One Room Challenge : Spring 2020/ Week 1
It is finally time to officially begin the Spring 2020 One Room Challenge! I started working on the space in February with hopes of getting a little ahead before the kick-off in April, but the pandemic unfolded and the whole challenge was postponed until this week!
I am so grateful that I have had this room to work on and stockpiled enough materials pre-lockdown. I honestly would have lost my mind without being able to work on projects!
Here’s what the space looked like before…
Everything about this design was RUSHED! I didn’t give myself time to live in the space, to understand the light and the function of the space. My entire room design was based on my clipper ship painting collection - the paint, furniture, etc, but I was making decisions without considering the actual space! In hindsight I should have chosen white paint instead of a moody blue green, I should have went with a slightly lighter couch fabric, and I should have opted for lighter color accent chairs. Why? The room has one, east facing window and most of the day it is dark in there. So, all of the muted colors I chose, just looked muddy. This ORC is Operation: Lighten Up!
So let’s chat about the design…here’s a glimpse of what my original plan was, and how it has evolved in the last few weeks…
I went back to the drawing board with my original idea of using my collection of vintage clipper ships as the focal point of the room. I have collected them over the last 10 years and I just love them! This time around though it would be about making a light and airy backdrop for them rather than a dark and gloomy mudpit
The divider wall addition and the transom were always a non-negotiable in the design and they happened rather quickly. They changed the look of the space completely, and I’m SO glad they came to fruition! Open concept is overrated in my opinion, my friends! Once the room was divided I could decide on a wall treatment.
If you have been following my on Instagram for a while, you may remember that I was back and forth between vertical tongue and groove paneling or board and batten. Ultimately, I chose the T&G paneling because I figured out how to create a very inexpensive DIY version! I will be sharing that tutorial in next week’s blog post. I love the look of the paneling, and I am SO happy with my decision. It’s dimensional without being too busy and it is a great backdrop to my collection of vintage paintings. I chose Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover as the paint color and I love it! It reads as white, but it’s a faint warm gray. I wanted something a touch darker than my bright white trim, and this color is perfect!
My couch and rug will remain the same. I really like both items a lot. My couch is in wonderful condition as it is only 4 years old, and the color (while sometimes appearing purple…grr) is neutral. My biggest learn with buying a custom piece of furniture is that you need a big swatch to make a well-educated decision! If I did that, I wouldn’t have a purplish couch. The rug is a one of a kind ETSY find that cost me $120. This is the third rug that I have purchased for this room in 4 years… that was a trial and error process that ultimately taught me that vintage oushak rugs work best in our home because of their vintage look, thickness, and the amount of abuse they can take from my herd.
If you have been following along on my Instagram stories, then you definitely have witnessed my accent chair saga…yikes! First I tried selling my existing chairs without any luck, then I found a pretty pair on Marketplace only to realize that they were way to big for the room. I ended up selling both pairs of chairs on Marketplace, and now I am left with an Anthropologie chair that I have owned for years. The plan right now is to recover it in a solid cream or pale blue linen. However, that plan could change!
As for the rest of the furniture in the room, the mint green curio cabinet that houses the cable box is leaving, and it is being replaced with a gorgeous antique cabinet that I found on Facebook Marketplace. The only problem is that it is stuck at my parent’s house until the stay at home order is lifted. I’m really hoping that it will be perfect as it is so that I can just pop the TV in there and wrap up the room when it finally arrives. For the coffee table, I am undecided. I really like my coffee table, but all of my design friends do not. I need more of the room to go together before I can decide!
As for lighting, I am on the fence with what to do. Definitely NOT a ceiling fan! More to come.
Okay and now for project updates… just today I had a contractor come by to give us a quote for closing up the one existing window and installing two new ones on either side of the old one so that I can build my own fireplace. Yeah - lofty, crazy goals, but that’s how I roll! Stay tuned!
