Guest Bedroom Makeover Using Family Keepsakes

The bed is one that I’ve had for close to 25 years. It’s a nice solid wood bed, with pretty details, so it’s worth keeping. It was originally a knotty pine, and then several years ago I painted it this milk chocolate color. It looked nice in my old home, but with the color scheme in our new house, it just wasn’t right.

So I set to work with a cup of coffee and a can of General Finishes Milk Paint in Empire Gray. In no time it was looking much better! With the addition of a brand new pillow-top mattress and box springs, the bed was heading in the right direction.

Empire Gray is a warm gray, and it works so well with the wall color in my home–Sherwin Williams Collonnade Gray– that I’ve used it on several pieces in my home.

New Bedding

This pretty new bed deserved some new bedding after its makeover. Bedding is one of the best ways to make guests feel comfortable in your guest room, and Elegant Strand helped me out with this part by gifting me a luxurious new set of crisp white sheets, and a soft, thick bath sheet for the guest bathroom, too!

Disclaimer: I was provided with free products in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Elegant Strand St. Moritz Sheet Set:

These 100% sateen cotton sheets are soft and silky. Crisp, white sheets are ideal for a guest bedroom because they have a hotel vibe to them. These sheets are perfect for making our guest room feel welcoming.

I love how the sheets came boxed so beautifully, too! These would make a lovely wedding or bridal shower gift.

Elegant Strand Riviera Towels Collection:

These beautiful large-sized bath sheets are made of Egyptian cotton, and are thick and plush. Again,I chose white to coordinate with the gray tones in the guest bath. I also added a basket of small bathroom necessities collected from the 10 different hotels we stayed in on our recent vacation.

Good News: The sheets are 30% off right now, and the towels are 20% off! You can shop at Elegant Strand HERE to find bedding, towels, and all sorts of beautiful home decor.

Better Homes & Gardens Embroidered Gray & White Quilt & Shams

One day last week, I literally spent the entire day driving to nearly every store in town looking for just the right quilt. And do you know where I finally found it? Wal Mart. This beautiful embroidered white quilt has the perfect neutral gray threads to work well with the other grays in the room. Grays are tricky–they can go blue in different lighting, but this quilt is a perfect, neutral, true gray.

Antique Wood Box Hope Chest

This antique wooden box was my mom’s. I love how rustic it is, and how the wood tones add contrast to the Empire Gray painted bed. When I brought it home, I really had no idea what it was, but later, I discovered an auction tag from my grandmother’s estate sale on which my mom had made a notation, indicating that this box was made by my great-grandfather as a hope chest for my grandmother, and then my mom used it in her bedroom in the house she grew up in. What a treasure. ❤️

Look at the inside of this beauty. It had a newspaper lining the bottom from 1969, but if it was made as a hope chest for my grandmother, it has to be much older than that even–probably circa 1920s.

Antique Dry Sink Night Stand

My mom had this lovely dry sink in her living room for most of my childhood. I don’t recall all the details, but I know she had it professionally refinished when she got it. I have the towel bar too, but since I’m using it here as a nightstand, I don’t have that part attached right now. My mom sometimes used this piece without the towel bar, and sometimes with it. I also have the antique white ironstone pitcher and basin that she displayed on it, and I like knowing I can always change up how I use this piece the same way she did.

This dry sink is so pretty, I would never dream of painting it. Plus, a few of these natural wood tones throughout the room add more contrast and warmth, paired with all the gray.

The black lamp is repurposed from my son’s childhood bedroom, and the dog figurine is an antique find from one of our trips. The other accesories on the nightstand are linked below the pictures.

I like to keep the accessories to a minimum in the guest room, to make sure visitors have plenty of room for their own things. Although I have some accessories on one nightstand to make the room charming, I’ve kept the other nightstand largely empty. I also try to make sure guests have easy access to the electrical outlets and even keep a phone charger handy for them to use.

Antique Dresser with Mirror

This little antique dresser is one of my favorite pieces. It’s undergone several makeovers throughout the years. My mom gave it to me when my daughter was a toddler in the mid 90’s and we were moving her from the nursery to her “big girl room” to make room for her baby brother.

It was my great-grandmother’s originally, and was painted a mustard yellow when I inherited it. A coat of white paint, and some pretty pink flowers stenciled on the front of the drawers made it the perfect dresser for a little girl’s room.

When my daughter got older, she wanted a bigger dresser with more drawers, so I moved this to the master bedroom and gave it a coat of chocolate brown paint for a more “grown up” look.

For this makeover, I sanded down the top, and stained it a weathered oak color to tie in with the other natural wood elements in the room. Then, I mixed my own custom paint color with two General Finishes colors I already had– Persian Blue and Seagull Gray.

I love how this pretty muted blue looks on the curves of the dresser, and also adds more visual interest to the room.

Beadboard Storage Cabinet

This gorgeous beadboard cabinet holds a TV for the guest room, and also adds lots of extra storage for guests to use. Not only is it beautiful, but can you believe that my dad handcrafted the whole thing many years ago? He made it for my mom back before flat screen TVs existed, and it was designed to hold a big tube TV with extra shelves for components. My dad was the quintessential handyman.

A fresh coat of General Finishes Milk Paint in Alabaster, and it’s the perfect piece for this room.

(These two special pieces of furniture have their own dedicated posts coming up on my DIY blog hops on August 1st and 4th, so be sure to come back and see all the details.)

Finishing Touches

This chair was my mom’s and my grandma’s before that. It looks so cute tucked in by one side of the beadboard cabinet. The Des Moines print is a vintage find my parents had in their winter home in Texas. It looks perfect centered above the cabinet, with my mom’s vintage hen on a nest glass dish. We used to keep our hair ties and barrettes in it when we were kids!

The Baby Corner 💕

Did you read my big announcement last week? My daugher is expecting our first grandchild this winter! It was a hard-fought battle to get this tiny miracle started, and we are all tickled pink.

Currently, my daughter and son-in-law are the children living the furthest away from us, so they are the most frequent guests in this room. Since it’s a large room, I had a little fun getting out some of the baby items I’ve had packed away for years. The other side of the beadboard cabinet makes a perfect space for guests to set their luggage… or for a little “baby corner” for now.

This corner is made up of even more family keepsakes that I’ve used temporarily for this guest bedroom makeover.

The bassinette is about 27 years old and both of my babies slept in it as newborns. I did a thorough search for any recalls or safety hazzards before setting it all up. It’s important to be really careful with older/vintage/antique baby items. Safety should always come first.

The wooden child’s rocking chair was a gift from my parents when my children were tiny. I purchased the frilly pink basket from Homegoods, and then loaded it up with my childrens’s favorite books that I saved over the years. I can’t wait to read these treasured stories to our sweet little Poppy (the nickname she has already earned since my daughter first told me she was the size of a poppyseed, many weeks ago now.)

The pastel afghan was crocheted by my mother, and given to me at my baby shower way back when, and the white blanket in the bassinette was mine as an infant!

And finally, the XOXO sign on the wall is from Hobby Lobby, but when I saw it, I knew it was destined to be in this little space. My mom, and her grandmother before her, always signed all of their cards and letters with X’s and O’s. Now, X’s and O’s for little Poppy, too. 💕

I’m so pleased with the “finished” guest bedroom makeover using family keepsakes. Bringing many of my sentimental family treasures together to create a cohesive and welcoming space for friends and family is the perfect way to use these pieces, rather than storing them away.

Let’s stay in touch! You can find The House on Silverado on social media, so you won’t miss a thing!

Facebook —– Instagram —– Pinterest

This post contains affiliate links.