Today begins the Fall One Room Challenge, and I am so excited to get started! For this challenge, I am working on our master bedroom. When I announced that I am working on my master on my Instagram stories, some of you messaged me asking why I was changing my master because it “looks good”, and the answer to that is that it’s not the restful, serene bedroom I always wanted, the color is cold and uninviting, and the furnishings are a little too delicate for our liking.

When we moved in 3 years ago the room looked like this…

And here is how to room is currently decorated.

The color was a cool gray that felt very blue once we took up the wall to wall carpeting and replaced it with hardwood floors. I felt kind of rushed to choose a paint color, so I went with a color I loved from our old house - Benjamin Moore - Sandy Hook Gray. I really did love that color in the hallway of our old house - the aqua curio I had against it looked awesome and my ship painting collection popped, but in our bedroom it just looked like wet cement. Yup - wet, uninspiring, boring, cement. Although it is a pretty dark color, it never feels dark in that room because we have 3 large windows that let in so much light. I actually feel like the paint color and the natural light are constantly battling it out - the paint wants the room to feel dark and moody, and the light wants it to be bright in there! So, I’m going to stop the fighting and paint the room and bright, light color.

I honestly am a little torn between painting the room a very neutral shade or adding some color on to the walls. Bob did a little research last night and he read that people who have a dark blue bedroom get the most restful sleep, and gray bedrooms are ranked as one of the worst colors for sleep! Here’s the article he found. Green is a close second for good sleep though, and the neutral I am considering ( Benjamin Moore: Old Prairie) is an off-white with a lot of green in it.

My reasons for wanting to keep the paint color more neutral are:

The hardwoods in the bedroom have a reddish tone to them - red and green are opposites on the color wheel, so green walls will make the floor look more red - no bueno.
I like being able to switch up the art and linens without being locked in to a paint color - once this room is painted I don’t ever want to paint it again. I’m always striving for TIMELESS too.
I want the airy, bright bedroom. You know them - the India Hicks style, curtains blowing in the wind, wrapped up in white bed linens kind of bedroom.

My reasons for wanting to add a little color:

I love color! I love the feeling that color evokes.
I’m staying very neutral with my bed linens, will I miss having a little color?
I feel like the best rooms I see in the One Room Challenge are colorful

So, I may have to do some testing here to decide on a color or lack there of. I do plan and making the room 2-tone. The top half will be white, and the bottom half with be a slightly darker wainscoting. Here is a picture of the subtle two-tone-ness that inspired me…

This is from John Derian’s amazing home as featured on CupofJo.com I love the soft 2-tone look mixed with the natural textures and vintage art.

I can go on and on about paint colors, but the main goal for this room (other than finishing it in 6 weeks) is re-decorating it as eco-consciously as possible. Here is how I plan on doing that…

Using thrifted furniture and decor: The bed, nightstands, desk, mirror, dresser, and chairs are all secondhand pieces. The only “new” furniture item in the room is a pink Anthropologie chair I bought from their outlet store.
Using eco-friendly bedding & mattress: All of the linens and pillows will be Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified, organic, up-cycled, reused or thrifted. Our new mattress (which I will go into detail about next week) is an Avocado Green Mattress.
Using natural/eco-friendly products: I am stripping varnish, re-finishing, and painting furniture and walls with the best mediums for the planet.
Reuse: Much of what is in my design plan are items that are already in my bedroom- the only “new” items being brought in are the bed, mattress, some bed linens, and hopefully an antique dresser. The rest is all stuff I already had!

I will also be highlighting some wonderful Green/Eco-Conscious companies that have made it their mission to make better products for the environment!

So, without further ado… here is our bedroom design for the Fall 2019 One Room Challenge!

I would love to know what you think! Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Also, be sure to check out the other ORC Guest Participants over at: http://www.oneroomchallenge.com/orc-blog/

Thanks for reading!

Dana