As I'm writing these home tour posts, I'm realizing that there were quite a few areas in our home that we've really only recently been able to settle into as far as their function and setup.
Our guest room was, in fact, intended to be a guest room when we first moved in. It was set up super cute, with a desk, bed, a little sofa, rug, side table, and leaning wall mirror.
But, once we determined this was the room where we'd need to keep Gabo (our Rottie puppy at the time) when he wasn't out with us, we quickly emptied it of all but the rug (to the rugs demise...).
In September 2021, we made the difficult decision to re-home Gabo (for some details on that process, read this insta post), and as part of the grieving process, I put my energies into redesigning the guest room.
Below you can see a photo of the space from the listing before we moved in. The walls were painted green, and while I never thought myself a green person before this house, I've found that it's one of the happiest colors for me personally.
Whenever we repaint this room, I may paint the ceiling green as well to make the space feel less angle-y, and I think it will ultimately make the room feel a little taller.
While the layout in the listing photo works perfectly well, I didn't love how tight the space felt. My plan was to push the bed much closer to the side wall so that there would be more open floor space.
As I started to pull together the space, I knew wanted to create a space that felt like a retreat; someplace friends and family would be excited to stay: layers, warmth, and lotssss of plants.
I had purchased the dresser and mirror originally for our bathroom to sit beside the pedestal sink, but alas, the dimensions in the marketplace listing were wayyyy off. It all worked out, though, because I adore the piece, and it looks super cute in here—happy accident!
The desk was also a fb marketplace score, but one that I didn't have a plan for initially—I don't always recommend this, because often you end up with pieces you never use—but this one I knew I had to have!
The gal I bought it from said it had been her grandmothers—I always love hearing the stories behind the used pieces I purchase. It's super quirky and just the right size, and I love the curved edges and cane texture on the sides. I'm actually sitting at it right now as I write this post!
Artwork wise, the piece over the desk is a framed vintage map of Springfield Township, which was kindly gifted to us by the previous owners of Stonewall Farms, and gifted to them by the owners before them, and the pieces above/beside the bed and sofa are vintage pieces I found at various consignment stores.
The bed was a bit of a conundrum. We recently decided to move our queen bed in here, which was ours before we upgraded to a king. The issue was, while the mattress could squeeze up our teeny tiny stairway, the boxspring was juuuuust a couple inches too big. DARN OLD HOUSE!
Anyhow, I scoured facebook marketplace and ended up finding a simple dark wood platform base that fit a queen mattress. I've been really loving the look of oversized lumbar pillows, and had seen one a while back on a fashion blog that was large enough to act as a headboard.
I rummaged around in the basement and remembered I still had a bolt of fabric from when I reupholstered a set of marketplace dining chairs, and it was JUST enough to make the perfect sized headboard pillow!
I love it when you can utilize stuff that's been laying around in your house for a while!! I also have kind of an absurd number of throw pillows in the house ("if you can't sit on the sofa, it's too many pillows"), so I used four 18" square pillow inserts to stuff the headboard pillow.
Turned out pretty darn cute! Plus, it matches the seat of the desk chair :)
The little sofa and side table had previously lived in our loft at the Madison house, serving as the main lounge seating for our Airbnb Guests. Curtains were reused from our sunroom back at the Madison house.
The current hardware is definitely not intended for this type of curtain (there were some lacy valances in here prior), but sometimes ya just gotta go with it!
And of course, it's not a finished Figueroa space until you add in some green. The little vintage vase on the desk was a find from the thrift store, in which I propagated and then potted a new batch of pothos.
The potted palm on the floor is doing really well with the great lighting in this room, and the little pothos on the side table is one that I propagated a while back and has grown so big! Lastly, I recently moved the cast iron plant up here (I was a little nervous to have it not near a window), but it's been doing just fine!
Annnnnd, saving the best detail for last...THE RUG! I couldn't decide if I wanted to continue with the green theme in the rug, or if I wanted to go with something more in the red/rust/blue color palette.
So, naturally, I purchased TWO rugs for the space. I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous, but you can never have too many vintage rugs, and I knew I'd find a use for whichever one I didn't use in here (in fact, it ended up in the piano room). Plus, you can find these rugs straight from Turkey on etsy for suuuuuch great prices!
Surprisingly (or not surprisingly??), I opted for the more monochromatic option, which was to continue the green color on the floor. This room has such a good vibe and feels very calming and fresh—which is exactly what I would want for anyone staying in our home.
This room also gets fantastic light, with two large south facing windows and one east facing, which means you get the benefit of the sunrise, but also great light all day long.
Work with Lauren Figueroa Interior Design
LFID is a full-service interior design firm serving West and Southeast Michigan known especially for our Designed in a Day service.
We work with clients from Detroit to Novi to Clarkston, and Grand Rapids to Holland to Traverse City—and anywhere in between! We pride ourselves on creating bespoke, people-centered spaces—because after all, people are what this life is all about!
If you have a project on the horizon, get started by telling us about your vision here, and you can view past projects here. Thanks for stopping by!
