method to the madness

one of the items on my labor day weekend to-do list was renovating my guest room. i managed to get a lot done, but i have to admit that i am still not completely finished. this was my first project post-babylove, and guess what i learned? a) babies don’t like the sound of a drill b) babies don’t like competing with home decorating for mommy’s attention, or c) all of the above. if you guessed “c”, you win the prize.

thankfully, my husband was able to keep her pre-occupied for most of the day. but it was still very slow going just because i am the murphy’s law magnet when it comes to anything do-it-yourself related.

hopefully, i’ll be able to reveal the completed room this month, but until then, here’s a little peek into how the design idea for this room came into being:

i really love the décor eye candy that a nice hotel room provides. my husband and i did a lot of travelling last year, and at each place that we stayed, i tried to figure out what it was that i liked most about the rooms so that i could recreate it in our guest room back home. even though i like the basic “blank slate” that hotels provide, i knew that i also wanted to add details to personalize our space and give it a comfy feel.  i loved the casual comfort and local décor in this cabo san lucas hotel room:

the peek-a-boo window looks into the bath area

view from the other side

but i also really like the ornate feel of this room that we stayed in for a friend's wedding.
 
my guest room reno kind of stalled out for awhile as i tried to figure out what i wanted to do with the room. then, since the space was fully furnished (although not decorated the way i wanted) it got totally pushed to the backburner when i got pregnant and started planning babylove’s nursery.

i ended up deciding that i wanted the guest room to have a modern but eclectic “world traveler” vibe.  i also prowled the internets looking for ideas. things really started to gel for me when i found these two pictures:

the first picture is by designer waldo fernandez and WOW! i am in love with the colors and the contrast between the clean lines and bold geometric patterns and the livable furniture.

the second picture is kinda sucky because it’s a picture that i took with my phone while i was watching tv. i was laying in bed one night watching the the dvr'ed last episode of the hills when i literally had to rewind, then pause, put down my sleeping baby and take a picture of this lovely scene at kristin’s alleged house. even with the source list, i don’t have a major television channel bankrolling my decorating budget, so i wasn’t going to simply buy everything that she had.

for me, half the fun of recreating a room that i love is being able to find similar items and get the same look for a fraction of the price.  kinda like this, but for your home instead of your wardrobe.  hotels have deep pockets and get price breaks for buying in bulk so there’s usually no way that i’m trying to buy the exact items that they have.

so that's a little overview of how the design of this room came together.  once the room itself is together, you can see if i was able to pull it off.