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This was not the post I was going to write today. I was going to share (and still will at some point) some gift wrapping ideas, but I got a little sidetracked.
I took a detour so to speak…actually two detours.
The first was to T.J. Maxx and that detour resulted in the second one, which was decorating our guest room for Christmas. These Christmas guest room decor ideas are easy and can be accomplished in just a few hours.
Let me back up just a little and tell you about this guest room. In the fall of 2015, I decided to completely update our two spare bedrooms: the room pictured above, which was always a guest room, and my son’s old bedroom. Both rooms had ancient carpet and dark walls. I had been saving my money so I hired floor guys to remove the carpet and refinish the original hardwood floors. Before that could be started though, I had to completely clear out both rooms. It took me about a month and was one of the hardest things, DIY speaking, that I’ve ever done. Three closets that were overflowing had to be emptied, which resulted in countless trips up and down the stairs.
Countless trips to Goodwill.
Countless texts to my kids saying “Do you want to keep this?”
When the rooms were empty and the floors completed, I had the walls and trim painted the same soft ivory that I’ve used in the rest of our house. By this time it was the first of December, 2015 and my mom was failing. I was spending as much time as I could with my parents, keeping up with my blog and preparing for Christmas. After we moved the furniture back in the guest rooms, I purchased neutral bedding, curtains and rugs. At the time I couldn’t make decisions on color or pick out fabric for pillows.
I just couldn’t.
So…
After Christmas, my mom got sicker and passed away. Spring, summer and fall came…and went. I still didn’t have those guest rooms finished. They were usable, but cold and plain.
OK. This gets us to a few days ago when I made my usual twice-monthly stop at T.J.’s. I thought I might pick up some fun gift bags…or maybe they would have some cute stocking stuffers. It never entered my mind to decorate the guest room until I saw the huge rack of Christmas throws and started looking through them. There were dozens to choose from and the prices were amazing. My tiny idea grew when I wandered to the pillow aisle. There was one entire aisle of nothing but Christmas pillows, in all sizes and colors.
The honest truth is that I couldn’t resist the pillows and before I knew it my cart was full of plaid throws, festive pillows and oh yes…a few fun gift bags!
The next day I spent a few hours happily fluffing our guest room. I rummaged through my bins and found the stockings. I had picked up a bunch of fresh Port Orford Cedar at the grocery so some of that went in the red enamelware pitcher. More fresh greens went over the pictures. I hung the little wreaths on the dresser with ribbon leftover from last year. Finally the throws and pillows were placed on the beds.
I still want to paint the dresser and replace the neutral rug with something more colorful. I finally did pick out fabric to make pillows so hopefully that will happen in the new year…or maybe I’ll get lucky on another trip to T.J. Maxx. Ha! Either way, I hope to finish both of our guest rooms in 2017. Hope being the operative word…
Since my guest room story may have interfered with the actual point of this post, here’s a rundown of Christmas guest room decor ideas:
- Add festive throws and pillows
- Hang wreaths on dresser pulls or knobs
- Hang stockings from bed posts
- Add fresh greenery over pictures
- Fill a pitcher or vase with fresh greenery
- Stack extra throws on baskets or stools
This spur-of-the-moment project was not only fun, it was pretty budget friendly too. The throws were $16.99 each and the pillows (with down inserts) were $19.99 each. The bunch of cedar was $5.99. Everything else was reused from years past.
I’ve got a few more Christmas posts to share so I’ll see you soon. Thanks for stopping by!
Related posts:
*Some links on this page lead to shops and websites (like Amazon) where I am an affiliate. Click HERE for my complete Disclosure Statement.
Shopping Sources:
- Madison Park Ivory Coverlet Set
- Ivory bedskirt
- Dresser lamps
- Lidded baskets
- Rug
- Window panels
- Mini boxwood wreaths
- Red and black ribbon
- Plaid throw blanket (similar)
Now it’s time once again to share my farmhouse friends and their Christmas inspiration. These girls have been such good friends to me…I hope you take a minute and pay them a visit.
Anita from Cedar Hill Farmhouse
KariAnne from Thistlewood Farms
Are you a member of the OSP family? Please join us!
Love your guest room, thanks for sharing.
Your guest room looks so lovely and inviting decorated with rugs for Christmas.
Love your guest bedroom, I have the same quilt , just love! Was thinking of buying a Christmas quilt but when I saw the plaid throws at the foot of the beds I realized that’s exactly the look I want. Thank you for your elegant, simple farmhouse style. I am in the process of retiring colored walls, it’s truely a calming and restful retreat….
Thank you for all you share, what a blessing you are to many
I love your page. Your house reminds me so much of my own house inside even though they are very different on the outside. You have some very simple decorating ideas but they are such nice ideas.
