I don’t think a room transformation has ever made me so emotional before. My parents asked me to help design a new guest room for their home, which, funny enough, started out as my childhood bedroom. While my parents don’t host guests often, this space is incredibly special because it holds so many family heirloom treasures, including the headboard of the antique rope bed that provided me with my viral peg rail ledges.
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This actually isn’t the first room makeover we’ve done at my parents’ house! You have to see their vintage modern home office transformation!
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An Old English Retreat
Even though the room was filled with beautiful marble-topped antique furniture, it still lacked personality. With the addition of a rich moody shade of green, warm wood flooring, and second-hand styling, the room now resembles an Old English Retreat filled with love and family memories.
Color Drenching The Room
At approximately 12×14, the room is generously sized, but the wall color did little to maximize the potential of the space. Color drenching is one of my favorite techniques to create the illusion of a larger, grander space, and we’ve used this design trick in multiple rooms of my home. You can read all about Color Drenching and best practices in this post about our Parlour Makeover.
After trying six samples of moody green paint, we chose Ripe Olive from Sherwin-Williams. This stunning shade reads as a true green without pulling unwanted undertones like blues or grays. I immediately added Ripe Olive to my list of Top Moody Paint Colors, and I can’t wait to find a space in my own home to use this beautiful shade!
New Flooring
This amazing room makeover came together when my favorite flooring brand, Landmark Interiors, reached out to partner again. We added the most beautiful engineered hardwood flooring in our primary bedroom last fall with the help of Landmark Interiors, and I was excited to fulfill my parents’ dream of adding rich wood flooring to their guest room space (along with their own Primary Bedroom!)
Wondering what type of flooring to choose for YOUR space? Don’t miss our best tips for choosing the perfect flooring!
We chose Autumn Brown from the City of Oaks collection because it complemented the heirloom furniture and hallway flooring. Pro Tip: Don’t let mismatched flooring trip you up! It’s okay to have different colors and styles as long as the products are complementary.
Wall Moulding
An English-inspired room would never be complete without wall treatments! We added peel-and-stick wall moulding to give depth and dimension to the moody walls. After caulking and painting the moulding to match the walls, it was incredible to see how much larger the room felt!, check out this post where we first added peel-and-stick moulding to our family room!
With the moulding caulked and painted to match the walls, it was mind blowing to step back and see how enormous the room felt!
Want to make a room feel bigger? Don’t miss our 3 Simple Tricks to Make a Room Feel Larger!
Embracing History
This room is a love letter to our family and the heirloom furniture they’ve preserved over the years. We polished up every piece with Howard’s Feed-N-Wax to restore the luster and beauty of the wood. Against the deep green walls, each piece pops with personality!
One of the most exciting projects for me was adding antiqued mirrors to the headboard’s oval inlays. This easy DIY project turned out better than I ever imagined! To learn how to age a mirror, check out our Antiqued Mirror Tutorial.
My mom’s Lane cedar-lined hope chest also found its perfect place in this space. Initially, we planned to reupholster the top, but after peeling away the blue fabric, we discovered the original brocade upholstery was stunning! We gently cleaned it with OxyClean, then let it dry in the sun to remove dirt and grime.Instead of refinishing the damaged wood, my parents chose to paint it. We selected a ruddy salmon color that pairs beautifully with the moody wall color and the gorgeous area rug. This piece now adds a delightful pop of color and personality to the room!
Thrifted Styling
Of course, no makeover would be complete without thrifted finds! The large mirror over the antique dresser was a $14.99 Goodwill find. I spray painted it gold and added Gold Leaf Rub’n Buff for an aged look. It’s now a stunning statement piece that brightens up the room.
All the lamps in the room also came from thrift stores. My favorite is the Grecian marble and brass table lamp on the bedside table, which ties the room together with matching black and gold lampshades.
Final Touches
We added a dramatic “fandelier,” which looks like a beautiful chandelier but has hidden fan blades that appear with the push of a remote. It was the perfect touch of elegance for the room! We also swapped out the curtains for rich velvet drapes in a dark gold tone, mounted high to create the illusion of a larger window. And you will not believe the LOW price point on this beauty!
The curtain rod was installed right at the ceiling line and mounted about 16 inches from the window frame on each side.
All grown up
Transforming this room into a luxurious English retreat was an emotional journey for me. Whether it’s because this was my childhood room or the fact that this space now allows our family treasures to shine, I couldn’t be more proud of the outcome.
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xoxo, L