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    Emily Fazio

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Guest Room Tornado + An Old School Idea Board

August 5, 2011

Just another embarrassing sight this morning, though I can say that it’s less disgusting than yesterday’s tutorial on swapping out a disposal guard. My guest room/walk-in-closet has become a dumping ground for… everything.. There you have it, people… I’m one of those girls whodumps dumps everything without a proper home into the one unused room of the house. It’s not really a secret, but it usually doesn’t make it in the shot. Wink, wink. I’m honestly surprised that my mom hasn’t chimed in on a comment blowing my cover.

Things are going to change though, because I finally decided to turn the room into an informal office… slash walk-in-closet. Can’t lose the closet. Unless I lose the clothes and shoes.

Guest room tornado.

Let’s see…

  • Folded laundry in the hallway. Topped with a pair of great Nine West suede boots I bought at the outlet mall last weekend for 25-dolla.
  • Cody’s crumbled bed towels on the ground.
  • A chair that I never quite finished refinishing (a two year work-in-progress that I’m not writing off yet).
  • Scarves over the door (not unlike what you saw when I first revealed the space, just a little less orderly).
  • Assorted totes. Because a girl can’t have too many.

Guest room tornado.

  • A pier 1 desk from Mom and Dad circa 1998 (reward for a good report card).
  • J.Crew slippers that I found hidden under my bed last week when I project managed the impromptu switcheroo.
  • A mid-century inspired mod chair from an early summer garage sale ($1, baby).
  • Mats, frames, mirrors, mats, and frames.

The wall of IKEA shelving was still in it’s original spot, used to store shoes and sweaters on the exposed shelves, and paperwork beneath. I downgraded to an old baby travel iron a few months ago after our nice one spontaneously combusted after making more business cards. It’s kind of pathetic, and the whole ironing board is taking up a ton of space.

Guest room tornado.

The overhaul I’ve been envisioning involves a 360-degree change. Well, no. A 270-degree change, because I’d like to rotate how most of the room is arranged to maximize the natural sunlight and wall space in the room. More to come on that as I experiment with the plan. One thing I’ve already done is scour each and every old Domino, House Beautiful, Home & Garden, etc publications that I never threw away; they take up a lot of space, because I’m glad I have them because they were still loaded with inspiration.

Guest room old school idea board.

Bet you haven’t seen a non-photoshopped idea board in awhile, eh? I was happy to use one of my IKEA SPONTAN magnetic boards that I bought a few months ago to organize my ideas. (Sidenote: SPONTAN is great in the kitchen; individually they measure 14.5″ x 30.75″ which is exactly the size of the side of my upper cabinets, so one of these boards helps to conceal the oak side panel that I’m not crazy about in a really utilitarian way.)

The images I cut from each magazine began to take on a certain theme that allowed me to retain the light walls and bright ceiling, but infuse the space with more color and functionality that it’s currently lacking.

The cactus on the rare wood on the radiator has been an image long stuck in my skull; I was happy to find that I had it in print still. Up it went. I was also vibing with the natural tones in these wreaths and pouf (oh, to have lots of office poufs).

Cacti and reclaimed wood happiness.

Same goes for the next set of images; how cool is that wooden storage tower, and how pretty are the light links in the bottom two pictures? The dog watercolor makes me happy. Not sure I could make something like that featuring Cody, but I could try.

Dog infusion, plus natural wood tower and pink tones.

The last set even more emphasizes my desire to have color in the room; moreso than in the rest of the house, I’m going to embrace the colorful accents, colorful art (and colorful binders, folders, pencils, and notebooks). Color, color, color. I escaped a beige cubicle and my home office will be nothing like one.

Crisp, but full of color.

I think when it comes down to it, I love the organized chaos in this photo. It’s visually appealing, stimulating, and allows for a rotating display of ideas.

Colorful, purposeful chaos.

The heat is on. Bring on the furniture paint. There’s your hint for what I’m tackling first.

Have a good weekend! I have a busy one planned… back to tell you more on Monday.

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Bedrooms  / Decor

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

4 Comments


Cait @ Hernando House
August 5, 2011 at 9:21 am
Reply

Organized chaos describes my art room well. And it is a LOT of color compared to my office cubicle (where I may or may not be sitting now).

Can’t wait to see what you come up with!



    Emily
    August 5, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    I just checked out your art room – it does look nice and colorful, especially with that paint pad (palette?) leaning against the furniture. Artsy.

Holyoke Home
August 6, 2011 at 9:14 am
Reply

Are ‘totes’ the new euphemism for ‘purses’? If so – I have a few too many ‘totes’

;)

Can’t wait to see what you do!



    Emily
    August 6, 2011 at 10:10 am

    The purses are a whole separate unmentioned animal. By totes, I mean I have about 15 of those recycled plastic bags that every company and country give away these days. My favorite is one Pete had from Hawaii that’s really colorful, not overly brand-y.

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  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

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