I’m so sorry to hear about your mom, Ann. My sincere sympathies. It’s interesting how the world looks different and what was once important just isn’t a priority when we navigate these challenges of life.
Your guest room looks so lovely and inviting decorated for Christmas. Yay for TJ!!!
Hope your New Year is blessed beyond imagination…
What a tour! Loved it!
I somehow missed this post the first time around and am so glad I came back to it. Love the room. I’m a huge fan of red and this room just makes me happy. I need to go to TJ Maxx more often I see.
Ann, beautiful as always. I love your real home, classic and warm, not too trendy. Have a peaceful Christmas!
I love this room Ann and can’t stop admiring it. It’s so clean and fresh and I love all the neutrals. Have a Merry Christmas!
Love the room! Just the right touches to make it look festive! ????????❤️
Really cute! Great job! Looks so cozy!
love the bedding Ann!!
The TJMaxx pillows were a real find. I love the slightly Scandinavian vibe and texture!
You didn’t ask my opinion, but I like the dresser unpainted! Unless there are a lot of flaws in the finish that don’t show up in a picture I think it looks so much richer unpainted. I do like painted furniture but sometimes it seems overdone. Another white thing in this room would be boring (in MY opinion)! The throws and the pillows are beautiful. I guess I’d better head to TJ Maxx!
I agree. I think the dresser is beautiful as it is. Helps to warm up the room.
Ann, so very pretty and I like the simplicity. Hard wood floors are a favorite of mine and remind me of my 1939 Cape Cod we owned in Ohio for 22 years. The home had beautiful hardwood floors and charm.
It seems the timing was right this Christmas to enjoy the changes. I am sure you have never regretted the time spent with your mother and caring for her in her last days. I spent six months caring for my mother in 2015. No regrets here and I was available to help when my two brothers could not. My mother is still with us and just turned 91. We are very thankful and feel very blessed.
Ann, love the TJM pillows…and those prints over the beds.
And I understand how it is when you can’t make any more decisions, because Life is overwhelming.
I hope things are better for you now and I wish you a very Blessed and Merry Christmas.
I love what you did in bedroom, charming and inviting. thanks for the ideas.
Please reconsider not using down, they pluck the birds while they are living. It looks so painful as they tie up the bird and pluck them of all their feathers, just image how that would feel. Just for your information.
Merry Christmas,
Myrna
Ann, your Guest Bedroom is so nice. You have done a lovely job of decorating it! I am new to your post and am really enjoying it!
Blessings!
Thank you for saying hello and welcome to On Sutton Place!
What a lovely room to nestle down in after a long airplane flight! So welcoming but still serene and not crowded.
The Christmas touches are easy to put up and can be stored away in the closet to put up next year in just a few minutes to prepare the room. I try to store my smaller decorations right in the room where they will be placed and it has made decorating easier. My children are grown and just come back to visit for holidays, so their closets are not overflowing, and that makes it work!
It is beautiful. If you need a guest to enjoy it, I am free! Merry Christmas. Carol
I LOVE it!! Makes me think there is hope in cleaning my spare bedroom/sewing room. I lost my Mom last August & it’s been hard to think of doing anything major in there. My Dad passed away 5 years ago & I stumbled a bit after he was gone, but with your Mom, that’s a different ballgame. But, you’ve given me hope & inspiration. Maybe if I stopped buying all this fabric that I truly believe I am going to use!
Take your time Karen…you will know when the time is right. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you, too!!
I agree Karen.
Dear Ann, I may unsubscribe to other “Blogs” but Yours will always be a keeper. Why you ask? Because you are so down to earth and I always feel as tho we are conversing. Not to mention there are either new projects,or information we need to know or just ideas from a walk around your lovely home. I am ninety years but still want to keep interested in home ,life and country. You are so honest ..a rarity nowadays, which endears you to your readers. Have a lovely (and merry) Christmas and may the new year bring you much joy. Jere
Thank you so much Jere…what a lovely thing to say. My 82 year old dad just got his first computer. I love that you stay connected and are living life to the fullest. Merry Christmas to you too!
So simple, so elegant, so inviting.
Really nice, I love red and white no matter what time of year it is, and I think you could leave those pillows in there for as long as you want because they just look wintery.
Ann,
Your guest room is beautiful. Any guest would feel so welcome there. You did an amazing job!!
I love your guest room. Everything you did was so pretty and exactly right. Best wishes for a nice December and run up to Christmas as the Brits say. I love your blog. Smiles
What a happy, festive room! I love the neutral background with the vivid pops of red for Christmas! Nice having a peek into another part of your home!
The guest one that you featured is so pretty. You did a great job picking out the throws and pillows and I love the greenery that you used. Any guest staying in that room will be feel welcomed and happy!
