Ahoy! Makeover complete (for now)!

Happy September! I thought the best way to ring in a new month was to post an update/reveal on our spare room! It's always great to start off on a positive note!

However, I'll have to admit that the title of this post is slightly misleading. I don't think any makeover is REALLY ever complete! Somehow our home seems to undergo this constant change depending on the season, or what we happen to like at the moment. Anyone else feel that way?

 I'll admit that I've been on quite the "nautical" kick lately. Maybe it's our surrounding area. We live in the 1000 Islands area of upstate New York, and I think that the sail boats, seagulls, and sea air have embedded them into my brain. I find myself turning away from the modern gray and white undertones with bold color accents, and headed towards softer, muted neutrals with splashes of aqua, coral, or navy.

If you remember, the spare room started as a culmination of Pinterest images that piqued my interest. I found myself gravitating towards the navy and white rooms-- a lot of which were rather modern looking, but I didn't want to beckon nightmares like that of the blueberry room. The space we wanted to makeover was relatively small, and painting the walls navy would have just closed it in that much more. Through a lucky break, we found navy paint in the basement. The color in this picture is deceiving, mind you. It's been since 2005 (at least) since it's been painted, and so it has oxidized a bit since then.

A light bulb went off in my head after browsing one of my favorite blogs, The Lettered Cottage. Kevin and Layla's book nook turned guest room had the perfect solution. Stripes! Armed with my painters tape, ruler, and a pencil, I began the arduous task of measuring and taping out each and every one of those darn things. I think I muttered a few things like "this better work" or "what the heck have I gotten myself into" along the way, but I can tell you that the proof is in the pudding! It was totally worth it!

I also discovered the awesomeness of Frogtape. Like I said back during our makeover progress post, not all painters tape is created equally! Don't get me wrong, ole blue has been more than adequate for the typical paint job, but for something that requires crispness and precision like wall stripes, it just doesn't cut it. I was thoroughly impressed with the green stuff, making it absolutely worth that price tag.

In a word: Amazing. I'll go ahead and toss in another word: Love. I love it. My husband was a huge skeptic when he saw me sweating and slaving over blue and green tape, but when the paint had been rolled on, and the tape was removed, I got the "nod". You know, that approving but silent up and down head movement that a man makes while jutting his lower lip out. I had to practically drag the words "it looks great" out of him. I think that's because he was afraid of an "I told you so". Actually, I don't even have to say those words anymore-- just like he has his "nod", I've got that special grin in my looks arsenal: "I freaking told you this was going to be awesome! Huzzah!" Maybe that's a tad dramatic, but you get the point.

Of course, my giddy grin pretty much stopped there, because I had a whole lot of room to put together still. I needed to bring in furniture that would be functional for my sewing nook, and I needed the closet to meet my organizational needs. Not gonna lie... I really wasn't looking forward to going through more boxes of stuff. I did what I had to do, though, and over the course of a couple days I was able to slap something together. I even managed to make and hang new curtains for my happy little space.

Now, instead of seeing stacked boxes, I come into the room and gaze up on my awesome new workspace (okay, in all honesty you know I've junked that bad-boy up by now). The large table was a freebie from my husband's work, and the little school desk with my sewing machine on it was a fantastic $10 Salvation Army Thrift Store find.

Yes. I said $10. In the words of the Orbit chewing gum girl, "Fabulous!"

For now, I've decided to leave it as is, but me thinks that the desk has a hot date with a paintbrush in the future. It also has that funky plastic-y veneer top that I am tempted to remove. I might have to hit up the "interwebs" to see how to go about doing that. As for the color, I am thinking about a white base with a nice wood stained top. Maybe an nice pop of color on the drawer and on the shelves. Any suggestions?

