Remember when this odd little 6′ x 6′ space…
…became our reading room?
Well, it needs to act as our guest room now, so a couple weeks back, we started clearing it out…
…and patching the walls…
…and talking about how to build a bed with a little more storage, and create walls with a little more character, and a little less stuff on ’em. I started having crazy visions of a sunburst mirrors landing on my Mom’s head in the middle of the night, so it was time for them (and the shelves) to say buh-bye!
After the room was completely clear, we loaded the car up with a bunch of wood from the home improvement store…
…and (spontaneously) decided to take a 2-hour road trip to Cullman, Alabama for some old gymnasium flooring from this place…
It’s called Southern Accents and they carry all kinds of awesome architectural salvage.
What a fun day that turned out to be!
Back at home, and after some hardcore rub-a-dub scrubbin’ with mineral spirits and soap & water, we started attaching the old floor boards to the back wall in the room…
Here’s what we eventually came up with…
(Note: We’ve still gotta add some trim molding below the baseboards.)
Simple, Moonlight White-painted board and batten on the side walls, a rustic gym floor back wall, a Moonlight White-painted plywood floor, and little cheery pops of color and texture here, there and everywhere!
The daybed we built was inspired by Pottery Barn’s $749 Stratton Daybed…
I think we spent around $75 to build, caulk and paint ours. If you’d like info on how to build one too, click HERE to visit Ana-White.com.
(Note: Because Kev and I each have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to directions, we didn’t actually use any plans to build our bed- but if you’re lookin’ for some rock solid instructions, and wanna cut out all the guesswork, definitely check out Ana’s plan!)
On the left side of the room, we used our leaning ladder / magazine & book rack. We haven’t secured it to the wall yet, but we do plan to do that in the near future…
For the board and batten on the side walls, we just used pre-primed MDF 1×2’s from Home Depot. They were super simple to put up with our nail gun, and because our baseboard and crown molding are flat, everything finished out nice and neat. (After a couple of tubes of caulk!)
I got the little green and yellow bucket from Ashley and Myra during our trip to Nashville this past January…
I’m such a sucker for brightly-colored vintage metal! I got the red, white and blue Bingo tin on Etsy a while back…
I’m SO gonna hide surprises in that sucker every time my Mom comes up for a visit!
We got the Pottery Barn Stratford wall sconce on eBay…
I camouflaged part of the cord by hanging one of our framed quotes on top of it…
The light has a dimmer switch- which I love. It looks so warm and cozy in there at night!
The rest of the frames hanging on that wall were also swiped from our old guest bedroom…
(My Mom’s birthday is June 13th!)
We decided to go with a more random arrangement than usual this time, and we’re really diggin’ the way they play with the board and batten.
It was such a fun little redo to work on together!
Just gotta add that trim below the baseboards, and attach a curtain rod and some curtains on the inside of the doorway for privacy, and we’ll be done!
I think.
Source List:
Paint on ceiling: Sea Salt – Sherwin Williams
Paint on side walls: Moonlight White – Benjamin Moore
Paint on floor: Moonlight White – Behr Premium Plus Porch & Floor Paint (Home Depot)
Pottery Barn Stratford Wall Sconce: eBay
Rug: TJ Maxx
White Pick-Stitch Quilt and Euro Shams: Pottery Barn
Floral Pillow: Ikea
Red Stripe Euro Pillow Cover: Ikea
Natural and Red Stripe Lumbar Pillow Cover: eBay
Ceiling Light: Ikea
White “Ribba” Picture Frames: Ikea
Wood Picture Frames: Walmart
Large Seagrass Baskets: HomeGoods
Blue Step Stool: J&G Flea Market, Prattville, AL
Ivory Throw Blanket: gift from our realtor
White Storage Containers: Ikea
Side Table: HomeGoods
Ladder: Nashville Flea Market
Green & Yellow Bucket: The Rare Bird Antiques, Goodlettsville, TN
Red Bingo Tin: Etsy.com
Blue Button Tin Photo: Etsy.com
Red Door Photo: LetteredCottageArt.com
sweetest guest room ever…love the wall…and everything else!
What an awesome room!!! Love the bed and the old flooring on the back wall. Such a great use of space in that room! Thanks for sharing all your ideas with us. You two are so talented!! Love & blessings from NC!
