Spruce up a guest room in time for the holidays

The first snowfall in Northern Indiana often catches us by surprise.  After the first wave of nostalgia, we start realizing how much we have to do before Thanksgiving and Christmas!  You’re on your own with shopping and Christmas cards, but getting a guest room ready for the holidays can be simpler than you think.  Matthews Painting offers a lower winter rate on all interior painting projects from November through March, making this the perfect time to update a room affordably. Without replacing any furniture, you can still give a room a whole new look with a new color or two.

A Fast and Affordable Face Lift Plan

Step one: De-clutter

Whether you redecorate or not, you’ll need to clear the room of the kind of junk that can find its way into an infrequently-used guest room before your visitors arrive. If you know the painters are coming, you have given yourself a deadline to put away the off-season clothes, craft project, or toy room sprawl.  Re-consider pictures, pillows, and knick-knacks, too—are there any that have seen better days?

Step two: Play favorites

Is there a decorative feature in this room you love?  Or hate?  Particularly look at pictures, bedspreads, throw pillows, and curtains—these can all be replaced easily and without a major investment.  Even better if you’re still happy with them!  Fresh paint should match or complement your best décor while downplaying anything you’d rather not focus on.

Step three: Identify your color palette restrictions

Before choosing a color, also note colors that will remain after you paint.  Furniture, carpet or wood floors, and the color in the hallway are much more expensive things to replace, so choose a new paint color now that also plays well with what is already there. Jason Matthews, the owner of Matthews’ Painting, can provide you with a color consultation and even provide you with much larger samples than are typically found at most paint stores.  We also have a color visualizer on our residential painting and staining page where you can actually upload a photo of your room or pick a room similar to your own and put actual Sherwin Williams colors on the walls.

Step four: Sleep on it

Standing in a brightly-lit room with color samples and fabric swatches is a good start, but the lighting in your guest room can greatly affect how the color looks in practice—consider a few similar shades or more than one of the colors on a single sample strip. Sometimes a wall color looks great during the day, but not so good by nighttime. Your lighting fixtures will also affect how the color is viewed. In low light, for example, a nice pale color might just look like a dirty white.

Step five: Go for it!

Matthews Painting can give you an estimate and start/finish dates to help you plan around travel and hosting visitors of your own.  Once the walls are dry and the house painters have all cleaned up, put back your stuff, fluff the pillows, and get ready for Grandma. And remember: there’s no place like home for the holidays!