Ahhh. It looks just wonderful exactly as it is. I love those pillows and can see how that would ‘spark’ your enthusiasm. Please don’t paint the dresser if that is the piece between the beds. It is just lovely exactly the way it is.
Yes, I love the dresser as it is also.
Thank you for the inspiration and also for telling the story of how long it took you to get the room together. Makes me feel better about my own slow progress on various projects. I really like how the room looks. Love the dresser as it is. Thanks, too, for the great ideas on getting a room put together. While I don’t have TJ Maxx in my town, I do have Marshall’s, which is essentially the same.
Hi Ann, my trip to T.J. Maxx last week is similar to yours. I went for a couple of gifts for my sons girlfriend and wound up buying a couple of Christmas pillows. You’re right they had such a good selection and the prices were so affordable. I love the twin beds and wish now I hadn’t given ours away. We have carpet in our bedrooms and I have been nagging my hubby to have wood floors installed. He says his feet get cold-ha-ha!! I’m still trying to change his mind-wish me luck!!! Have a wonderful day and like all your subscribers, I too just love getting your emails.
Hi Ann, I read the comments and I agree about the chest. You do have a classic home style in which a lot of your readers like too, me included. Perhaps one day soon you’ll get your wish and have your wood floor downstairs. Your guest room is very warm and welcoming for Christmas.
Kathleen in Az
I’m not sure about the wood floors downstairs but I have not given up hope completely. We just, last month, paid off our house. We can’t keep pouring money into this house because we won’t get it back out…but then again we have to keep things up. A slippery slope for sure. Thanks for your comment and Merry Christmas!
Love, Love, Love. Such a cheerful guest room!
: )
The moment I saw your guest bedroom, I had a feeling of being welcomed. I knew the person who had furnished this room had done so with love and care. Please don’t think me presumptuous, but I hope you don’t paint the chest . . . the chest and beds are the room’s anchors and make it feel “real”.
Merry Christmas, Ann
Looks great! Warm and very welcoming! I know all about the 3months of clearing out a room…this is unfortunately not an exaggeration! You’ve given some great ideas as always Ann! ;)
Your posts are delightful and very soothing. I enjoy all of your ideas. Always look forward to your next post. Linda
i love your guest room makeover. Am going to copy some of your ideas. Love the color scheme. Clean and crisp, yet very warm. We live in a small senior apartment, but I use you ideas. Keep up the great ideas!
Love it! The room will definitely be good through March. Easter is April 14th so with a little luck we won’t have to hunt Easter Eggs in the snow.
I love your guest room. It is very charming, festive and cozy. If I was your guest, you would have a hard time getting me out of there!
You and I are decorating soul sisters indeed! I even have prints from our years in Germany that echo yours! Love, love, love the guest room. and I like the neutral rug as is!
Looks so sweet and welcoming! I feel inspired! it’s also good hearing from you about how you care for yourself. We all need to keep that in mind. Sending love.
Ann, I have the same quilt/coverlet, the same pictures you show above the beds, a very similar chest (although mine is painted black), and the same living room coffee table as you shared. It’s unbelievable!
Love seeing so many beautiful and festive homes and how differently each home reflects the families that live there.
I just did something similar to my daughter’s old room. She moved out for good this summer but with my house flood, stolen car, health issues..the room just sat empty! I finally added winter pillows and throws for this season and for a touch of Christmas, I added some red picture frames with her pictures with Santa through the years…it tied the room together nicely…I now have my eye out for a lovely red pitcher like yours! Thank you for always being so inpirational!
Thank you for sharing your tips for your guest room. I would be very happy to be a guest sleeping in it.
I am having guests staying this Christmas so I think a trip to TK is on the cards hopefully I can get few lovely items like you.
Looking forward to your next post xx
Beautiful! And so encouraging too. Sometimes the timing is not right to finish a project and it hangs over your head — but eventually you get it done! I like the contrast with the wood to the walls. :)
Nice touch of Christmas.Love the red and black.
I love this. So beautiful and the touch of pillows and plaid. You have inspired me.
I love the way the room turned out! Makes me want to run to TJ’s!!
The most inviting guest room ever! You and I think very much alike. Love your posts and
look forward to them.
Thank you! I love it! I am just about to head out to TJ Maxx. So glad I saw this first! Merry Christmas!
I love this room, Ann. Great pillows and I love a room with twin beds. This is so pretty. I hope I get the twin headboards from my Dad’s house that were his parents and are very very old, solid mahogany and Chippendale design.
Thank you Kim…I never knew, until my mom died, how important her “things” would be to me. I treasure them all. I hope you get the headboards too!
Congrats on finishing the rooms Ann, they look beautiful! Can I ask where you got the London print, it is beautiful!
