Counting Sheep

On a budget, it's hard to afford big rugs!  So I find myself having to layer smaller rugs around my house to keep things warm and cozy, literally...our house is freezing in the winter!  I was tired of stepping out of the bed onto the cold floor in the mornings, so I picked up these sheep skins at Sams for $30 each!  I think they frame the bed nicely (I wish I had a wide angle lens to capture it!).

I love the organic shape of hides.  Bedrooms are full of squares, and so it's nice to soften things up a bit.

...and they're perfect for Bei to snuggle up on.

  

Thanks for checking in.  

Bamboo is Bettah!

Before:

 After:

Bamboo is bettah!

(Checkin the clearance rack for bamboo blinds has finally paid off.  I got these for $10 each at Bed Bath and Beyond!  In my size, only 4 left.)

I want twin beds...

After seeing this picture I want twin beds...

...and to basically have this exact room in my house!

credit unknown.

I wonder if Chris would go for it...

*This has always been one of my favorite color combinations!  Navy and fire colors (yellow, orange, red-orange).

Making it feel like HOME: Our Guest Room

Here's the skinny on our guest room.  Our guest room is in the back of our house, and was clearly an addition to the rest of the house.  It is, what I like to call, "the armpit of the house."  Excuse my graphic expression, but it's just sort of the low point of the house.  It lacks the 1930's charm of the rest of the house.  It is full of tacky finishes and materials.  In a nutshell, there is much to be addressed in this room.   It has a very odd shaped impractical closet, faux wood panel walls, pine floors (instead of oak to match the rest of the house), wimpy crown moulding, tacky doors & door knobs, etc.  And to top it all off...it get's the worst light in the house.  We hope one day we can renovate this room to match the charm and quality of the rest of the house, and maybe add a bathroom to make this a master suite (making our house a more desirable 3br 2ba).

But for now, all I can do is decorate and try to make the most of what we have.  

So here are the pictures...

Our Guest Room went from this:

To this:

To this:

And finally to this:

This is the one room where our floors didn't get refinished.  There was rotten wood under the floor in this room, so we had to cut the floors open to repair it.  We patched it back together and at some point we will replace these pine floors with oak floors that match the rest of the house.  In the mean time, I call this "the red room".  Redish wood floors, burnt sienna-ish trim on the windows.  

We borrowed this rug from our friends, The Boneys, because they weren't using it in their current home. It is crucial to cut down the red factor in this room!

These curtains are LENDA in a natural linen color from IKEA, and are the same as the ones I bought for our living room.  Eventually I'd like to invest in some rings, instead of tab tops.  

I bought my bamboo sticks from Hobby Lobby, and had to glue two together for my double windows.

I gave it an eclectic feel by pairing the rough and tough pheasant and dear antlers, with the mercury glass, feminine plate, and girly floral dresser.

This is just an old wicker dresser that my parents have had forever.  It was originally white, then in college I painted it cobalt blue (pictured in 2nd picture from top), and now for this room I spray painted it light gray.  The knobs are from Anthropologie.  

  

The paint colors are all Benjamin Moore.  Coastal Fog 976 is on the walls, Sandy Hook Gray HC 108 on the baseboards and crown moulding, Pumice Stone is on the trim around the windows.  

I made the 3 pom-pom pillow shams to go with this old quilt I got from Target and used in college.  I'll post about that separately.

These sweet little globe lamps were my grandmothers.  I took the one on the left with me to college and broke the upper globe moving in!  Lesson learned.  Antiques and college don't mix.  

I made the bedskirt out of burlap, just as I did for our bedroom.

So here's the recap...

Before:

After:

So that's the run down on our guest room.  Considering it's our ugliest room naturally, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!  I think I'd like to be a guest in that room?  Yes, no?  

But let's be honest, this is how it actually looks most of the time...

Doesn't every newlywed's guest room look like a storage unit!?

Don't lie.

  

Roll Tide Rug

I've been lusting after this houndstooth rug at the fabric store for months.  Finally, it hit me that it would be perfect in our bedroom.  So I took it out on approval, just so I could dream about it for a few days, then I would probably have to take it back. 

But I couldn't do it.  I just couldn't take it back.  It was a part of our home, now. 

So I scrounged up what's left of my birthday money, what's left of last months allowance, and all of this months allowance and bought it!  (Don't be fooled, it really wasn't all that pricey, but my allowance isn't much.)

*I strongly reccommend couples incorporating a no-questions-asked allowance into your budget.  Each person has a set amount they can spend on WHATEVER THEY WANT without feeling guilted by the other person.  Try it!  It'll save you a lot of fights over purchases.   

I think it really finishes the room. Okay, fine, let's be honest, it'll never be "finished"...but it really amps it up a notch!

BeiBei loves it too...

Chris and I graduated from the U. of Alabama, and we are bama fans.  So, I love that this little touch of houndstooth paired with the crimson-ish pillow references the U. of Alabama.  This rug is chic (I think!) but also fun and relevant to who we are! It's those subtle personal touches that really make a house a home, without sacrificing style. 

So the moral of the story is, you don't have to put THIS rug in our house to show your love for the Tide. 

I hope I've shown there are more subtle ways to symbolize love for your alma-mater. 

Before:

After:

I think I'm in love.  Now, let's just hope no one walks on it.