One Room Challenge Week Six.....Better Late Than Never

Linking very LATE to Linda's One Room Challenge Linking Party,

which actually ended May 8th, 

but due to circumstances that are not worth mentioning,
I have been MIA on my blog and did not finish our bedroom on time.

Today, my window treatments were installed and I am FINALLY done!

Almost....

As a reminder, here is what I started out with.....

This picture is with the previous owner's furniture...but it basically looked this horrible with our furniture too.

Here is my mood board....

And here is my finished room....

I love it!!!

I am thrilled with how it turned out!

I still have a few things to do...

such as find a few photos of me and D for the frames on my dresser,

and get the arm chair I scored at a consignment shop recovered.

I also have a few piles of "junk" in our master bathroom that used to clutter the bedroom

that need to be sorted through.

I had hoped to get a pair of matching nightstands that were taller,

but the budget did not permit and I didn't really find anything I loved anyway.

I will be keeping my eye out for a pair of them when I am out consignment shopping!

I also never found a small green and white porcelain lamp for on top of the chest of drawers,

but I shopped my house and moved my gold leaf pineapple lamp to the chest

and I decided I like it there.

As you can see from my photos, 

I lost the ceiling fan fight....lol.

I would have LOVED to put a crystal chandelier in, 

but sweet D would have died of a heat stroke without the fan.

I hope you visited all of the fabulous linking participants

as well as the talented bloggers who were a part of the ORC!

One Room Challenge Week Four

It's week four of  Linda's One Room Challenge Linking Party

and I'm continuing to make progress!

My number one priority was to get the blinds hung....

I started to hang them myself,

but Teddy took pity on me and had them hung in less than ten minutes!

He takes after my Michigan dad and Virginia dad and is extremely handy!

Viola! 

They are room darkening....love them!

My coverlet and Euro shams arrived from One Kings Lane in record time...

as in I ordered them on a Monday night and they were here on Wednesday,

and I am thrilled with the quality and love how they look!

I spent all day Saturday making the rounds at my favorite consignment shops

with Caroline and my Virginia mom and boy did it pay off!!!!!

 I was starting to feel stressed about not finding a pair of botanical prints

to hang above the headboard.

I'm on a budget but was willing to splurge a little to get the perfect pair,

but I was not finding anything I liked in any price range.

Virginia mom spotted these at a consignment shop we were at on Saturday,

and they were not only PERFECT, they were a STEAL!

I already hung them up and love them!!!
I shopped my attic and found a few other prints for our bedroom and hung those as well.

I moved a very special piece of furniture into our room when I moved my desk out....
my great grandmother's secretary desk.
It is a small desk with Queen Anne legs and a mirrored cabinet,
and I would like to fill it with crystal, sliver, or white porcelain pieces.
I shopped my home for some things and found a few more things at consignment shops.

I love this small silver canister...the shop owner said it came from a castle in France.

I also scored this cut glass vase as well...I love how it reflects in the mirror!

I would love to get a pair of small white Staffordshire dogs for the cabinet,

and I have a small rose bowl and a few other small silver pieces I can use.

After rearranging the furniture,

I decided that I needed an arm chair to fill the space next to my dresser.

I added that to my consignment shopping list and hit the jackpot again!

This beauty was $50! It's very sturdy and in great shape...just needs new fabric!

Here's what I am planning to have it recovered it in...

Thibaut Ikat Check

LOVE!

This will not be finished by the end of the ORC, but I plan to add pictures of it once it's done!

So.....my ORC is coming along fabulously,
and the main things I need to finish are my window treatments and custom bedding.
I'm hoping those will be done in the next week!

I do have a small "to do" list....
1. continue to search for a small green and white porcelain lamp for tall dresser
2. finish sorting through "junk" that was in our bedroom
3. order fabric for chair
4. finish hanging pictures and mirror
5. help D with his mile long "honey do" list

I have thoroughly enjoyed visiting all of the other talented participants
in the One Room Challenge Linking Party.
If I am totally honest with y'all,
I feel slightly inadequate as I am not DIYing anything on my own ORC project.
I am AMAZED to see all of the skill and talent out there in blogland!
The wallpapering, painting, demolition, re-finishing of floors, the list goes on....
I am truly impressed with all of the talent displayed!
I really would have loved to tackle some DIY projects...
I used to do them all of the time when I was a stay-at-home mom.
Realistically, however, now is not a time in my life where it would be sensible
to try and add any DIY projects to my schedule....
just adding a dentist appointment to my schedule can throw me for a loop right now!
Some day I will have the time to take on DIY projects,
and I know I will miss these crazy busy days when I don't know which end is up!

Just keeping it real y'all.....

One Room Challenge Week Three

It's week three of Linda's One Room Challenge 

and I am making great progress with my own ORC!

My painter came and did a FABULOUS job of patching the "painted over wallpaper" walls!

 

This is just a fraction of the amount of patching he did....

but you can NOT tell that he painted over the "painted over wallpaper"...the walls are perfect!

