You know when you end a post saying “come back tomorrow” and then you’re too pregnant & forgetful to actually put the post live the next day? I think you know where I’m going with this…

So here we are – albeit later than planned – with part 2 for our guest bedroom update. You can see post 1 here. Did you like the colour we’ve picked? I’m still completely head over heels for it.

What was once known as Bedroom 2 is now a room with an identity. Since painting it and adding carpet, we’ve had a play about with the layout to both maximise space and also make it a really welcoming place to be.

The carpet makes so much difference. I adore all the homes I see online with their stunning reclaimed hardwood floors, but I must be honest, after a daily dose of floorboards for the past 3 years, I was ready for something fluffy. Not to everyone’s taste for sure, but I personally love that when you walk from our unfloored landing into this softly floored room it goes quiet from the insulation and feels warm under your toes. It’s a little luxury that I’ve missed, and actually, I’m starting to love this room a little more than our own master bedroom, which by the way is in desperate need of re-decorating. Typical.

Previously we had one humongous wardrobe in this room for both Joe and I. It’s an Ikea wardrobe (shock horror, do we even shop anywhere else?) made up of 6 individual units and it had sliding doors. When we found out we were going to be parents, the first thing Joe did at home was re-order the upstairs. Literally, within a week of finding out. The entire of the upstairs. Now that’s nesting for you.

We discovered that our wardrobes were just too big, but if we split them into 2, we’d have loads more room. So we’ve put 3 units of the wardrobe back into this room, and the other 3 are in our master bedroom. The only thing we’re missing now is new doors because obviously the sliders aren’t appropriate now. The buying list continues to grow…

Upon a trip back to Ikea looking for wardrobe doors – which we still haven’t got, one thing at a time people – we found a guest bed we loved. It’s the Lyksele Murbo series and is so comfy.

Whilst it doesn’t look like much, it was good value, is a proper mattress, not one of those flimsy ones, and can be customised at a later date. Joe single handedly destroyed the display of beds in the store as is tradition, because let’s face it, if you can’t have a bit of a giggle when you go furniture shopping, I think I’d go a bit nuts.

A bed was something really important to us. We’ve got close family and some of our closest friends who sadly don’t live locally, and previously they’ve always been welcome to stay on our couch. But we wanted people to feel at home here, and with the baby now coming, I’d love for my mum to have the option to come over and stay (maybe answer to baby nighttime cries, eh mum?) and to have a personal space and comfy place to sleep when she does.

Now we have that!

The rest of the room we’ve made into a personal office. I think a lot of homes can get away without a home office, but with Joe working in computing, we have a lot – oh my gosh, so so many – of cables, spare computer parts and I’d also like somewhere nice to do those boring jobs like filing and household bills.

When Joe’s dad painted the room, he also installed a floating shelf into the alcove of the room which has made a wonderful desk. I love that the white of this surface matches the picture rail and keeps the room bright. Joe has of course since added his beloved computer thingies and a filing cabinet, and we’re still working out a way to tart it up a bit. He has even built in a cage underneath the desk to keep it neat, and hide the wires.

So far, all we’ve managed is hanging our textured stag head. For those who have followed me for a while, I spotted this ages ago in John Lewis and Joe bought it for me last Christmas. I know the stag trend is waning but hey, we’ve had it waiting to go on a wall for near enough 9 months and I’m bloody well going to give it all the loving it deserves! Gosh that sounded wrong….

Over the guest bed, we’ve added an Ikea (wow I’m sounding like a broken record here) Lack shelf. We had to trim it down a little but Joe is getting better with a hack saw each day 😉

So far we’re using it for our household filing in these Viking box files which I ordered in plain black. I want to get a bit crafty with them. I’m thinking…spray paint them white (so difficult to find white box files) and finally use my chalkboard labels which have been collecting dust in a drawer somewhere – what do you think? I’m also going to add some flowers and trinkets to the shelves to make it a bit more homey, but go easy on me, we’ve been busy!

We used to have a full-length mirror in the hall but have moved it into this guest room. It was the same colour as the wardrobes, but we are eventually planning to add white doors to the wardrobes to brighten the room. So, we decided, might as well gloss the mirror too! It needs a few touch ups but generally I’m happy we could give it a quick makeover.

There is still plenty to do in here…one day.

I’d like a throw and pillows for the guest bed when it’s in sofa-mode. I’d love some picture frames on the empty wall when you walk in. I’d like to girly up the office area a bit, because I think Joe’s manliness is bit much! I need a lampshade. I think we need an accent colour in this room that complements the green (ideas in the comments please!).

It’s a list I’m sure I’ll keep adding to over the years but for now it’s a great little area for our guests.. And I think when you look back to what it was a few months ago, it’s not a bad transformation.

Before

Progress