Returning to my Guest Bedroom… again

So I’m working on my guest bedroom… again. Most of you know that things have changed a lot for me around here and its been a very bad time. I had my nephew, his girlfriend and my dad over for dinner one night and we had a Marvel movie marathon. Unfortunately though my dad wasn’t able to stay for most of it because he really isn’t comfortable driving at night anymore. (I don’t want to drive at night anymore either!) At the time I had no place for him to sleep over because Lodi took my extra bed, trashed my old bedframe and emptied this room for his own plans. Of course those plans no longer exist and he no longer lives here…

I wasn’t overly fond of the old steel bed frame I inherited from my grandparents – but still!

I have an unspoken rule in my life that has served me well over the years and that is if I lose something against my will at least I can find the silver lining of getting something better back.

Of course that generally only applies to material goods…

But it does help ease the sting when I’ve lost something.

This room has always left me confused. I’ve never been happy with the layout no matter how many times I moved things around or redesigned it. Where do you put the bed in a room that doesn’t have a single solid wall?

Here it is when I was using it as my office in 2016
Here’s the first guest bedroom makeover in 2018
And here’s the last guest bedroom makeover in 2020

I even played around with the idea of taking out the closet (but then it wouldn’t be a legal bedroom…) or even shoving the head of the bed in the closet… both terrible ideas.

I even considered building a loft bed in here and honestly… that might be kind of cool.

I accomplished a miracle last year by creating a new layout in my living room that is absolutely fabulous and it only took me ten years to figure it out!

Is it possible that after a decade (and now on to the FOURTH redesign) I might finally manage it here too? (I’m not holding my breath…)

That certainly would be a silver lining in light of my divorce because, frankly, the last time I redesigned this room I actually really liked how it turned out before he emptied it.

The old bed frame I inherited from my grandparents had one solid issue I could never get over.

IT WAS REALLY LOW.

It was only about 6 inches off the floor!

Considering this bed will probably be used by my dad more often then anyone else (though he would never complain) that’s just not acceptable to me. I also want to be able to actually store things underneath it and I find that having furniture that you can see underneath actually makes it feel like it takes up less floor space in a room.

When I built the platform bed frame for my master bedroom I actually regretted (at the time) that it ended up so high off the ground at 17 inches.

But I really like it!

Its about 23 inches tall with the mattress and it could even be taller without it being too weird. I am not tall and I don’t feel like I’m getting “up” into it at all.

What I don’t like is that I built it perfectly to the size of the mattress so I’ve hit my knees (and toes) on the corner of that frame too many times to count…

For some perspective the seat height of an average chair is about 18 inches.

Here’s the mattress I’m eyeing on Amazon but I’m really struggling with deciding if I should go with a full (75”L x 54”W) or a twin xl (80”L x 38”W).

The bed that was here was a full and it would have been a little snug for two people but just me it was pretty roomy.

My struggle is that this is a small room and getting a narrower bed would certainly help me out with the layout here… and I think I would prefer the longer bed personally.

I guess the question is if I’m going to be accommodating couples or not and now I’m heading back to my basement because that would be far better for guests then this little room ever could be.

So I’m going to build the bedframe at 20 inches tall and top it with an 8 inch mattress.

That much height underneath for storage is pretty exciting… and wow you know you’re an adult when you use the words storage and exciting in the same sentence.

I will be building the frame at least a couple of inches smaller than the actual mattress and the legs will also be well inside of the frame. No more corners to hit in the night!

I feel like I’ve put the bed everywhere possible in this room over the years but I’ve actually never put the bed in the logical place.

Because the logical place is directly in front of the stained glass window because in a NORMAL situation, that would be the solid wall in this room.

But I’m not going to put the head of a bed in front of a window that is 115 years old and not tempered glass… Imagine having a nightmare, swinging an arm and getting shattered on like something out of a horror movie.

But after some measuring I realized that a full size bed will actually fit in the corner only overlapping the window around a foot at most. (Here’s a conundrum: if I have my heart set on this particular layout the full xl would fit like a glove here and not overlap the window at all.) And that desk that my grandparents’ made for me will fit in front of the window, right beside the bed, still allowing enough space for the door to open fully.

I don’t hate the idea lol.

We all know I’m going to get all the furniture in here and move it around a thousand times and never be totally happy with it right?

I was debating bringing in another table instead of using the desk but that little desk actually makes a pretty good bedside table as I installed a power strip /charging port in it awhile back. Its also a bit taller and considering I’m making such a tall bed that will work out too.

That will also put the main lamp in this room directly in front of the stained glass window thus eliminating any chance of shadow puppets sweeping against the shade into the living room. (A relief for everyone involved…)

That also gives me the chance to treat the bed like a day bed with lots of blankets and pillows piled up into the corner and along the back wall.

I have all the artwork and the dresser still too so I’ll be bringing a lot of that back.

I can’t believe it but the dresser won’t even have to go back in the closet but will actually fit in the corner under the shelves. (I’m probably going to nix the shelves too… I’m ready to really start over here.)

One thing I’m strangely lacking is lamps… fortunately that is a pretty easy, cheap and fun fix for me with just a trip over to the thrift store. I think I’ll have room for my black rocking chair too so I might go for a floor lamp with it and a table lamp on the desk by the bed.

I’ve had a really rough time of it lately.

It feels good to plan something again.