I cannot tell you how THRILLED I am with my paint color!!!!

Benjamin Moore Papaya

(it's not as dark as it looks in this picture)

This is a little more accurate and shows the contrast with the crown moulding.

The hardest part of the ORC for me so far has been this....

Moving into Caroline's room while my room was being painted.

I cannot stand living in clutter and having everything out of sorts!

I moved most of the "junk" out of my room and into hers.

Yes that is the infamous ceiling fan from our bedroom on her floor...

I am ready to surrender....the fan is staying.....sadly.

Once the painting was finished, 

I only moved back into our room what is staying in the room.

That left a lot of this...

Here is a pile of "junk" in our master bathroom that must find a new home,

because I am not going to clutter our new room!

I have also been playing musical furniture...

Here is my desk...it was in our bedroom,

but it's finding a new home on our third floor and has been sitting at the end of the hallway 

waiting for my boys to come home and move it.

I NEED to get all of this stuff sorted and put away what I'm keeping

and make a trip to Goodwill with everything else....

our bedroom really had become a dumping ground,

and I will have none of that now!

This past week I also did a little shopping....

New blinds, new outlet covers, and new light switches...

I moved back into our room but there aren't any blinds on the windows

since I took the old ones down before the painter came.

D won't be home for another week and a half,

so I may have to hang them myself...not my specialty but I think I can manage.

I've also been shopping for a few new accessories....

LOVE this lattice cachet pot I found at a consignment shop

and the topiary from my favorite HomeGoods!

I'm having a custom bed skirt and shams made in the Thibaut fabric,

and I've been looking for a coverlet and Euro shams in a white trellis print.

One Kings Lane had a beautiful basket weave coverlet and shams,

and they are on their way to me!

Here is the pattern up close...I ordered white and it should be here early next week!

Here is a reminder of my inspiration board....

Here is what's on my to do list for the next week...

1. shop for a green and white porcelain lamp

2. shop for botanical prints for above our bed

3. shop my house for crystal and silver accessories 

4. make honey do list for D

5. shop for an arm chair

6. shop for night stands

7. find new homes for the piles of "junk" that came out of the bedroom

Anyone have a good source for small porcelain lamps (I want a green and white one that is about 18"tall)?

Or a good source for botanical prints (similar to the ones on my inspiration board)?

Looks like it will be a week of shopping for me!

I'm so happy with the progress,

and I'm even happier with the colors and fabrics I selected!

Please remember to check out all of the fabulous ORC participants at Calling It Home,

and of course check out the ORC linking party!

One Room Challenge Week Two

It's week two of Linda's One Room Challenge Linking Party!

Click here to see week one....

A funny story....

My sweet husband follows my blog and while he knew I was doing the ORC

and decorating our bedroom,

he did not really know about any of my plans.

Well after my ORC post last week,

D confessed that he read my ORC challenge post and was a little worried.

In fact, he didn't READ the post, he looked at the photos,

and thought that the BEFORE pictures with the previous owner's furniture

was what I had decorated our room to be!

He was very worried....until he READ what I wrote and realized what he was looking at!

Now that he knows what I am doing, he loves it!

LOL!

So...I have made it over my biggest hurdle in this challenge

(if you don't count selecting my fabric)

which is selecting my paint color!

I had a horrible time picking a paint color for my first ORC

and was afraid it would not go well this time around....

I decided on a beige wall color...and there are a MILLION shades of beige.

I looked at several different brands, but ended up with my old standby, Benjamin Moore.

Here was my first go around...

These colors look the same in the photograph, 

but they are Benjamin Moore Palace White and Indian White.

Fortunately they had the giant paint square samples....and I did not like them.

They look much darker in this photograph than they are in person,

and they were too blah....and too light.

I scoured Pintrest and Houzz looking at beige rooms

and reading articles about the top ten beige colors that interior designers use,

and then it was back to the paint store...

 And we have a winner!

 Benjamin Moore Papaya!

Here it is with my fabric...the color is not very accurate though!

 The color is actually much softer than this and my fabric is not brown.

While I love to paint and am pretty good at it, 

I know my limits and I truly don't have the time to paint my bedroom myself right now.

I have a fabulous painter who has painted several rooms in our home, 

and he is going to paint for me!

He inspected the walls and while he could strip the painted over wallpaper prior to painting,

he promised me that if he repaired the walls instead of stripping them,

I would not be able to tell the difference and I would save A LOT of money.

I am all about saving money.

He starts painting this week!

Next on my list was to find trim for my window treatments.

I decided on a board mounted balloon valance with tassel trim...

so I went searching and found the PERFECT thing.....

I LOVE this trim!!!!

Is it not PERFECT?????

Well it is $259 a yard...and I need seven yards....NOT happening.

Clearly I have fabulous taste, don't I?

It is a Scalamandre trim...the color was perfect,

but clearly WAY out of my price range.

As the woman at the decorating shop said...

