How I Used Paint to Transform Our Small Guest Bedroom

When we first moved into our home, I thought the guest bedroom would be the last space on my list for a makeover. It’s been functional for guests but far from inspiring. That all changed recently when a paint project opportunity landed in my lap, and surprisingly, the guest bedroom turned out to be the perfect canvas! (Could I really be running out of rooms to transform?!) Come see how paint brought this space to life—it’s amazing what a difference a fresh color can make!

This is the before. The room is small – we fit a queen bed in here but that leaves only about 14″ on either side. And yes, we tried, turning the bed the opposite way doesn’t work, unless you want to make one guest have to climb over the bed to get in and out of the room!

Most of the paint colors in our home are blues and greens. I thought about doing something different and trying a plum or moody brown, but ultimately decided that what would make me happiest is sticking with what I love – blues and greens. This bedroom is tucked between my son’s bedroom and the bathroom which are both painted shades of blue, so I thought it would be best to break it up and use a shade of green.

I started by emptying out the room and giving myself a blank space. I had picked up some paint samples a few weeks before and thought I would use one of them – Riverway by Sherwin Williams. However, the room has only one window and it’s north facing which means the room gets moderate indirect light. Riverway is a darker color and doesn’t reflect much light so I wasn’t sure it would be the best choice. I’m not one to shy away from moody rooms, but I didn’t want it to feel cavelike!

I decided to visit my local Sherwin Williams store to see if I could find another option. I’ve found that some of my favorite paint color choices have been picked on a whim, which I feel like isn’t the best interior design advice but going with my gut has worked out for me so do with that what you will!

I picked out the color Taiga, which is a part of their Designer Color Collection. It’s still a relatively dark color but has a higher light reflective value which means it wouldn’t feel quite as dark as a color like Riverway.

I got the first coat on and, well, do you remember the sponge painted walls trend of the ’90s? I was instantly transported back to my friend, Catherine’s bedroom. Her parents were cool and let her sponge paint her bedroom walls. My parents were not cool and I therefore never had any short-lived design trends to paint over when it was no longer cool😂!

It took three coats to fully saturate the room. This isn’t always the case. I think it depends on the quality of the paint and what you’re painting over. Going from a light color to a dark color takes a bit more work I usually find!

As soon as the paint started drying, I got excited. Taiga is such a beautiful color! It’s green, but has a grayish undertone to it that makes it feel rich without feeling too dark.

I color drenched the room aside from the ceiling because I felt like the ceiling helps to reflect light in this small space. But I painted the window, door, and closet trim the same color as the walls.

Once the paint dried, I started moving furniture back into the room. As I shared before, the room is very narrow (less than 7 feet wide!). I had been using a couple of side tables as nightstands but they just barely fit in the space.

I started looking online for narrower nightstands but really didn’t want to spend any money since this was an unplanned makeover. A little bit of Pinterest browsing and I had an idea. I had leftover primed pine boards from the living room library build and I also had four L shelf brackets that fit the boards perfectly. I decided for now to create floating shelves on the sides of the bed instead of using the side tables.

I love that I could cut them to a length that made sense on either side of the bed, and I think that by floating on the wall and leaving the floor space open, it opens the room up just a little bit more visually. Which in a space this small, every bit counts! Painting them the same color of the wall helps with the visual clutter as well.

I added a few art pieces to the room and have a bookshelf and some cube storage in there as well. Eventually I’ll change out the furniture to something less Ikea and more elevated, but it works for now!

This makeover is proof that sometimes, all you need is a fresh coat of paint to completely transform a space! Without any major renovations or intricate DIY builds (though I feel like a Murphy bed could be an exciting future project!), the guest bedroom now feels refreshed, updated, and complete. It’s amazing how a simple change can breathe new life into a room—paint is magic, my friend!