Decorating Ideas

[glassd18]

Well I didn't know where to post this, but I"m going crazy trying to decorate my step daughter/guest bedroom.

This room has too much furniture, and I don't know what to do with it all. The room itself is small and has an iron double bed. The furniture is my husband old captains furniture from his tween years, and it's in fairly good condition. It's deep brown with black leather across the tops. There is a night table and dresser all the same as above, and then there is another small dresser that I'm going to move out to another room.

Seeing as my step-daughter only visits every so often I wanted her to feel comfortable as if it's her room,but also a guest room. It's so hard trying to figure out what colors to use as comforter/quilt, and art work. I"m really bad at these things and truly need an interior decorater or a software to work it out.. I was thinking of a nice patchwork quilt and flower art on the walls. Anyway I'm stumped. Oh yes and the room is so small, and the dresser is so big. I can't seem to get my husband to part with it or buy a new set. We can't really afford new stuff now anyway.

Any takers?

[kadi]

Is it possible to put a dresser or table in the closet? I've done that even with closets with sliding doors (not walk in) to get a bit more space available..

With dark brown furniture, I'm really partial to cream or mauve for the comforter set. Maybe you can find a "bed in a bag" set that will include everything... Bed Bath & Beyond has lots of sets & if you can get a 20% off coupon, it really helps. The BBB here isn't picky about the expiration dates or number of coupons per checkout, so that makes it much easier:)

You can find black or dark brown picture frames at Michaels. Also dried flowers which might be a nice accent piece & you could match the comforter & the dark brown furniture with them..... Michael's also has photo boxes that are pretty inexpensive. You could find some that match the room. They're pretty & functional - giving another place to squirrel away clutter. Candles too! A cream colored candle with a brown ribbon wrapped around the base might be nice, if you don't plan to burn it. I've seen some wrought iron sconces & candle holders that might work well with your dark wood. Michael's also has great coupons in I think the Sunday paper.


Hope you come up with something good:) I love decorating & always do it on a budget - it's possible to make a room nice without spending too much money.

[ICNDonna]

How old is the step-daughter? If she's old enough, you might want to take her to help select the bedding. What are her interests? She'll feel more at home if she can relate to her surroundings. That said, I like flowery things with my dark bedroom furniture. I even wall-papered the entire room with large flowery satiny paper and it's looks wonderful.

Donna

[KarenAnne]

I would paint the furniture white & change the knobs out on the bureau, and pick a floral quilt. Use a white eyelet dust ruffle & pillow shams. Also white sheets. Pick two colors out of the quilt your step daughter likes & use those as the accent colors for the accessories. Buy matching shams for the quilt too, so when the bed is made, the eyelet shams are behind the quilt shams. You can buy an aged looking off-white wicker basket & fill it with silk hydrangeas (in one of the accent colors), & silk ivy trailing out of the basket for the bureau. But if the room's small, can you use the smaller dresser & add a small bedside table with a lamp next to the bed? You don't have to get rid of your husband's furniture, maybe just store it away. I would keep the walls light too, maybe an antique white color. And you can buy a small decorative shelf (paint it to match the bureau paint) for her little treasures. And, you can stack matching hat boxes, or decorative suitcases in the corner for additional storage. Make the iron bed the highlight of the room; positioning it on the wall across from the entry door if possible. It's always nice to have another wicker basket next to the bed to keep her magazines & books in. This way you can use the basket for other things when she' not there. For curtains, use pretty blinds & matching valances of the quilt. It's great to mix patterns as long as they compliment each other; florals/plaids/toille. That would be another great color scheme: a black toille duvet with punches of red, which would take the room in another completely different direction. OOOH, I love to decorate! Have fun!

[glassd18]

Great ideas everyone. Thank you. I actually figured out something and it looks great. I'm so impressed with myself (don't mean to gloat), but I really put some effort into this one, and I actually used many things I had here at home. The bed was an iron sleigh bed so it was taking up a foot extra so I removed the foot board to gain an extra 9 inches or so. When I turned the bed on the longer wall it actually gave enough room to open the drawers on the dresser, and I was able to put the night table beside the bed. I cleaned up the furniture by scrubbing it and polishing it. I used a medium beige and black paisley bedspread with matching cases and sheets (bed in a bag) with a red valance with black iron curtain rod. I used a thin painting of a silhouette of a french dress in red with beige background and black frame. I found another french (parisienne) hook with a picture with a hint of orange and black picture on it. I put a medium beige memo board above the night table. I added a brown iron lamp with a curvey shade on the long dresser. I cleared out all excess out of the room. It's hiding in a closet now.lololol I bought an area rug with little pomp pomps on it in medium beige. I threw a red accent pillow on the bed. I'm going to put a glass vase with wood flowers that match the little pictures I put above the bed. I took a couple of old small pictures (with shapes with shades of orange beige and black), and added an iron piece of artwork between the two. This came together really well. I am really surprised. I'm not as design inept as I originally thought!! I'm trying to clear junk out of the house these days. In the last year my husbands Grandfather died, and my parents had to move from their place that they were in for twenty years as my Dad is sick with cancer, and are too old to care for themselves, so we had to go through all of their stuff, and I swore that I was not going to make anyone have to do that for us!!!! So I'm on a mission to discard all unneccessary stuff. It's hard though because you become so attached. Thanks again for all of your ideas. It was really fun reading the posts, and gives me ideas for the next project.

[kuntrygurl78]

The room you described sounds very pretty!:woohoo:

[glassd18]

Thanks. Maybe I'll take a pic and post it. It looks so much better than it did!! I still need a few more pieces of art. We bought the house in 2002, and never really put a lot of effort into decorating so now, as I said above, I'm trying to toss clutter, and make things look better. We have so much stuff from both of our lives before marriage. I'm trying to tackle one room at a time. I can't wait for Spring to be here so that I can open windows. I have a hard time getting my bladder to cooperate with my ideas though, and sometimes don't like to move around too much. I'm trying to learn to do a little and rest a little which was never how I was. It was all or nothing before. IC has forced me to slow down!!!

[fmcbride]

Glad you have it all solved. I was going to suggest that you use a splash of red to offset the black.
I am sure your sd will love it. You are sweet to want her to be at home when she visits. I think sometimes that does not happen with a lot of youth.