What's become of the guest room

On today's episode of As The Guest Room Turns, we have new faces, added drama, and so much more to look forward to. There's intrigue, excitement and murder!

Ok, maybe not murder. But most of the other stuff is true. Sorta.

As for new faces, we have a new comforter, which was sorely needed. And to sweeten the deal even more, I picked it up on a supreme sale. And a good sale always counts as drama, right? It's a white down comforter, with damask stripes, trimmed with satin. (Excitement!) I know neither one is visible in the photo, but it's true--it really is striped, and there really is satin. I promise! At this point, the bed is just beginning for a guest to break it in.

I also hung a giant oil painting I picked up a year ago at Rice's Flea Market in Buck's County. It's a beaut, but it wasn't taken good care of before coming home with me, and it shows in some places. Hopefully no one will notice. If they do, I'll write it off as patina.

Today was also the day that a mirror from our wedding registry got hung. It's a hand-made piece of art by an artist in Haiti, and the proceeds benefit those rebuilding from the earthquake there in 2010. Unfortunately it didn't come with a mechanism for hanging.

See? No way to hang it from the back. I guess it was meant to lean against a wall or be placed on a shelf, but that's not how we roll here. So I had to get creative with a picture bracket. There was lots of bending and needle nose pliers involved.

And last but definitely not least was the curtain rod. It fell a few weeks ago, and it was never hung properly again. So I got out the dry wall anchors, power drill and got to work. Now we at least have a rod and curtain clips where they should be. But they're crying out for some drapes, which will have to wait at least until next week.

But what might be the best part is that all of these changes were made today, for almost no cost. The painting, curtain rod, curtain hangers, mirror and tools were all things we had around the house. And the comforter was a steal at 40 percent off. Really--I spent less than $20.