"No one ever walks into a room and says "OMG that trims is to die for" so why break the bank on it?"

I found something very similar for MUCH less!

I am so relieved to have the paint color selected and to have the trim for the windows.

The woman who is doing my custom bedding and window treatments picked up the fabric today

and they should be done by the first part of May!!!

I feel like I'm making good progress.

Here's what is on my to do list this next week...

1. purchase new room darkening pleated shades and install

2. find a white coverlet in a lattice pattern for bed

3. shop for accessories

4. purchase new outlets and covers and new light switch and cover

5. continue search for nighstands

6. move "junk" out of the room

7. work on convincing D that we don't need a ceiling fan in our bedroom.

Don't forget to visit Linda at Calling It Home

to see her fabulous ORC participants!!!

and of course check out everyone else who is linking to the ORC!

One Room Challenge Week One

So excited to be linking up with Linda, from one of my favorite blogs, Calling It Home,

for another one of her One Room Challenge Linking Parties!

This is my second time to participate and this spring I am taking on our master bedroom!

I have literally not done ONE THING to our master bedroom since we moved in,

other than to take down the nasty window treatments that the previous owners left.

Here is what the room looked like when we bought our home (with the previous owner's furniture)...

It is currently painted gray....

I might add that it is PAINTED OVER WALLPAPER gray...

and the woodwork and crown molding has wallpaper paste stains all over.

There are 20 year old mini-blinds on the windows 

and the ceiling has a giant mark on it where I threw a magazine to kill a bug...

yes...I HATE bugs....and the newsprint left a lovely smear where the magazine hit.

So here is what it has looked like since we moved it...

Except for our new bed, the room is exactly as it was when we moved in.

I have a few challenges with this room...

1. I have too many pieces of dark wood furniture for the size of the room.

2. Although I have two windows, this room never gets direct sunlight and is very dark all day.

3. My desk, computer, and printer really "junk" up the space...my room doubles as my office.
4. The walls are in very bad shape...painted over wallpaper...need I say more?

4. We have a ceiling fan.

I've been working on all of the other rooms in our home and have literally left this one untouched...

until now!

As soon as I found out Linda was doing a ORC in the spring, I started brainstorming.

I spent hours and hours trying to decided what direction to take our bedroom

because I knew I could easily use the entire six weeks just trying to make up my mind

about colors and fabrics.

Check out my post here to see where I originally thought I would go with it.

Then I got on the blue and white bandwagon...I LOVE blue and white!

I could have been very happy with a blue and white bedroom, 

but I already have a lot of blue in my home and it is really not totally "me" like pink and green is.

That being said, I was not going to subject D to a pink and green master bedroom

so for a while I was looking at doing something bright and floral but not too "girly."

Then I did a post on Laura Ashley and it brought me back to an old love....

Laura Ashley fabric in Winter Lilly

And I remembered that at one time I had wanted to decorate my room in this fabric.

It's cool and calming, as well as classic and refined looking.

Exactly the feeling I wanted for our bedroom.

I started looking for inspiration rooms....I was looking for green and creamy white bedrooms.

Here are a few that struck my fancy...

source

 source

source

I was not sure I wanted green walls, 

but I like the idea of the cream and green so I started to scour my favorite fabric stores,

looking for the perfect fabric to use as my jumping off point.

I love the Thibaut fabrics and wallpapers, and they came through for me once again...

I fell in love with this print immediately, and knew it was "the one"

"Hydrangea" by Thibaut in the color Beige

It has a light beige background with white and cream hydrangeas,

and I love the shades of green in the foilage.

Here is a close up photo with a little more accurate depiction of the colors.

My next step was to create a mood board...

this is the FIRST mood board I have ever made...I used Photoshop Elements!

Not too bad if I say so myself....still have a lot to learn though!

I included the furniture and accessories I already have

and blended it with the furniture and accessories I hope to add.

So....down to business.

Here's my plan:

1. Repair walls, paint bedroom, trim, and ceiling

2. New blinds

3. New window treatments

4. New bedding

5. New nightstands

6. Accessorize with new art work, toparies, and green and white porcelian

7. Declutter the room

8. New register covers, light switches, and electrical outlets

9. Rearrange or remove some of the furniture.

10. Negotiate with D to get rid of the ceiling fan....not sure that will go over well...lol!

11. Stick to my budget....and I AM on a budget.

My first order of business is to select a paint color....that is what I will be working on for the next week!

Please be sure to visit Calling It Home to see Linda's fabulous ORC participates

Abby M. Interiors 

Because it’s Awesome 

Bijou & Boheme 

Calling It Home 

Chez V 

Chinoiserie Chic 

Copy Cat Chic 

The Decorista 

Design Crisis 

Design Indulgence 

Design Manifest 

The English Room

The Glam Pad 

Little Black Door 

Mimosa Lane 

My Notting Hill 

The Pink Pagoda 

Simple Details 

My Sweet Savannah 

Verandah House

as well as all of those who are linking!