It is simply beautiful! May I just ask….what was the previous flooring? (hardwood or laminate, I can’t tell?) And could you tell me a bit more about what you did with this new floor…painted plywood? I am wondering if this would work in a slightly larger room? I have a nasty berber in our fourth, oddly shaped bedroom (being used as an office/XBox 360/dumping ground room (!) right now and I would love to turn it into a guestroom. I LOVE the look of painted floors, so have been trying to research different (cheap!) flooring options…if you could let me know of a link that might explain how to do that, I would be forever grateful! I am so inspired by your bravery in everything you attempt 🙂
Fantastic ! The flooring on the wall really gave the room a vintage flare. My husband and I have fallen for the wall sconce and now must find something similar for each side of our bed. It’s perfect. Great job guys 🙂
The old flooring is DA-BOMB!!!
Since mama is from the 70’s perhaps she’d like one of those beaded curtains that Greg Brady used to have in his way super cool attic bedroom! Remember that? LOL!
You knocked this one OUT!!
It was beautiful reading room beforehand but the after is amazing! I love every details. That wall is awesome, love the board and batten, love the painted floor and the bed with extra storage. Your decorative accents are so charming. Great job, you two! I love that tiny room. 🙂
Wow~this is just so wonderful. I just found your blog a while back and thank you for your posting and incredibly creative ideas~
Kathie
SOUL KANDIE
soulkandie.blogspot.com
Absolutly gorgeous!!!….I love it!! 🙂
okay you two~ an old gym floor on the wall?? amazing. the touches of red, that LADDER, the personal touches in the frames…knock my socks off!!
My first thought was “no, don’t touch the reading room!” That quickly turned to “this is perfection!” You guys are so very talented. I LOVE the gym flooring on the walls and everything else in this room. Your mom is one lucky guest!
Your designs make me weak in the knees 🙂
I totally agree with Cammee…my first thought was “that reading room is pure perfection-please don’t re-do it!”. That said, I must say that you are amazing…the new guest room is stunning! 🙂
Ok, when I first saw the title of this post, I let out a big “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”… because I LOVE the way you did your reading room. Love it.
But now that I’ve read the post and looked at the pictures, I think I’m going to be OK 😉 It looks fabulous!!
I bow down to your greatness.
Absolutely beautiful!!! I love it.
And I have a little man who would love to have some gym flooring on his wall =)
hmmmm… You are truly inspirational! Thank you =)
amazing! that 6×6 room is packed with so much style, but doesn’t look cramped at all. love the walls, what a great idea.
This room is so awesome. I’m going to comment a second time today. It has spurred so much conversation with some friends today on Facebook. Thanks!!! 🙂
loved, loved, loved the reading room before…love, love, love, LOVE the reading room even more now! how is that possible? 😉 you guys ROCK! as always, you guys are truly an inspiration…UH-MAZE-ING!!!
just beautiful, as always!
Love the boards on the wall…as well as all of the other details!
Okay guys. First you give us a odd space/what to do with room and well, you made it just perfect. THEN, you go and change it! My, my! What are ya’ll trying to do? Bogg our brains, blow our minds, what, WHAT? Then we see the NEW finished room and WOW! Okay, ya’ll are trying to make our minds EXPLODE! I now officially have a love/hate relationship with you guys. I LOVE everything you touch and I HATE that you make it look so easy!
Hats off once again!
P.S. Now give us time to copy it before you go changing things up again, huh?
Hi Layla! I really love what you’ve done. I would like to ask you about the ceiling color. It is so pretty. I know that it is SherWill ~ Sea Salt but is it 100 Or 50%. It does not look the same on my paint paddle as it does on your ceiling or your chalk board. So I have been hesitant to use it.
Thank you:)
Love the wood flooring on the walls! I often use Pottery Barn as a source of inspiration. My dad and I built a banquet based on a Pottery Barn pic. So fun!
I didn’t think I could love your reading room more…but wowzah!
That beautiful gym flooring warms the whole thing right up!
beautiful
Wow! Your rooms and redos are all inspiring. Makes me want to go change my newly painted and carpeted house. However, I can’t! But, I sure do enjoy reading your posts! Keep up the great work.
