Wish You Were Here

The calendar has flipped and March is here! March in Florida is all about Spring Break! Most of my customers are having visitors and they want a guest room that makes their guest feel like they are in Florida. Often, that means bright, beachy and palm trees. There has never been a season in my twenty years of decorating that palm trees have not been present in some way or another. The official state tree of Florida as designated in 1953 is the Sable Palmetto Palm and it is native to the southeastern United States, Cuba and The Bahamas. Let’s take a peek into the guest room of a Gardenia model inspired by palm trees and a beach. We finished it just in time to warm up northern visitors for a week of Spring Break somewhere in the heart of the Villages.

• A panoramic view
The inspiration for the room is the picture titled, “Wish You Were Here” and it is stunning! The sky is a deep azure blue with feathery white clouds. In the horizon, the sky meets green water and the sand is snowy white. In the center of this scene on the beach we see four amazing palm trees being whipped in the wind and the sentiment scrolled on the bottom reads, “Wish You Were Here”. This picture is the inspiration for the entire room. The frame has a Key West vibe because is painted in lime and white with a rough finish. The pop of the green on the frame pulls out the lime greens in the canopies of the palms. Since the picture is the inspiration, we will pull the colors from the photograph and spread them around the space.

• Paint
The Wall color is Window Pane 6210 and I would describe this color as a very light green-based blue. The color is neutral and lively at the same time. If a room is dark or needs the wall color to lighten the space, this is the color for that. Remember, always paint two coats of paint anytime you are painting. Also, choose a satin finish rather than flat. The light will bounce around the room better with a satin and the paint will have more depth of color.

• Flooring
The flooring is luxury vinyl plank called Sahara Sand by Nuvelle. I have been using a lot of this lately because it looks so real. This house had the vinyl installed in every room for continuity.

• No head board
A head board is always best to have with a bed but if that is not in the cards then we can make a faux headboard. We added three Euro pillows to create a faux headboard. Usually, I start the bed with a white coverlet but this time we chose to use a teal coverlet that matched the Euro pillows. The teal color of the pillows and the sleeping coverlet pulls color from the photograph and pops off the wall so much that headboard is not missed.

• Bedding
The accent bedding is a set that comes with a coverlet and two queen shams. We folded the accent coverlet back so that the teal sleeping coverlet could be seen and we could still see plenty of print on the accent coverlet. The accent coverlet has navy, teal, light grey and charcoal grey in the print. The queen shams were placed in front of the teal Euro pillows to break up the solid and pop the bedding! The bed skirt is charcoal grey and visually ties into the accent coverlet. I like the way all the colors combine to look fresh, bright and summery.

• Rug
The rug is a jute rug dyed the color of indigo. The indigo color is a neutral blue that will go with navy, royal, or soft blue. The rug is soft on the feet and it has a backing that will make it lay flat. Jute rugs without backing will stretch and slip around so if you are interested in a jute or seagrass rug, be sure to get one with a sewn on or glued on backing. This will help the rug keep its shape and make it lay flat as a pancake. Finally, we chose the rug in a 5×8 so that we could angle it under the bed. The angled rug pulls you into the room visually and you want to see more. As you look up the bed pops off the rug visually and as your eyes lift you see pretty print and palm trees. It all says, “Welcome to Florida, relax and stay a while”.

• Side tables
The side tables are small because the room has an angled wall that can make it difficult to have two side tables. If you use smaller side tables then you can have two that match if you like. We picked up the side tables from a local retailer and they work perfectly in the space. The lighter wood looks great with the darker wood of the tall chest of drawers. Remember, if you are combing wood tones that all the trees in the forest play well with each other.

• Lamps
The lamps are tall so that they will be effective not only for light but for reading.

I love the two-toned white and blue ringlets that complement everything in the space.

• Large mirror
We hung a large mirror so that guests can see themselves before they leave for a day at the pool. Also, the mirror comes in handy for an extra makeup or blow dry station since the bathroom can stay steamy after a shower.

• Basket
We placed a large basket below the mirror to hold extra bedding or laundry for the host to clean. However, if you needed a small table for the makeup/blow-dry station a table could be used under the mirror as well.
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