Hi! The London prints were given to me by my mother-in-law right before my husband and I were married. They were purchased, in London, in the 60’s on a family vacation. I had them framed and they’ve been in one room or another for 35 years.
Ah, they are just lovely. Is there an artist name on them by chance?
I just adore those prints! What a treaure….thanks for sharing your lovely home with us. Merry Christmas!
Your guest room looks so pretty. Your year sounds a little like mine. We did a lot of refurbishing this year in our house after cleaning out closets. We also made a lot of trips to donate and sent home things with our daughters. Ha. But in the midst of painters, carpet layers and decorators my Dad passed away in May. I’m still trying to get my act together. I managed to get some Christmas decorations out and everything else will hopefully be finished in 2017.
Hi Nancy…take your time…and I’m sorry about your Dad. <3
Serendipity is a wonderful thing! Looks just lovely – brava. Only thing (humble opinion & all that): don’t paint the dresser. It’s fabulous as is. Grounds the room and gives it character. Merry Christmas!
I agree, Maggie! I love a FEW painted pieces in a room but this dresser, in my opinion, gives the room character, ties in with the headboards and really does seem to “ground” the room. It has a natural flow from the wooden floors up to the headboards and just looks right!
Love it! Decorating can sometimes (when life gets in the way) be a slow progression of sometimes you just have to run with it! You ran with it and it’s perfectly charming!
I love it! I get sidetracked all the time too, but I think only happy things can happen then! You are making me want to run to the store right now…but being budget-minded ( and stranded without my car today) I think I will “shop” my basement for some decorations.
I just found your blog not too long ago and am so glad I did! Thanks for sharing.
Monique
I love the way you decorated your guest bedroom, it can easily be changed back to regular décor for year round, not too gaudy with a lot of extras, just right.
You have a wonderful website full of interesting ideas and beautiful pictures. Thank you!
I would not paint the dresser between the beds. I love the way it looks now. The room is so pretty and nicely done…..just the right amount for a guest bedroom.
Your guest room is so lovely! Love the bright and neutral colors with the gorgeous pops of color for Christmas. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas gotta run to TJ maxx..
I love everything about this post. Love the red plaid especially. It’s a favorite of both myself and my hubby for years.
Oh Ann! What a lovely room! One of the reasons I love your blog is you always have beautiful rooms at everyday prices and nothing is “over the top”. Sure wish we had a TJ Maxx close to us – love that store! (But then again, my husband is probably glad there isn’t. ) Have an awesome weekend.
paint color which brand pls. ty.
Hi Debbie…the paint is Sherwin Williams but is a custom match that I’ve been using for years.
I love it …beautiful! I especially like all the contrast with the dark dresser and yes the light rug ! What a steal on the throws . Are they fleece on one side ? Very cozy ????
Hi Bev! The throws are sort of a soft fake fur on the back. Very cozy!
Lovely room! The black background on those pillows really shines on the neutral bedding. But please don’t paint that pretty dresser. It’s so lovely as it is!
yes the black background was nice
Love this room, the crisp white walls & Christmas colors in all the right places make this such an inviting room.
Thanks, Jo
It’s a lovely room Ann! Thank you for sharing your story…inspirations and resources!! I have a guest room going through some similar stages and NOW look forward to completing it after the New Year…blessings in 2017!
Merry Christmas!!
Hi Ann!
I have been following you for years and am always inspired by your beautiful home and ideas. I would love to be a guest in your beautiful guest room. It is so pretty!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family! :)
Hi Marcelle…thank you so much for taking the time to comment and thank you for your support. I hope your Christmas is merry and bright!
That’s it Ann now I’m definitely coming over!!! Looks so lovely, peaceful and festive! I am so enjoying all your Christmas posts ????????????????
What a lovely idea! Beautiful guest room, Ann. I love what you do!
Don’t you love it when you have a good shopping trip like that?? I enjoy using plaid sheets, etc this time of year! It doesn’t take too much to make a bedroom look festive and cozy. I love all your choices….it looks great! Thx for sharing….
Hi Michelle…plaid sheets would be a great idea! Maybe next year. :)
Especially if they are flannel! Nice and cozy!
Wow, Ann, you hit the jackpot with these gorgeous throws and pillows. They look like they’re from a designer catalog. I love TJ Maxx and want to head over there now after seeing your finds. The floors are beautiful too.
I love how your tips are both beautiful and completely doable. Thank you!
O’h Ann I love this room. It is so warm and inviting. I would certainly feel at home staying in this room.
What a lovely room!! Think twice about painting the chest. From the pictures it seems to ground the space and add the perfect touch of “classic-ness.” I have a hunch that in a few years we will say, “Why did I paint THAT piece of furniture?” :)