Guest Blogger: Erin from The Impatient Gardener

Hi everybody! I'm Erin, but not the Erin you're used to seeing here. I'm Erin from The Impatient Gardener and I'm thrilled to be guest blogging on House of Turquoise today.

Erin (the other one) does such a wonderful job posting inspirational spaces featuring one of my favorite colors so it's no surprise that the spaces I saw here on House of Turquoise influenced many of the rooms in our house, which underwent a pretty substantial renovation last year. You can read about the renovation here, but it can be more or less summed up by saying that our goal was not to make our house bigger, just better. We had the top of half the house (an old Cape Cod-ish cottage located about 500 feet from the shore of Lake Michigan in southeastern Wisconsin) taken off and put back on higher, allowing us to add much more usable space, including a second bathroom.

Turquoise and blue (along with a healthy dose of gray) featured prominently in many of the rooms.

The bathroom was the most fun to decorate and we went all out because it will probably be the only bathroom we'll ever design. It's a relatively small bathroom—8 feet square—but we fit in a sizable shower, vanity and lots of storage.

The master bedroom stayed basically the same size as before the renovation, but it feels twice as big thanks to the addition of windows on the east wall and a high ceiling.

In the hallway I made a small gallery wall. It's really the only place we display family photos so we have everything from a wedding photo, to pictures of our dogs and cat to a great black and white photo of my grandmother. At the bottom is a board we uncovered when we took the roof off that says, "Put here July 11, 1938." I put it in a shadow box with some linen fabric on the back. I also hung a piece of driftwood that I've been hanging onto for awhile just because I thought it was interesting looking. I collected a variety of frames for the wall and painted several of them different shades of blue mixed from paint I had laying around.

I hope you enjoyed this peak at some of our renovated spaces. You can see more over at The Impatient Gardener, where I blog about gardening, cottage living and misadventures in DIYing. Thanks for having me, Erin!



Love turquoise? Visit my shopping blog Everything Turquoise...updated several times throughout the day! Check out Decor by Color for even more color-themed shopping!

Guest Blogger: Roeshel from DIY Showoff

Hello House of Turquoise fans! I'm Roeshel from

and it's such an honor to be guest blogging for Erin today and so exciting! This is me:

But most days, I look like this:

It's nice to "e-meet" you!

For those of you who don't know me, my blog journals our DIY projects, home improvement and decorating as time and money allow. We also feature other bloggers and their DIY. I recently gave our guest bedroom makeover using paint, things we already had and thrift store, flea market finds. Inspiration:

The room before was a blank slate. We removed previous owners' carpet when we moved in, I removed the trim, walls were a dingy white....

before

after

My starting point for the room were the orange/gold wingback chairs. I thought about redoing them because I wanted a turquoise and white room but as I collected ideas for the room, using things we already had and did up a mood board, I decided I really loved the turquoise, orange, gold together.

I painted and stenciled the floor (budget friendly)...main floor color True Value 'Ticker Tape'.

Nearly everything else in the room is a thrifty find (with the exception of these lamp shades and bedding shown below).

Turquoise lamps were $4.99 at thrift store.

Even the chandelier got a makeover going from black to a turquoise patina...

I made a brooch wreath...

...for my mismatched gallery wall...

A free scratched up buffet got a makeover and became a dresser...

Painting Furniture

I even made a coordinating cat window seat using an old tray and made catnip stuffed toys with turquoise fabric scraps...

Thanks for letting me share our guest bedroom makeover, a much more welcoming place for our guests to relax. I might even move in myself! Unless you're coming to lend a DIY hand for a visit? See more of our DIY Project Tutorials here and our farmhouse before/after projects here. Erin, thank you so much for having us share our guest bedroom transformation.

~Roeshel

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Guest Blogger: Crystal from The Weekend Homemaker

Hi, I'm Crystal, from The Weekend Homemaker, and I am delighted to be a guest blogger today at House of Turquoise (somebody pinch me!) Erin asked me to share my new home office and I'm really excited to give you the low down on how I turned a rarely used (and poorly decorated) dining room into a space that me and my husband use every day.

