Out of Africa -- Guest Room Makeover

A credenza with items collected from around Carol's home.

Carol recently inherited her mother-in-laws furniture and accessories and was overwhelmed with how to put it all together with the things she already owned. She wanted to keep the old treasures while also creating an updated look. Carol is clever and has an eye for decorating, she just wanted a second eye and helping hand.

Carol's guest bedroom before.

First project: the guest bedroom.

I brought Elizabeth, my assistant decorator-in-creativity to help. Working with Carol, we started with an inspiration piece, actually several. We hunted around the home and found treasures of animals and ethnic pieces that quite naturally set the theme for our room: "Out of Africa".

Carol's Guest room after.

Only thing missing was a headboard.

Carol liked the idea of an antique door turned horizontally to form the headboard, so we headed off to the ReStore to find an old door. Only trouble was we didn't see any we liked. They were either not the right size or color. I suggested we think of something else. Carol saw the shutters...and our minds started turning. Shutters reminded us of a plantation in Africa...OK, so the shutters work, ditch the door idea!

Carol's guest room headboard made of old shutters and baseboard molding found in salvage yard.



Mr.Murphy, one of the helpful volunteers at the ReStore.

Mr. Murphy, who volunteers at ReStore, was so helpful to gather and hold our pieces together so we could view it from a few steps back. We played with white shutters, but they would not piece together to the size we needed. We eyed some black painted baseboard molding pieces and played around until we created a pattern and size we liked.

I love how the black molding works with the white shutters. The black and white headboard works nicely to bookend with the zebra rug Carol placed at the bottom of the bed.

Our headboard cost under $20 for materials. Each average size shutter at ReStore is under $5! I think it looks like much more!

Close-up shot of Carol's headboard.


Stay tuned for more makeovers in Carol's place!