trying to squeeze into. Try them on. If you havent worn them in the last 2 years and you still can queeze in them, they gotta go!

3. Seperate out your accessoires into little bins. I used some wonven ones from the container store and slipped them neatly under the bed. 

4. Stack linens on the top of the closet occording to use. 

5. Designate a place for unsused hangers so you don't have to dig for them when you rehang your things later.

Next comes my library..... 
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We were blessed with all the awesome built-ins that came with this little old house. I also like having great books in a guest room becuase it makes it feel more homey. When you have a lot of books in a little space, you can break it up a bit with photos and nick-nacks. Its also a great place to put a framed wifi password for guests. 

Now for the fun part!! Dressing up that clean space!

This is a great opportunity to change things up. Add some new art, bedding, accessories. Make the space feel new and inviting. 

I took this opportinuty to hang some fun pieces I have collected from another artist. I don't ofeten purchase art from other artisits because I have so much of my own art. But I couldn't reseist these lovelies by Teil Duncan.
www.teilduncan.com

​I live the pop of color and the loose gestural style of these pieces. I picked up some ready made mirrored frames from Hobby Lobby and stcked the pictures to make the space look larger. They create a nice little viniette with a little chair I found and restored with a little Annie Sloan ChalkPaint and new upholestry. 
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The Bed as the center piece

The bed in the guest room is the easiest place to dress up a room without much expense. I put a vairety of pillows tohether and even added a personal touch with some pillows I hand painted. 

I also placed all my extra guest pillows behind the decorative ones to store them while they are not in use. It created a vary luxurious feeling. That with my lovely little iron bed from www.Horchow.com and I have a guest retreat that I want to escape to. 

What space are you tackling this new year? I would love to hear your stories and see you spaces. Share here in the comments or on Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag #elliemacdesignresolutionchallenge 

Follow along to see what spaces I take on this January with the Janusry declutter challenge. 
@elliemacdesigns