Today’s the day! I can’t believe we made it, but it’s finally time for the big reveal of my One Room Challenge. In case you missed a post, you can get caught up here. The guest suite has come a super long way. Here’s a little refresher; Our guest suite is located on the ground floor of our house in what I’m told is called an English basement. Although the ground floor spans the entire length of our house, the guest suite is located in the front part of the space with its own entrance and bathroom. Because we basically started from scratch, I arranged the space like a studio apartment with a sleeping area at one end and a central seating area. Ready to see how the newly named Highland Park Cottage guest rental turned out?

Looking a little different from where I started. Right? I used a lot of vintage in the space, how perfect is the Bucket of Oranges Print by Dawn Rabinowitz from Minted? It’s hard to believe it’s not a painting! 

So much demo happened before we even got to this place, but I can’t believe this is even the same room. We hired someone to do the drywall, but the rest of this space was a total DIY. It’s funny because when the space looked like this, I thought it seemed like a reasonable amount of work. Six weeks later, it’s done, but I could have used twice as much time. There were some pretty long days along the way.  

The centerpiece of the space is this fireplace that I built out of Metrie’s fir casing, and this genius wall-mounted fireplace from Bellacor. Although the guest suite has some heat, it will need a little extra in the winter months. The unit I selected has the option provides extra heat and has an option to have the flame on and the heat off, so I can make the space cozy even if I don’t need the warmth. The unit was designed to hang on any wall so the install was as simple has haning a picture. I styled the fireplace with a few logs to give the electric unit a little reality. I know I’m not fooling anyone, but I still like the texture it adds. The black and white pouf from Joss and Main is perfect because it does double duty as extra seating. I added two huge rugs to cover the painted concrete floors from Karastan. They are the softest rugs I’ve ever felt. On top of that, I layered a vintage rug and a ide from Joss and Main. The fireplace is so cozy I can see guests relaxing on the floor, so the pouf and the hide make that zone extra inviting.

 Pouf Hide Rug

The walls are painted Ammonite and trim is Pointing, I used Drawing Room Blue for the doors and Pitch Black for an accent wall and in a few other spots.  The fireplace and the lower part of this wall are painted both Blue Gray. All paint is Farrow and Ball.

I worked a lot of vintage items that I had been saving into the space like the little round mirror above the bed and the two side tables. The Moroccan wedding blanket on the floor was a score for Chairish. To the right of the bed, I created a room divider using some leftover trim, paint and wallpaper applied to a pair of bi-fold closet doors. It’s not a long-term solution but it helps divide the finished space from the unfinished space. 

The stone washed linen duvet and shames are from Pinecone Hill. They are so soft and give the bed a relaxed but finished look. I also seriously considered adding this linen quilt. The black and white throw pillows are from Arianna Belle.  

I found the wool throw on top of the bed at Click Gallery  in the city. The mattress is so dreamy, it’s a memory foam from All Modern and it’s the best bed in the house. These killer wall sconces are from Lamps Plus and come with the brass cord cover, making them a great option if you can’t hardwire a sconce in place. Another great thing about these sconces is that the on-off knob is a dimmer switch, making them perfect for beside the bed. 

I’ll admit it now because it all worked out, but I actually thought I was ordering a different color way of this paper from Lee Jofa, but when it arrived, I decided to work with it. This is just one of about a 100 little things that didn’t go exactly as planned. It’s one thing to design something on paper and another thing totally to actually bring a room to life. Problem-solving is the name of the game. 

Another spot that required a lot of problem-solving was this area below our windows. The elegant curtains from The Shade Store help make this weird half window work. Because some less than pretty basement hardware is located below the windows, we also have a pretty deep “shelf” in front of the windows. I decided that it would be a great place for plants. I even hid a grow light on a timer in the bay to make sure the plants thrive. I wasn’t sure how well this would work, but I’ve been testing it out for a few weeks, and things are going well. An added and completely unexpected bonus of the grow light is that it actually casts a very realistic daylight and makes the basement windows feel sunny and bright. In the coming weeks, I think I’ll experiment with a more interesting arrangement of plants.

When it’s time for bed, all you need to do is close the drapes. I’ve had this little table for a few years and finally gave it a coat of paint for the One Room Challenge. 

How about those super cozy club chairs? The fabric is super pretty (and durable) so I’m feeling good about the longevity of these in the space. Another thing I love about these chairs is that they’re super wide. This means you can really lounge in them, they’re practically little love seats. I made the pillows on this chair from an Ikat and black-and-white velvet that I had in my vast fabric collection. The little Moroccan side table from All Modern is so perfect here. You can move it around as needed. I felt like a coffee table would block the fireplace. My favorite arrangement is to put the table to the right side of the chair with my glass of water (or wine) and the pouf on the other side so I can sit with my feet up. 

Table

In the entryway area, I painted the wall black and hung two of my favorite vintage finds: a French hatrack and this pretty little landscape painting. 

I found these two framed prints on Minted Too many heads Print is by Gail Schechter & Out of Egypt is by Kelsey Clanton.  I love the colors and subject matter. To counter balance the framed prints, I hung a monoprint that I made a few years back. This adorable lamp is from Bellcore. I like that the head of the light can be positioned so the light can shine up or down. 

Beside the bathroom door, I a large print titled Going For a Swim print by Whitney Deal. I think the colors in the print work really well with the blue paint on the door. To hang the bathroom door I used this barn door track hardware, it ended up being such a simple way to incorporate the old door. 

I love how well the little Bellacore floor lamp works with the larger floor lamp on the right from Lamps Pluss! So you might be wondering what’s happening with the bathroom. On Thursday of last week, I found a great little mirror for above the sink. I posted a pic of it on my Instagram story. However, I still haven’t found the right light for above the mirror, so rather than use something I’m not crazy about, I decided to save the bathroom for a separate post. Hope you’ll check back next week for the bathroom update! 

I’ve had a blast participating in the One Room Challenge, I can hardly believe its over but I’m ready to start renting out the Highland Park Cottage. If your planning a visit to the city you can check out our listing on Air BnB. Oh, and by the way, the guest suite is named after the gorgeous park just down the street from our house. 

Photos by Manuel Rodriguez

If you haven’t been following along, you can see what this room looked like before check out the whole project. If you missed a week, get caught up!
 Week One // Week Two // Week Three // Week Four // Week Five

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE OTHER ORC UPDATES, AND THANKS SO MUCH TO LINDA FOR INCLUDING ME!  

Jana Bek | Chris Loves Julia | Shannon Claire | Coco.Kelley | The Curated House

Driven by Decor | The English Room | From the Right Bank | Sherry Hart

Hi Sugarplum | House of Jade | Hunted Interior | The Makerista | Making it Lovely

Marcus Design | Pencil & Paper Co. | Megan Pflug | Place of My Taste | Suburban B’s

Waiting on Martha  Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by CIH

My One Room Challenge Sponsors

Thank you to the following sponsors for generously providing product.

ATG / Chairish / Lee Jofa / Lamps Pluss / Annie Selke’s Pine Cone Hill / All Modern / Minted / Arianna Belle / Joss & Main / Farrow & Ball / Bellacor / Karastan / The Shade Store / Metrie