Rental Remodel #1

Guess what's behind these doors?

Our house.

Remember?

The cute red one.

While it's got lots of potential our little rental needs lots of love too. Most people would probably think that it's fine - why waste your time on a rental? For us though, it's not a waste. If you know me at all (or read my profile) you know that aside from my "real" career, I am a closet designer. So since pretty much all of my other hobbies went by the wayside when we packed our lives into a car, I have to do something with my time here! Plus Ben is a die hard DIYer too and for years now he's been itching to do some home improvements, but our old apartment was in tip-top shape. So now the way we see it is, why not put some sweat equity into someone else's house? It makes our temporary home more comfy for us and gives us great experience for when we flip a house of our very own. We do realize however that it's not a great idea to blow our wad on a rental especially considering our salaries are significantly reduced from what they used to be, so we're trying to keep the costs as low as possible and work with whatever is available (and inexpensive).

So without further adieu............

Rental Remodel #1 - the guest bedroom

The main reason we're living in this house is because it has a 2nd bedroom (for all of the guests that we hope to entertain!). And since our guests deserve the best, we tackled their room first.

The goal: Sunny & Tranquil - on a budget (always!)

Yea, I know, it's not as complete as I would like - no rug & nothing on the walls, but since we're one a budget and fairly temporary here, this will probably be as good as it gets. Even so, I love the neutrals with that great pop of chartreuse with my favorite accent material - aqua glass. The few guests that we've had thus far have liked it at least!

And yes, it is killing me that only 1 of the beds is sporting the perfectly neutral shawl. I picked it up in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas for about $5. It's so great - now I just need 2 more....1 for the other bed and 1 to wear! It's about an 8 hour drive from here, so I'm hoping that we may make it back sooner rather than later. If you're headed there anytime soon though, maybe you can help me complete my decorating dreams!

Check out the breakdown:

Furniture - free (it came with the house)
Paint - $24 Sherwin Williams Versitile Grey (our concrete walls suck up paint)
Bedding - $35 (on sale at Cemaco)
Curtains - $17 (on sale at Cemaco)
Lighting - $10 (on sale at Cemaco)
Accessories - less than $5
...................................................................................................
Total = $91

And the best part is that we'll take most of it home with us and use it again...that is unless some Guatemalan friend call dibs!

Sorry, I seem to have lost the "before" photos, so you don't have anything to compare it to, but even so what do you think? Did we hit the mark? Come on down and stay with us!