July's Project: Spare Bedroom and Art Studio

So it's still just the two of us - me and my hubby; no little ones yet! Which leaves the dilemma: what to do with the "other" bedroom. It started it's life (since we've been married) as an office for Tim and I and a home for our many, many bookshelves. Since then, Tim's office and bookshelves have migrated to the back room of the basement (Tim's "man cave"), thus making the upstairs room fair game for a makeover. WAHOO!

I decided to divide the room into two sections, making one half our guest bedroom and the other half an art studio of sorts for myself. Tim was (wisely) against actually building a wall, so I found a six-panel canvas room dividing screen with pockets. The pockets are perfect for storing some of my art supplies!

Back (guest room) Side

Front (Art Studio) Side

I already had my desk and filing cabinet for my office/studio, and I bought several 7-drawer towers to store my art supplies. So that side was pretty much finished.

On the guest room side, I relied heavily on consignment shops to furnish and decorate the room! I found an end table and chair at Spice (I think both together were around $70 if I remember correctly).

 

I already owned a dresser and bookshelf, and I used a weathering kit from Lowe's to paint and crackle them as shown in the pictures below. FYI this technique was a pain in the you-know-what and I do not recommend it*.

For the bed, I found a comforter, bed skirt and shams at Spice for a steal, not to mention the headboard was only $20 as well!  Here's a trick: the bed skirt, shams and comforter are actually queen-size, but this is a single bed!  To make it work I folded the bedskirt under the mattress so it's the right size, and the bed spread acts more like a quilt because it's a bit longer on the sides.  But you'd never know if I hadn't told you!

 I also found a nick-knack shelf and some decorations at Spice as well. At Michael's I found a garland to go over the bed, and a vase of peonies for the bookshelf. Oh, and I bought some throw pillows from Bed, Bath and Beyond to finish the effect. 

Window treatments can be one of the more expensive room modifications, but I was lucky enough to find a curtain set for a mere $20 at Second Wind!  The set contained only two panels, and I needed four.  The curtains were from Country Curtains, so I called them to find out if they still sold the curtains, and they did!  So I bought the one set from Second Wind, and purchased the second set as well as double rods for both windows from CC for around $60.  Two window treatments, including hardware, for $80!  That's pretty amazing!  The windows already had shades for privacy/light control, so I left those up.  I keep the curtains on my art studio side open (held back with ties that came with the curtains, held in place with white metal hooks I screwed into the wall).  I keep the curtains on the bedroom side closed as it gives the light a more filtered look.  Here are some pics:

 











Other consignment shop finds:

I found this shelf, as well as a few pieces on it (flowers, picture frames), at Spice.  I love it!!  I made the boxes myself.

If I remember correctly, I found the swag above the bed at Michael's in Annapolis.  I don't recall the exact price, but it was quite reasonable for a wall hanging (mabye around $20?), especially compared to framed art!

Here are some final shots of the room:

*If you do attempt using weathered crackle glaze, my only advice is this: when you put the top layer on, it only works if you paint on flat (horizontal) surfaces. If you try to paint a vertical surface the paint will run (you have to use a lot of paint on your brush because you can't go over your brush strokes or you will pull the paint off of the furniture - it's a mess).