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 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!

Master Bedroom Progress

Well...this post sounds a bit misleading because the progress I have made on my

master bedroom is so small that it is barely progress,

but it is EXCITING for me!

 

Here is before....

 

 

And here is after!!!

Clearly I need a new bed skirt...LOL.

I love the carved detail!

In the background is the new gold mirror I took from my powder room...

I couldn't make it work in there and I love having it in my bedroom!

 

I posted about being sensible here when I gave up those

Lilly Pulitzer chairs that were to die for.

Well....by being sensible...and with a lot of luck,

I was able to score this beautiful solid mahogany four poster rice bed!

I first spotted it at one of my favorite consignments here in RVA back in June.

I watched and waited through the three markdowns and when it still didn't sell,

I asked the shop owner to ask the seller how low she would go on the price.

The price was right!

SO glad I passed up the chairs to buy my bed!

 

Here is the inspiration for my master bedroom...

 

And a few more that I love...

 

I also love love love this one!

 

Love this one too! I want matching chests similar to the ones in this picture.

 

 
Lovely

 So....I have my beautiful bed!

Now I just have to select fabric and trimmings, paint, and choose window treatments.

I want to get matching bachelor chests on either side of the bed,

and then dress the room up with lamps and accessories.

Progress?

Well...it's a baby step!

 

Luxury Linens

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am eager to decorate my dark and gloomy bedroom. I would love something calming and tranquil...not sure any room in my home can be calm and tranquil in a house of eight children, but I can dream...

LOVE this room but am thinking it's a little too pink for my husband....

Warm and cozy....from my Beautiful Bedrooms Pintrest Page



I am currently "crushing", as my daughters would say, over the monogrammed bed linens at Leontine Linens. I would LOVE to have a set on my bed, but realistically, the coverlet would remain white for about five seconds...my bed is the kids' favorite place to lounge when I am in my room working.

I have read many reviews about their linens, and the reviews say that they wash really well. Still, I can't have bedding on my bed that will cause me to have a stroke if my husband drips coffee on it in the morning or my kids get pen on it when they are hanging out doing homework. The other issue is the price...these would definitely be "investment bed linens" as I would practically have to take out a home equity loan to purchase an entire set.

So...I can dream....



All of the bed linens above are Leontine and are custom...you can choose your color, font, and style.

 In addition to the bed linens, they make adorable accessories, towels, and rugs...

 

I came across this robe that screams "ME"...pink and green!

Here are just a few of the monogram fonts that Leontine offers...

 



 

 

And here are some other luxury linens from Matouk...

 

 

 

Do you love monogrammed bed linens?