Guest Bedroom : Overview

The guest room for the most part is done! although is it ever really done?   like any room it's going to be an evolving space with a few tweaks here and there, whether it be for aesthetics or function, eg) currently looking for the perfect rug for this room and still waiting on the door handle for the main door to arrive. Things take time but if you have the structure, the look and feel of the room sorted, you will have a clearer idea of what finishing items you need, and be able to shop more specifically for your room and style; (thinking of all our customers/ clients when we were in the gallery who often shared that they had purchased 3 different things that didn't work before finding the one that did) 

So almost a month since this room was finished  Darrell and I have finally managed to find time to sit down together and do a quick show and tell on Video for you this morning  which we shared over at The Artisan At Home facebook page which delves into things a little  (Video will show below soon), but first some photos taken in the mid morning light. 

A room with 4 neutral walls a weird beam in the centre, this is pretty much most bedrooms in NZ homes; it's nothing out of the ordinary except most probably don't have the weird painted beam we had in the middle. It was simple, tidy, and safe. But we wanted to inject personality and life into this room,  and give it a makeover to suit it's function for being a guest room. An escape, a calming sanctuary for our guest. But hey we are "paint people" so it's only right we add a few creative paint finishes and elements to it as well.   

So let's take a look at the room before; you can get a better gauge of it in our previous blog post video  the starting point  to see what the initial thinking was; but the photo below is all we have of a photo  of the before! You'd think going into this we would take the time to get before photos  and we would know better, but no.... I think we were a tad little too excited to get started.  Lesson learnt, again!  But we do have it on Video so if you want to see the room before we started click here

and here's a list of things we have done in the room as a bit of a summary : 

Walls were all hand brushed in Rubbed Sage Matte Estate Wall Paint (click here to watch), a beautifully matte multi-pigmented paint that responds and adjusts beautifully to light and shadow bringing the walls to life, We love this about the Matte Estate, it's  has a beautiful velvety silky soft feel that also wipeable, beautifully Matte hiding imperfections and a great luxury DIY paint for walls. The subtle nuances in colour throughout the day are gorgeous and we love coming into this room at different times of the day to see how it adjusts, I think we walked into this room about 10 times a day when it was first finished just to check out the how the colour adjusts at different times of the day. 

 

The photo below was taken in the late afternoon Vs morning above;  to show just how much it responds to lighting, adding stunning depth and life to walls. 

Stencilled Doors: 

This photo is taken in the main entrance/ doorway of the room, and we love that when you look in, it has a welcoming restful feel to it, but it also makes you want to go in and explore; the two doors that were a bit odd as you walked into the room before; now work as a beautiful feature, adding pattern and a touch of Art to the room, the metallic gold creme added to the frame of the stencil work provides  a luxe element to an otherwise vintage look, providing balance of Vintage Luxe.  We love that  this whole concept is out of the box and different. With two doors side by side smack in the middle of that wall, it was all we could focus on before;  now they look like they were designed to be that way and we love being greeted by them as you look into the room. You can catch more of the stencilled door video by clicking here

The best Decor is sometimes found in nature 
We wanted to add natural elements, to the room when it came to decor;  this was collected by miss 9 and I from the fallen fronds off our palm tress and we worked it into artwork for the wall, we left half of it natural and dry brushed the other half with paint and metallic creme. Nature has some wonderful decor around, and with a bit of paint or metallics can become some really beautiful decor for your home, things like rocks, drift wood, leaves can all be reworked to suit a space with a little creativity and becomes bespoke decor or artwork for your space. 

Garden rubbish or art? 

No lamps in this guest room, we've opted for LED candles by Sirius which runs with a remote... no I would never have candles that close to those fallen fronds :-)

on the other side of the room sits a seagrass necklace which we shared with you earlier on our Artisan At Home NZ facebook page  

We do love the painted wood effect on that beam which initially was the biggest challenge with how to work with it, in this room; now working beautifully as a feature, we often love taking the worst elements of a room or often furniture and trying to find ways to make them a feature and this is such a great example of this. Always look for the best in things you don't like and you may discover a gem. Motto for decorative painting and life! To see how to do a painted wood effect click here 

Remember what they looked like before? 

Mirrors: Guest Room needs mirrors right? and really my first thought was I don't have one to suit this room, but the reality is I actually have lots of different odd mirrors, so I've grabbed two, painted them both and layered them on the dresser stretching them out to the perfect width and I love the play on the different  angled reflections from both mirrors, it's interesting and a great way to use up odd mirrors. Painted in Potters clay with dark and black wax and if you like the little one, head to Bach Blue Premium Chalk Paint with Clubhouse grey and Crisp white coloured wax. This whole vignette is a mixture of different elements, gold, cane, mirrors in different colours but it all works, is balanced and creates lovely depth in the room. Can you tell we're big fans of mixing and merging. Too much one way can often fall flat, a careful  balanced mix tells a story and provides depth to your space.