Oh my, that room is so cute! Is was really pretty before though too. I love the flooring on the wall, what a great idea…gives it a little bit of a rustic, yet kind of edgy look. Just a thought, but maybe you guys should invest in a truck 😉
Well you’ve out done yourself! I love the pops of fun color, and we have those Ikea pillows too… good taste! 🙂
Blessings,
Sasha
Oh my stinkin’ heck…is there anything you can’t do? Sheesh! You are so, so talented and I love to visit your blog. : )
i think i just sat here and stared at this room for 30 minutes straight. haha. IN.LOVE. with the wood wall! your style is effortless. so inspiring!
That looks amazing! love the color scheme and how cozy it looks. The gym flooring is also a neat idea, and seems to be worth the 2 hr. drive you took to get it! 🙂
Great. Now I’m coveting.
And wishing you still offered design consults. Or that maybe you wanted to visit Cincinnati! Lovely lovely room. What an accent that gym floor is–small investment for a big pop!! LOVE the red. Just thinking how blessed you are to be renovating as a team. Enjoy this and try not to take it for granted 🙂
I am FLOORED (pun intended)!!! This is so fabulous!
The wood floors on the wall are a precious idea….just love it!!
SPECTACULAR!
that is the cutest room ever! nate berkus has nothing on you guys! great use of space and materials. that floor on the wall is soooo cool! love the board and batten. you are awesome!
I didn’t think that space could be any better, but you pulled it off! Amazing! One of your best spaces yet!
Oh my gosh, you live by Cullman AL? That is where I would go to go the “Big stores” when I visited my grandma on the farm…although she says your farm is surrounded by houses now. Okay, so now I completely trust your website. I may even make that bed in my office. You have my full confidence at a teacher 🙂
Loved reno #1 of this room and also love reno #2! I would love to live a day in your two heads. Maybe my home would look this good! Love, love, love your style K&L. Love.
WOW. So many comments. Im thinking you dont need to hear from me. I just say.. This is my favoriite small room re-do EVER.. It was cute to start but WOW you guys got it going on…
Super fun space.
Such a great use of a small space! Love it all, but I’m from Knoxville, so I’m kinda partial to the East TN Packing Co. Bucket.
Oh my good gracious, I want a tiny room!! Seriously, this is too much for my design-challenged brain to even comprehend. It’s so much perfectness! I’m bookmarking this and I don’t even know why because where in the heck could I do this?? I think I’ll just stare at it every day.
Can you tell me why you two do not have a TV show yet? HGTV is missing the boat by not swooping you up!!!
Oh my gosh oh my gosh.. that wood! I’m going crazy here! FLOOR wood?!? I have a ton of that… oh my gosh…. where will I put mine?!? AAAAHH!!
Just when I didn’t think your reading room could possibly improve, it did. So beautiful!
Donna
Wow, I love it! I loved it before AND I love it now. 🙂
And I totally have that same “Trust Your Crazy Ideas” notepad in my purse.
You both did a great job, I love it , it looks so fresh! Can I come over and read sometime 😀 …..Julie in Holland
hi layla! i LOVE following your blog. my family just bought a newly built home in a neighborhood that is in the process of being built out. we really want to customize our home inside and out so that it doesn’t look so much like all the other homes in our ‘hood! you’ve given me some great ideas. i hope i can pull some of them off!
this particular post REALLY caught my eye. i love the wood planks on the wall and would love to do that in the alcoves on either side of my fireplace. so…i have a question. in the picture, the ends of the planks look so perfectly cut and flush to the wall. are they so perfectly cut or is there any trim or molding running from the ceiling to the floor to finish off the edges?
thanks a ton!
Hi Amanda!
Yep! We used more white-painted 1×2’s there to tidy things up!
This is a seriously amazing transformation. I love the flooring on the wall. It really pops the white and gives the room dimension! You guys rock (:
Wow. I love it. Seriously. I love what you did before but this one is even more serene with a country edge to it. I hope your mom (and all your guests) enjoys her stay.
Just love it, looks like a million bucks! The room looks so cozy and inviting, can I come stay? 🙂
holy ca-moley! i think i’ve ask this before but…
can i be YOU when i grow up!?!??
seriously? can i move in? it’s PERFECT! i love what you did what the wall, and everything really. you got me thinkin’ thinkin’ thinkin’….