My Do-NOT-Go-In-There Guest Room Overhaul
My spare bedroom was turned into Santa’s Workshop at Christmas and it was never turned back! Â No problem until Mom & Dad announce they are coming to visit this weekend and I only have 4 days spruce it up.
Disclosure: Â My mother actually told me a couple weeks ago that they were coming. Â I just didn’t put two & two together until… Â well… until it was just 4 days away and they were going to be here! Â Apparently, I need to look at a calendar more often.
So here is the disaster zone looking into the room:
And here it is looking out of the room:
Yeah, it is pretty bad. Â Just take a look at all the Christmas stuff that threw up all over the bed.
I followed the advice of A Slob Comes Clean and started with the easiest tasks first.
The very first thing I did was put away the ironing board. Â That instantly made the room feel more open. Â Then I did a quick sweep through the room and gathered up all the trash. Â Most of the things in this pile easily fit that category.
After gathering the trash I started with putting things away. Â I started with things that already had a home. Â The socks I got for free in a Christmas purchase were put in my sock drawer. Â (A shocking concept, I know!) Â The free hair product sample that came with another Christmas gift went into the bathroom along with the random clean towel. Â The stapler went to the office. Â I even found a Barnes & Nobels gift card!
I was able to make some good progress with out much effort. Â The hardest part for me about putting things away is trying to decide where their “home” should be. So starting with things that already had a clear home made it much easier for me to stay motivated.
I got slightly derailed when I had to find a home for the gift-bows that I acquired over Christmas. Â I already had a wonderful ribbon & bow organizing system, but it wasn’t big enough to accommodate all the new comers.
I spent about 30 minutes cleaning out some drawers in my bedroom. Â I had 3 drawers dedicated to candles and 2 dedicated to bows. Â Of the 3 candle drawers I was able to consolidate the contents all into the smallest of the drawers. Â Sadly, this wasn’t hard. Â I was keeping candles to burn “someday” from years ago. Â I actually threw out a partially burned candle that was a high school graduation gift. Â That was… ahem… 11 years ago.
Just 30 minutes later and I had a new organizational system for my bows:
- 1st drawer for neutral colored bows & ribbon
- 2nd drawer for colored bows & ribbon
- 3rd drawer for spooled ribbon
- 4th drawer for curly ribbon
The saddest part of the whole ribbon process was when I asked a girlfriend if black ribbon should go in the colored drawer or neutral drawer.  Um…  really??  She isn’t going to be the one looking for the ribbon!  Clearly, my decision making skills are pathetic.
Now back to the room!
Thankfully most items in the room did have a place to live, I just had to put them there! After everything was picked up or thrown out, cleaning up was a breeze. Â I did a quick dusting, swept the carpet, changed the sheets and was done!
Doesn’t this bed look much more inviting now?  😀
There are still a few boxes hanging around, but they are mostly filled with photo albums. Â I’m nervous to store them in my attic because it gets so hot. Â Any advice on the best place to store photo albums?
Aren’t you proud of me, Mom? Â And I didn’t even need all 4 days after all!
This post is being linked to Spring Spruce Up, which is being hosted by 11 great bloggers. Â They are each sprucing up one area of their home this week. Â Click on over to find inspiration on tackling your craft room, garage, backyard, bathroom or any space in between!
By the way.. I can’t wait to come and stay in your new, fabulously inviting guest room: )
Dorothy, it would be fun to have you stay over sometime! SLUMBER PARTY TIME!!!! 🙂
Nate can come visit me if he needs somewhere to hide when that’s going on 😛
Wow! You did an amazing job!
Thanks, Carletta! It is amazing how starting is often the hardest part for me.
That is amazing! Love the photos of the progress, too. My favorite part was all the Christmas stuff that threw up all over the bed!! Funny!!!
Lisa, I actually thought of you while I was doing this project. I know how you enjoy my insane goal updates & I was hoping you would like this post too. Now I just need to get this guest room decorated!
way to go…,my bedroom was my workshop over xmas..and it stayed in a similar state till early march..how horrid..my husband was soooo happy when i finally tackled it…poor man…
Celina, my hubby frequently told me that the guest room was stressing him out! He was pretty impressed with the progress.
Your post title made me laugh… that’s exactly what I call my guest room… Good job organizing it! I wish I get motivated enough to work on mine….
Crystal, I’ve found that blogging about my goals has been a huge motivator for me. Maybe it could help you with your guest bedroom.
That looks wonderful! I know when I run into a snag like your bows, I end up feeling like I’ll never get it accomplished. Encouraging to know it only took you 30 mins to solve the problem! Great job!
Amy, I’m glad you found encouragment in my bows. I was just talking with some girlfriends this afternoon and they all made fun of me that I actually organize my bows! I don’t think they were very encouraged. haha!
Fabulous job! That easy-stuff-first method helps me so much.
And huge bonus to find a gift card!
It was like I got paid to clean!! Love it!
Girl, now THAT is impressive! Excellent job!
Thanks so much for linking it to the Spring Spruce Up!
(And I can totally relate on the decision making….)
-Lauren
Thanks Lauren! The sad thing is that it really wasn’t that hard! Why do I put things like that off & dread it so much??
You asked where to store photo albums…how about where people can look through them?!!! For a quick, cheap solution, buy some stackable crates and turn on sides like a bookshelf. Looks like you’d have room in your guest room. Or find a pretty basket to set some albums in.
Good point, Jill. 🙂 These photo albums are ones that I really don’t care to have access to right now. Most of them are from high school or are other themed scrapbooks from my younger days. I was a photo album junkie for awhile!
I just hate how much space photo albums take up, which is why I love using snapfish.com to create photo books. They are so skinny!
Great job!!! Looks really good. Wish I had a guest room heh. I should have followed the advice to just do easy stuff first then stuff that had a home when I was clearing off the game table. It would have probably gone a lot quicker and been less stressful.
Patty, anything that can make cleaning less stressful is winner in my book! 🙂
Looks great, this would have taken me way more than 4 days to do!
I love the blanket that is on the spare bed. It is just gorgeous, really colorful, and brightens up the room.
And I’d put the black ribbons in with the neutrals 🙂
Thanks, Jenny. It was made by my husband’s grandmother. I love it also.
I cannot really tell you how excited I am to stumble upon these before and after pictures and description! My favorite part of having my parents come visit was that it forced me to clean up the guest bedroom (which I had neglected for about seven months). I’m really happy to see the before-and-after pictures it makes me feel much less alone in the world. You did a great job and I’m looking forward to reading more.
Thanks, Jennifer! I love seeing before and after photos of others people’s mess. It is really motivating, isn’t it? Feel free to post some on my facebook wall. I could use all the extra cleaning motivation I can get! Ha!