Anyone who has moved can probably relate to this – you get into your space and crap is everywhere. Slowly that everywhere becomes one room and slowly that one room becomes one closet. Eventually, (if you’re lucky) you tackle that one closet and clear your house of the excess. But, like they say, out of sight out of mind right? When we moved into our home, we bought beautiful new furniture for almost every space. Except for that ONE room, our guest room. The hodgepodge mess of all of the misfit furniture. For months we stuck all we couldn’t use in this room and it really struggled to find its identity. That was until I decided it need help and I did a total flip. Nothing new, just a little jazzing up and decorating with what you have. Now it’s one of the cooler and more tranquil spaces in our home.
Below I’ve share some snaps of the room in all of its glory along with a few tips for decorating with what you have. You’d be surprised how changing the orientation of a room and switching a few accents around can make a big difference in the space and feel of a room. Check out my tips below and use the link at the bottom to shop this room!
When looking at the “junk” that we had at our disposal for this room, it was very apparent that it was lacking in color. It’s true, we loved our West Elm duvet cover and the wall hanging I made a few years ago. But it was clear – white and beige on beige was blah. The first thing we did was splash this paint color on the walls to give everything a little pop. The color is Dark and Stormy Sky Green and it’s a Glidden paint. It set a great base for all of our random pieces and gave the room the eclectic vibe it was already destined to have. Here comes tip number one for decorating with what you have: set a good foundation. Most of the time that will be in the form of a rug or wall color.
Looking at the leftover items, we had a lot of yellows and greens. That made pulling it together a little easier because there was some consistency. We painted the nightstand yellow (it was teal before). This was a super quick and cheap way to make the room feel a little more cohesive. Pulling our yellow falsa blanket from the other room made it feel like the room was intentional. If you have a few items in different rooms that work well together, pulling two or three of them into one space can be a great method for decorating with what you have. If worse comes to worse, and you’ve got a few bucks to spare, a new throw pillow like the yellow velvet one I picked up at World Market for ten bucks! It’s a small purchase that can have a big impact.
I always love having a little area to sit or to put your things on in every room. While there isn’t always the space to do this, we were able to squeeze in an old dining chair and accent table into this room. I felt like creating this separate and intimate space in the bedroom made this whole thing feel a little more intimate. Lastly, I scoured our photos and found this picture from a recent trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It had lots of color and seemed to work with the room. If you’re looking for some cheap wall art, browse through your photos and print a few of them out.
There is no right way or secret to decorating with what you have. I tweaked a million times before I felt like it was cohesive. You might lose your sh*t with your space now and again but I promise, it will be an amazing work and might turn into everyone’s favorite room just like our guest room did!
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