English Cottage Guest Bedroom

Before

Host Joan Steffend and designer Barbara Sculati decorate a guest bedroom with an English cottage design.

$7 — Stain
The existing butter paint color on the walls is the perfect base coat for a faux stone finish created with a mixture of brown stain and water (mixed three parts water to one part stain). They rub the mixture onto the walls with inside-out bread bags and create the stone look by leaving spaces between the round shapes to simulate the look of grout lines.

• stain: Menard's — Minwax Water-based Wood Stain, American Walnut

$160 — Rug

• area rug: T.J. Maxx — 1079295

$16 — Chair and Footstool
A salvage-store chair is updated with a new leather seat cover made out of an old jacket. A plaid skirt is used to update a small footstool.

$98 — Bedding
The homeowners' four-poster bed is dressed up with an over-dyed toile duvet, a plaid bed skirt, needlepoint pillows and a behind-the-bed curtain made out of a lace tablecloth. A half-crown canopy is created with sheer fabric swagged through a napkin holder attached to the wall. Leather leftover from the thrift-store jacket is fashioned into tassels.

• dye: RIT Dye — Tan 16

$69 — Fireplace
A faux fireplace is created out of a myriad of leftover lumber. Bi-fold doors are used for the sides, a drawer front is used for the top and a piece of baseboard serves as the shelf supported by two corbels. The back piece is a piece of medium-density fiberboard, which is given a faux wood paint finish using a butter color base coat, dark stain and a wood-graining tool.

• base coat paint: Behr — 330E–3, Sensible Hue

$40 — Window Treatments
An old tablecloth is embellished with trim and fashioned into a pair of curtains. Self-adhesive lead is attached to the glass panes for an English cottage look.

• self-adhesive lead tape: Van Dykes — Decra Led, CK-02001889

$28 — Dresser and Mirror
A thrift-store dresser is primed, painted red then washed over with brown paint to replicate the look of twigs that are attached to the drawer fronts.

• red paint: Behr — S-G-140, Cherry Cobbler

$14 — Prints

• fox hunting print: Art Prints Inc.

$50 — Nightstands
Thrift-store tables are covered up with velvet and decorated with lamps and trays.

$13 — Accessories

$495 — Total Cost