guests – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

Remember the cool daybed and trundle the Hubs built for the Foster room? Like I often do, I changed up the plan – deciding to do bunk beds in that space instead. The trundle idea was cool, but would be annoying to pull out every day if we had siblings placed with us and it was a tight fit so it would be difficult for younger children to manage. That left the daybed ‘homeless’ until I had the brilliant idea to move it to the office as an extra seating.

This corner was originally my backdrop storage and set-up space, but I found that I’ve only used it once as I typically go to clients’ homes for shoots or use outdoor locations. Sometimes the Hubs sits in the office with me to chat while I work on photos but it’s not very comfy to sit in an office chair for long periods. Having a little daybed where he could stretch out and relax a bit seemed like a great idea. I moved my backdrops to the guest closet with a fun little hack I’ll share sometime soon and that opened up the whole corner for the day bed.

Luckily, the bunk bed we got on the buy/sell page came with one mattress so I could keep the mattress I had on the trundle frame with the daybed when it moved to the office. It was also the perfect opportunity to test out a bedding set I’ve been considering getting for the Foster room, called Beddys. It’s an all-in-one set that includes the blanket, bottom sheet plus top sheet and zips closed on either side, making it easy for young children to make their own bed – especially on a bunk bed. They are a little pricey, but I found the set I wanted on sale and considering that they include all of those items in one unit it’s not a bad deal.

The inside blanket is made with this plush minky fabric that is super soft to the touch. You just zip down the side of the mattress to pull down the sheets and then zip it closed in the morning when you get up. It’s a great option for the Foster room so I’ll be buying those sets in the fall when we finish up some other projects – although I’ll be watching for another good sale since this time I’ll be buying two!

I added some big fluffy pillows I picked up at Home Goods during our recent trip with the heart pillows I got from the Dollar Spot at Target back around Valentines and my favorite button monogram pillow to make it cozy.

It turned out to be the perfect little nook to hang out in and put the space to work since it wasn’t really being utilized before. I’ve even used it a couple of times for my weekly Skype dates with my family. Plus it’s an extra spot to sleep if we ever had a big group come visit and since this room now has the barn doors, it’s got enough privacy to function as a temporary bedroom if we needed – although there are no window treatments so guests would need to keep that in mind. 😉

I’d love to hear what you think of our little multi-function daybed made from an old industrial cart, so leave me a comment below!

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Much to my displeasure, our builder installed a single towel bar in the guest bathroom, under the window and right next to the toilet. Not only is that location not ideal because it’s several steps from where a guest would exit the shower, it’s prime germ spreading territory with each flush.

It also wasn’t efficient because it would only hold a single towel, which had to be folded – if you wanted it to look presentable from the main living area down the hall. And my OCD tendencies require said towel to be hung perfectly straight.

I knew I wanted something different, but wasn’t sure exactly what that was at first. I first considered moving the bar to the back of the bathroom door along with another that we took down in the master bath room. The hubs wasn’t keen on the idea of drilling holes in the door, so I researched other options. The next option was buying an over-the-door hanging towel rack. Unfortunately, that still required folding towels and honestly I’d rather spend those few moments playing with my fur babies. Then I realized I’d already found the best solution and used it in our master bathroom – hooks! Simple, easy and very inexpensive. That’s my kind of solution!

The hubs picked up two more hooks like the ones we had in the master bathroom and installed them on the back of the door. The new set up simplifies getting ready to hosts guests and makes it easy for said guests to relax and not worry about such a simple thing. Apparently Tequila approves!

Now our guests have room to hang two towels, right next to the shower. Genius! Should we need more towels out I can always add a third hook half way down in the middle pretty quickly. And the towel bars sold on Craigslist for a couple dollars more than the hooks cost. Score! You could say I’m happy, happy, happy.