Hello blog friends. I thought I would give you an overview today of my latest project: turning my son’s old bedroom into a guest room/office.
My son is 25 years old, and he’s been out of the nest for quite a while now, so it’s definitely time to update the room. Especially since it was starting to resemble a scene from “Hoarders” in recent years.
Every time the kid moved from dorm room to crappy apartment to slightly less crappy apartment (to finally a nice place with his lovely bride), he would bring over a box (or 10) of stuff he didn’t need anymore and just plop them down in his old bedroom like it was a storage unit.
Earlier this summer I got him to go through everything he left behind. Then we moved what he truly needed stored into the closet and donated the rest to a thrift store.
We also took down his old loft bed and recycled the lumber.
Let me tell you, it’s weird to look into the room now and see all that bare carpet.
Guest room/office plans
My plan is to turn the space into a guest room/office and decorate it in a farmhouse industrial style — on a very limited budget. I’m going to try to do it for under $300.
Because I have such a small budget, I’m going to use what I have and then buy most of what I need secondhand.
That means the desk, which is still in pretty good shape, is going to stay. The shelves are probably going to be relocated to another room in our house, just because they don’t fit into my plan for the space.
The old twin bed is going to be replaced with a full size bed we currently have in another room. Unfortunately, that bed doesn’t have a headboard, so I will have to buy that. There’s also a dresser in the room that I’m not sure yet if I’m going to keep or replace.
I was playing around with a room planner on the Ballard Designs website and came up with a few different options for placing the furniture. My current favorite is pictured below.
It has the bed centered under the window, which I know isn’t ideal, but it seems to make the most sense to me, considering where the door is.
Farmhouse industrial mood board
Here’s a Pinterest mood board I created to use as a starting point for the guest room/office:
Sadly, the room I’m working with does not have soaring ceilings or brick walls like some of the inspiration pictures do. But I’m hoping I can capture some of the vibe with a faux brick wall, a metal bed, some big bold art on the walls, and a few vintage pieces with chippy finishes.
Faux brick wall
My plan is to make the back wall (the one with the window in it) a feature wall using fake brick paneling and drywall compound, so it looks something like this:
I haven’t done faux bricks before, but I’m reasonably confident I can pull it off. There are lots of great tutorials out there, like this one from Sawdust 2 Stitches, and I’m sure I can sweet talk my husband into helping me with it.
Black metal bed and white linens
I’d love to be able to find a black metal headboard and footboard secondhand, but if I can’t, I’d be happy with an old wooden bed. I’ve started scouting at thrift stores and have found quite a few wooden options, but nothing that I love that is also the right scale. Apparently vintage headboards weren’t as tall as headboards today.
Regardless of what style of bed I end up with, I want to pile layers of white blankets and pillows onto it. I’ve already squirreled away a couple of bedspread and blanket options that I found for $5 each, so I shouldn’t have a problem keeping costs down in that department.
Black desk and pharmacy lamps
In a perfect world, I’d have a couple thousand dollars to spend on a desk like the one pictured above. But since my world is far from perfect, I am using the cheap pressed wood/particleboard desk I currently have. My plan is to paint it with black chalk paint to try to give it a vintage look.
Another thing I’d love to find is one of those old pharmacy-style lamps (like the one on the desk in the photo above). Or maybe two: one for the desk and another one that would be a floor lamp that could get placed next to the bed, because there probably won’t be room for nightstands on both sides of the bed.
Art and accessories
I’ll also be keeping my eye out for art and accessories that have a farmhouse industrial look: architectural salvage, galvanized metal, vintage signs, repurposed pieces, rustic finishes, etc.
Stay tuned for updates. It might take me a while, especially since I’m going to be doing a lot of secondhand shopping, and that tends to take longer than clicking the “buy” button on Amazon. But I finally have a plan, so it’s time to get started.
Let me know if you have any advice for me regarding the faux brick wall, furniture placement, vintage beds, or anything else. 🙂
— Lisa