Homemade Guest Room

My husband and I live in a roomy, open floor plan apartment, but it only has one bedroom. No guest room! This is difficult since we live at least 2 hours from most of our friends! He's lived here for over 2 years, and I have for over 7 months. Since our wedding, we've had a few overnight guests, and a few guests decline because of our lack of guest room options. This past week, a friend of mine told me about her interest in a studio-style apartment and that got me thinking...how would she have overnight guests in her apartment? It inspired me to consider room separation from that perspective, and I decided to "build" my own guest room. I love crafts--anything handmade, really--so it was exciting to try something totally different from what I'm used to doing!

First, this is the view from the living room, our current guest space. We have an inflatable mattress that can be used as a bed for our guests, and when they're lying in bed, this is what they see. The kitchen. the bathroom door, and right by that bathroom door is our room. So when we get up for breakfast, coffee, bathroom breaks, etc., there they are, there we are, and it's awkwardness for everyone.

Well, you can see what I made, because the homemade curtains are already hanging in this picture. We actually like the way they look, so we're keeping them up now.

The creation of this room divider was so easy, and if I'd been more confident in my sewing skills beforehand, I would definitely have made this more creative. But for a first time, pretty good. 

The door curtain on the left was the easiest. We used a tension shower curtain rod to hold it up (Lowe's for $12) and miraculously found that curtain for $8 at WalMart, and it already matched the measurements I needed to the inch!

The bar curtains were not so simple as that, but the solution was easy enough. We happened to find that extra long rod at Hobby Lobby where we'd gotten all our other living room curtain rods, and it was only $21. 

The curtains were a little more expensive at about $10 a set (also from Lowe's) and their measurement was originally twice the length I needed. I decided to grab one set of striped and one of red, for the added colors. I cut the curtains in half and stitched up a simple hem, and voila! Brand new curtains for the bar. 

As you can see, it's much more private now. Our friends who came to visit for New Years' were here from December 30 to January 1 and I had to work on the morning of the 31st. My husband and I were able to get our morning coffee and breakfast without disturbing them and work in our room until they were up. I have to admit, I can't wait to have guests again!