Be our guest...

Last week a dear friend from Anchorage days called to say she and her husband would be coming to the Seattle area to visit with two of their sons for a few days. I asked, "Are you staying in the city or would you like to stay with us?" We so enjoy their company and were happy to hear her say, "We would love to stay with you!"

A little background...my husband and I moved to Anchorage as mid 20 somethings and knew no one. We found a great church and met this friend and her extended family, which included her parents and 4 brothers and sisters and spouses. They very quickly began to include us in their Sunday morning brunches and family holidays...truly treated us like "family." After five years, we moved back to Lake Stevens but have continued our friendship with this family and other dear friends from those Alaska years. 

Before...rope bolted into wall for "fire" escape out the window! There is one in every bedroom.

When we moved into this old craftsman house a year and a half ago, the house was really in need of some updating. The house has five bedrooms upstairs, but two of them are quite small. My mother in law had always used one of them as a guest room, and the other as a baby nursery for her grandchildren. The wall paper she had installed in the late 70's was peeling and cracking in places and had sustained some water damage. As I tried to remove the wallpaper, we discovered it was stuck like glue and chunks of the wall board wanted to come off with it! We considered covering it with textured paint but decided the wall paper underneath would probably just bubble up and cause problems. After exploring several options, we decided to cover the walls with pine tongue and groove beaded boards, which we primed first. I love how it turned out! Two of the other bedrooms have a wider tongue and groove paneled walls so this application seemed to fit the house.

Rosemaling on small cabinet...

Copy of old Norwegian sports poster...gift from a friend.

Small niches in the wall...

Tiny twig table, garage sale find, painted white.

Since I love all things Norwegian due to my heritage, I decided to decorate one of the rooms in red and white. The two little bedrooms share a common wall that has built in little niches...fun to decorate with some of my Norwegian figurines.

Carved wood Henning figurines from Norway...

Dala horses...

Henning figurines...

Though the room is small, it's very light and welcoming. After all, someone once said, "Hospitality is making your guests feel at home, even if you wish they were!" Just kidding...we love company! Come...and be our guest!