Hi Everyone! I hope you have been enjoying this beautiful time of year. For us, the month of March is a very busy time with Spring Break, two family birthdays and finding time to be outside taking care of Spring chores in and around the house and garden.
Today I am sharing with you the third segment of the little guest house remodel. We took lots of time in our decision making and had fun in the process of remodeling this little house.
As mentioned in the previous Part I and Part II remodel posts this little house was originally used as a tractor barn and was eventually converted into what we always call the "little house." A few years ago we decided it was time to remodel the little house completely.
In the first segment we talked about the upstairs living room section and in the second post we shared the kitchen and dining room areas.
This photo shows the guest house shortly after it was completed.
The photo below shows the upstairs living room/TV section of the remodel as seen in previous posts.
And, in the below photo we again see the second story entrance, door entrance
to the little bathroom and just past that door we see the kitchen area.
The small metal fence you see surrounds the entrance to the spiral stairway leading downstairs. Just behind the metal stairway fence, if you look closely under the left window, you can see the air-conditioning. I will tell you more in detail about that later in this post.
Closer view of the spiral stairway going downstairs.
From this view we see the spiral stairway going all the way down into the little hallway below.
While in the hallway, if you turn to the right you enter into the laundry room.
In the below photo we see the view into the bedroom straight ahead from the stairway.
In the below photo at the end of the stairway, before entering the bedroom,
we can turn to the right and see the laundry/storage room.
In this below view looking back, we see the hallway and the stairway from the bedroom.
There are two bedrooms downstairs. There is also a laundry room,
small bathroom, and a small storage/ utility room.
In the below photo we see one of the bedrooms. We call this bedroom the "blue room." Our daughter Stephanie made the curtains you see in the photo below. She is totally amazing how fast she can complete a task ... She completed this entire wall of draw drapes in one weekend.
She, at a later time, completed the matching bedskirt and Euro-shams on the bed, plus the matching monogrammed ruffled pillow.
In the photo below if you look to the right you can see a bit of the air-conditioning under the window.
We were looking for a chest of drawers to fit into this small bedroom. We found this old oak chest and matching mirror at a charming antique store in downtown Bainbridge, Georgia which is about a 50 minute drive north from our home in Tallahassee.
On a trip through Atlanta, Georgia we stopped in a large lighting store and saw these pretty chandeliers. We thought they would look nice in the two bedrooms at the little house. The folks at the lighting store worked nicely with us and had them sent to our house. They came boxed and not put together, but our local electricians very easily put this pretty little light together. The Atlanta lighting store was mentioned in the Part II remodel post.
Fortunately there was enough room in this bedroom for this dark blue reclining rocker which was once used in our family room at our main house up the hill.
In the previous remodel posts for the little house I mentioned our favorite furniture store which is in Thomasville, Georgia. They had a very nice collection of area carpets where we purchased all of the carpets for the little house. We liked this one because of the subtle touches of blue seen in the carpet and around the border.
We chose these large squares of marbleized tile for the downstairs floors. Previously there was carpet on these floors. We felt the tile would be so much easier to clean and not harbor humidity.
I had mentioned previously that I had gone Google shopping for small ceramic bedroom table lamps. There are so many adorable lamps online and we found this "blue" ceramic small table lamp to place on the table beside the bed.
The table seen below was found at an old antique store north of Tallahassee in a little town called Havana, Florida. Havana is a charming little town full of antique shops and gift shops. Click on the below link if you would like to take a look at some of the shops in Havana.
The paneling in this room is the same as described in Part I of this remodeling segment. You can see how nicely the painter refreshed this pretty wood making it look almost new again.
Also in the below photo you can see the headboard of this bed. We found this bed at a furniture store up close to Macon, Georgia back when our daughter Sharon was attending Mercer University in Macon. This was her bed in her apartment while she was away at college.
You can also see the Euro pillow shams and matching ruffled pillow our daughter Stephanie made for this bedroom as mentioned previously. There are several monogram shops in town and they do beautiful work. Stephanie took the fabric in to the shop for monogramming before finishing the pillow.
In the next remodel post we will talk about the fabric we used in each room and all about the curtains for each room. I loved the outdoor look of this blue linen-like fabric pattern.
For the single window in this room, using matching fabric I made the swag/jabot curtains seen in the below photo. I took pictures during each step and will share the curtain making information in the next post.
Leaving the "blue room" as we walk out of the room and turn to the right we enter into this hall seen below. Turning to the right, we see the entrance door into the little downstairs bathroom, and can look ahead into the next bedroom.
While in the hall if we look to the left we see the portion of the hall leading to the closet. If you turn the corner to the right by the window you can enter into the very small little storage/utility room.
Even though this little house is sitting out in the woods, I still wanted to find some privacy shades for the downstairs windows. Years ago I loved the shades in our old home and went looking to find the exact kind of shade ... They must have scallops, fringe and a tassel.
After much looking I found just the kind I was looking for at the site seen below. This company worked so nicely with me to create just what I was looking for. They were a complete pleasure to do business with and were very helpful.