The other corner makes my heart flutter as well. Here I have my decorative dress form displayed with one of the bags I make for my Etsy shop, Little Lotte. The map is an old National Geographic magazine insert that I found while rooting through some boxes. Right now I just have it thumb tacked to the wall (classy-- it's how I roll), but I have future plans to frame this guy and hang him properly. I love how he adds color and whimsy to the room. It ties in perfectly with the curtains. Speaking of curtains, I've got one word for them, too: Free. Yes, I used fabric that I already  had on hand in my stash to make the panels. It was one of those impulse buys of my youth. You know, the kind where you randomly buy a huge bolt of fabric because it's only $2 a yard, and you're sure you will use it SOME how. Well in your face, Mr. Impulse. It only took me like 10 years, but I finally used that fabric, and I couldn't be more happy to have had it on hand. Now if only I could say the same for the rest of the bolts and cuts of fabric that I own. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Here's a look at the other window in the room. You might not have noticed it in the previous pictures since it was hiding behind a wall of moving boxes. It's in the most awkward place, too-- right at the corner. I wanted to hang regular curtain rods and go with my nifty ring-clip hanging method again, but unfortunately this window just wouldn't have allowed for that. Mismatched windows are a no-no when it comes to an OCD freak person like myself. So, I begrudgingly made the curtain rod pockets, and reused the old, flimsy U-shaped rods. If anyone is interested, I am happy to make a tutorial on how to create this style of curtain. It's really not that different from the world's easiest curtains. I even took a few pictures, "just in case".

The closet is still an unfinished project, but it's definitely MUCH more organized than before. I still have to organize some of the bins, but as I start using up my stash, I will be able to better tell what type of organizational system will work for me. I'd love to get something pretty going on in there like some shelves and whatnot, but the bins do the job for now. Eventually I'll be making a curtain to cover up my fabric and crafting atrocities (it'll likely be free thanks to that handy fabric stash I've got).

Can you even remember what this room looked like before? Neither can I. But we should probably go there, shouldn't we?

And there she is, in all of her chocolate glory (need I even mention the matching curtains? Have you come to expect anything else in this house? I haven't). Speaking of the window, look at how much it just blends in with the wall color. It's hard to discern where the wall ends and where the window begins, and this room has some pretty nice chunky wood trim. It even has crown molding, but you would never know-- until now! Lets fast forward to the after, shall we?

Voila! Makeover accomplished! At least for now. Yes, the walls are still kind of bare, but I don't want to stick just anything up there for the sake of filling it up. Since this is a space that I'll be working in just about every day, I want it to be filled with things that I really love and that make me happy. I've also got to pin down an organizational system that will function best for me before I go investing in any more furniture or storage solutions.

Now, you're thinking... but wait a minute. Isn't this a guest room? Yes, it is.. but at this point we don't plan on having guests for a little while. When the time is right, we'll figure out what our best options are, and you can be sure that we'll keep you posted. For now, I am enjoying a space that I can unleash my creativity!

So let's break down the budget for this bad-ramma-jamma. In my first post about the room makeover, I touted that this would be the "biggest and best nearly-free makeovers of all time I have ever done." Let's see if I held up on my end of the deal:

Paint: $0. Zilch. Nada. Free. All of it. The blue we found in the basement cupboard, and the taupe stripes came from the same can of paint that we used on our fireplace makeover.

Painting supplies: $10. I ran out of good 'ole blue, and asked the DH to bring a roll of painters tape home with him after work. I also ran out of painting tray liners, but being the fabulous penny-pincher that I am, I just wrapped our tray with tinfoil instead. I saw it on Pinterest; Don't judge.

Curtains: $0. Yep, those were another freebie thanks to my fabric hoarding stash.

Furniture: $10. It's all about the Hamilton for my awesome little school-desk-turned-sewing-table. It's the perfect height to sew comfortably, and it has some awesome storage. Now I don't have to fumble around for my scissors, or hunt down my seam ripper (unless I don't put it back in the drawer, but who does that, right?) A win all around. Unless you're forgetful lazy.

Storage: $0. Yep, everything-- from the storage bins, to the ribbon hangers (another pinterest find, thank-you-very-much), and the fabric hanging "cubbie"-- are  from around the house that we already owned. They either were currently functioning as fabric/sewing supplies storage, or I kidnapped them from a different room, and gave them a new home.

Decor: $0. My National Geographic map is a loner in this category, but he was a total freebie. If it's free, it's me! I've got some fun ideas in mind for this category. It just takes time, and patience. Something I find myself in limited supply.

So there you have it. $20 total for the entire transformation as you see it now. Pretty awesome, if I say so myself. Of course it's not magazine or picture perfect, but I love it and it works for me. Some of the best rooms take years to put together. It's all about finding just the right pieces of the puzzle, and making them fit your needs. Besides, now I have a bunch of fun projects to complete and blog about, and you know what that means, right? You guessed it: feeding my Pinterest addiction.

Do you think this makeover is worth bragging about? Have you totally transformed a room for practically pennies? Who knew it was so easy to do when you make use of what you already have! Now please excuse me while I go dance it out to Karmin's "I Told You So"-- playing it full blast so the hubby can hear, of course.