We're a family of four living in a smidge less than 2,000 square foot home, meaning space is at a premium. I calculated that in the last two years, our dining room was used maybe three times. In the meantime, my husband and I were taking turns sharing a desk. Hmmm, what's not right about that picture? We finally decided to give up the notion that we were formal dining room kinda people and make use of a great space.

I got busy selling our old dining chairs, desk, desk chair and some bookcases to build up a new office fund. Then, scouring Craigslist, Ikea, Overstock.com, Walmart, and even my own house, I was able to create a great work space for both me and my husband for only an extra $105 out of pocket (in addition to the $740 we made selling our old stuff).

There are so many things I like about this space, I can't choose just one. The curtain fabric was the first thing I bought. I originally had something else in mind but saw this fabric on Young House Love (http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/06/my-babies/) and really loved it.

I was even more thrilled when my go-to paint guy chose Benjamin Moore's Palladian Blue as the perfect complement. I can't tell you how much I love this color. The Palladian Blue paired with the crisp white trim really sets the mood for the space and is a great backdrop for the stark white desks and chairs.

I couldn't be happier with how this room turned out and that it is no longer wasted space. And of course my husband loves that we were able to do it for less than $105 (+ the proceeds from the sale of our old stuff).

Visit my blog, The Weekend Homemaker, to read more about how this space came together and to see my plans for the adjoining 'formal' living room.

Guest Blogger: Crystal from The Weekend Homemaker

Hi, I'm Crystal, from The Weekend Homemaker, and I am delighted to be a guest blogger today at House of Turquoise (somebody pinch me!) Erin asked me to share my new home office and I'm really excited to give you the low down on how I turned a rarely used (and poorly decorated) dining room into a space that me and my husband use every day.

We're a family of four living in a smidge less than 2,000 square foot home, meaning space is at a premium. I calculated that in the last two years, our dining room was used maybe three times. In the meantime, my husband and I were taking turns sharing a desk. Hmmm, what's not right about that picture? We finally decided to give up the notion that we were formal dining room kinda people and make use of a great space.

I got busy selling our old dining chairs, desk, desk chair and some bookcases to build up a new office fund. Then, scouring Craigslist, Ikea, Overstock.com, Walmart, and even my own house, I was able to create a great work space for both me and my husband for only an extra $105 out of pocket (in addition to the $740 we made selling our old stuff).

There are so many things I like about this space, I can't choose just one. The curtain fabric was the first thing I bought. I originally had something else in mind but saw this fabric on Young House Love (http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/06/my-babies/) and really loved it.

I was even more thrilled when my go-to paint guy chose Benjamin Moore's Palladian Blue as the perfect complement. I can't tell you how much I love this color. The Palladian Blue paired with the crisp white trim really sets the mood for the space and is a great backdrop for the stark white desks and chairs.

I couldn't be happier with how this room turned out and that it is no longer wasted space. And of course my husband loves that we were able to do it for less than $105 (+ the proceeds from the sale of our old stuff).

Visit my blog, The Weekend Homemaker, to read more about how this space came together and to see my plans for the adjoining 'formal' living room.

Lesli DeVito

Lesli DeVito of the blog My Old Country House and I are totally on the same wavelength. We are all about the turquoise and pink. Turquoise or pink in the form of a fab chevron print?? We'll take it! Recently Lesli reupholstered her old sofa in the the prettiest aqua zig zag fabric (for less than $7.50 a yard!) I LOOOOVE the results...it totally makes the space! I was sure that was enough joy for one room, but then Lesli scored (among other things) that yummy pink Missoni pouf ottoman from Target. (I copied her and bought 0ne in aqua after she said how amazing it is in real life.) Don't you absolutely adore her pink cabinet too??? That's insta-smile material! You guys definitely need to head to Lesli's blog...it's filled with so much inspiration you'll be followers in no time. Oh and talk about happy, let me introduce you to Lesli's awesome paintings! Love!!

Love turquoise? Visit my shopping blog Everything Turquoise...updated several times throughout the day! Check out Decor by Color for even more color-themed shopping!