I wanted to post a follow up regarding our spare room! We put the HELP flag up to help us get some ideas for what we could do with the spare room off our master bedroom and boy did we get some great ideas! A lot of you suggested breaking up the space and using part of the room for storage (or my dream girly walk in closet) and the other as a sitting room. We think (and we are still debating) that this is the way we are going to go. One fantastically funny idea came from our friends at At Home Alterations, was to turn it into a bowling alley (they got Alex's top vote), ha! But one idea that really stood out and helped us get a better idea of how to visualize the space came from my good friend Amber. She said that we should take a look at Sleeping Porches for inspiration. I thought, hmmm, what the heck is a sleeping porch?
After a little research, I found that sleeping porches were common in the Southern States. During the hottest summer months, families would sleep out on beds on the sleeping porch to catch cool breezes during the night. They're also supposed to be a peaceful way to catch a nap during the day out in the open natural surroundings. Here is an old photo of a sleeping porch at a hospital.
I don't think our room was intended to be a sleeping porch since it doesn't ever get too hot here in MN, although it sure matches the characteristics. Most sleeping porches have one wall that has the same finish as the rest of the home's exterior, exposed exterior windows from the inside of the house, an open balcony feel, and they are typically on the 2nd floor for worry free sleeping (with the exception of the hospital photo above). It all seems to add up!
I did some Google Image searching and found spaces that looked identical to ours! I felt so happy to see beautiful rooms that manage to look amazing in that long skinny shape with the slanted ceilings. I figured we were just doomed with the dimensions of the room, but these photos give me hope that it could be cute!
I love the bed at the end wall in this photo, the railings are adorable. I also like the way the chairs are positioned, it really makes the space look balanced.
Here another image, I love the feel of this room. I'm picturing a crisp, clean, bright white room with 2 bolder accent colors.
We haven't really debated the color scheme yet, but I would like to make it a little more softer and feminine since the space may also include my dreamy closet (remember, sleeping porch is our inspiration, but we are adding our own features to fit our needs). We'll see, I will have to pull together some more decor/ color inspiration to prove my case to the husband (hehe).
*** UPDATE*** I have to call out we are using the Sleeping Porch idea as inspiration, but we still plan to break up the space as some storage (dreamy walk in closet), a sitting space with maybe a bed as couch (for the sleeping porch theme), and we will add a heat source so the room is usable year round here in Minnesota. But, yes it is not really going to be used as a 'sleeping porch', hope that makes a little sense!
If you can't tell already, we are having trouble making final decisions. Trying to explain our ideas and visualize with each other is really tough with this room. We are going to have to put together some sketches so we are on the same page first. I will try and post an update on our plan next week since we are SUPER busy getting ready for Thanksgiving at our house. Luckily, I will be blogging about that along the way this week! Check back for the holiday fun!