Looking to the right in the below photo we also see the entrance door into the very small utility/storage room.
In the above photo under the window we also see the in-wall air-conditioning unit. During the remodel we decided we did not want to replace all the old air-conditioning duct work in the small little attic. Instead our builder told us about these small wall air-conditioning/heating units. You must listen carefully to even know when the unit is on because it is so silent.
Just in case you are interested in knowing more about these units they are called a "Goodman ductless mini-split system" and you can find out more about them at the site below:
Our system was put in by a local heating/air-conditioning business here in town. The above link is an Amazon link which describes these units very nicely.
And, in the below photo, as mentioned previously, we see the small little storage/utility
room just past the window on the right.
Coming back into the hallway and looking ahead we see the next bedroom. As you can see this bedroom is decorated very similar to the other bedroom.
Again, daughter Stephanie made the double French door draw drapes. She also made the Euro shams and matching ruffled monogrammed pillow. This bed does not have a dust ruffle because of the long wooden sides of this old antique bed frame.
In the below photo you can see how the wooden parts of the bed frame come down almost to the floor.
We wanted table lamps to be in harmony with the curtains and bedding. In one of my favorite stores here in town, which is called Bedfellows, I had seen what they called porcelain table lamps. I loved them, but the colors were not what we needed, so I began asking Mr. Google to show me small porcelain table lamps. Many sites came up and the site below shows a very similar lamp to the one shown in these photos.
http://www.lampsplus.com/products/coral-porcelain-scalloped-tea-jar-table-lamp__g7009.html
I love the shape of these lamp shades and these cute little lamps with the matching screw on lampshade top. I LOVE monograms ... If you look to the left in the below photo you can just barely see the monogrammed pillow case, which matches the sheets and other pillow case.
I also used the same pattern and made the swag/jabot curtains seen in this below photo.
Looking out the double doors leading to the patio you can see the view from the bed. The view looks out over the pasture and on past to the pond.
As you can see, the ceiling light is the same type and design as in the other bedroom.
My husband found this old antique bed at an antique store here in town many years ago. I would LOVE to know the history of this lovely old bed, which has been here in the little house ever since the house was first converted from a barn into a little house.
Again we see the ruffled monogrammed pillow very much like in the other bedroom.
This photo shows a little better outside view.
We also found these matching bedside tables in an old antique shop up in Havana, Georgia.
They told us these tables are reproductions but not true antiques.
The chair and footstool seen in the below photo was in one of the bedrooms in our home up the hill. We thought they would fit in in this little bedroom. I recovered them in the same fabric as used for the curtains and bed. A real decorator would probably have decorated much differently, but I just LOVED this fabric and did not mind seeing it so much.
We see so many deer out and about around our home and in the little house this fabric seemed to fit right in with the feel of the wildlife that so often comes around for a visit.
You can see the pattern again in the bed Euro shams.
I always grab my camera when we see the deer coming into the yard and
on this day I was successful in getting a picture of them.
Across from the bed we see this old antique dresser and mirror. This piece of furniture was found at the same time the old bed was found at the antique shop many years ago.
My husband found this little blue light and thought it would look nice on the little dresser.
This is the window across from the bed as seen in one of the above photos.
This window looks out over the small brick patio in the side part of the yard.
And, again you can see the pull shades I was describing previously.
It would be nice to have the doors open in the morning, walking out and enjoying
coffee on the little porch in the rocking chairs.
Below we will see photos of some of the door hardware we selected for the little house:
Below we see the outside double door hardware ... see the key opening on the left.
Then the matching inside hardware with turn locks for the inside.
For the inside doors we chose these old looking glass door knobs for the bedroom door.
And simple matching door knobs for the utility and laundry doors.
For the outside screen door we selected these old looking door hinges.
Close-up of the door hinges.
Our builder selected this door pull and door latch for the screen door.
We found the door hardware seen in these photos at a website called House of Antique Hardware. If you would like to take a look at the amazing selection of door hardware and many other reproduction items, including a very different and large selection of beautiful lighting, you can click on the site below:
We were not in any hurry to complete the remodel of the little house. We took our time and enjoyed the process immensely. We met so many nice hard working, caring people trying their very best to do as nice a job as possible. It was a real treat to meet and visit with all of the folks involved in remodeling this little house.
We chose Susan Carey with Seven Gables Construction, a local builder, because she had previously remodeled our kitchen and we felt she had been so amazingly knowledgeable and professional. She is a kindred spirit and helped us achieve the traditional look we like so much. She was so helpful and made such wonderful suggestions, such as the brick for the patio, seen in the above photo. As you can see, it has a very old and antique look that we would not have known how to select.
Join us for the next post as I tell you about the patterns and fabric for the curtains used in the little house. Our daughter and family are coming in this Friday evening for Spring Break so it will be a few days before I get back to working on the post showing the curtains.
Have a wonderful rest of your week as we all enjoy this amazing Springtime. Wishing you many blessings wherever you may be.
