One Room Challenge Spring 2018 - Week 4

Dare I say that week 4 means we are in the home stretch? Eek! That's a scary thought - but considering we have to have photography done before the week 6 reveal, it really means time is ticking. I'm starting to feel like I'm on one of those cheesy HGTV shows that make everything seem panicky to reach the deadline but it's honestly truth! Our big accomplishment yesterday and today is that the built-in is being installed as we speak:

Dynasty Kitchen is doing a fantastic job for us (and on such a tight timeline!), the trim and details on these units & that perfect little side shelf are making the details come together so beautifully. These photos don't do any of it justice as they are literally covered in dust and unfinished, but it's going to make the final reveal images that much more stunning.

I am loving more and more how the Stroheim grasscloth is looking with the navy blue against it, it totally warms up the space. Similar to this photo I found below and in fact Tonic Living is creating a gorgeous roman shade with navy banding.

And oh the lighting!! This perfect bed-side swing arm lamp from Lamps Plus is the stuff design dreams are made of - it's traditional and chic and it's PLUG in - I don't have to call the electrician!

In addition to this we will layer the lighting with a table lamp from Couture Lamps, and we've got some other fab accessories for those navy built-in shelves like the pile of Britannica's I bought off Craigslist ($33 for 33 volumes!) and the coral bookends:

More to come soon! Peek over at my Instastories when you have a chance and I'll be sure to show you the built-in when it's complete. Then it's time to set up the rug, bed, and artwork!! Be sure to hop by to see all the fabulous designs of the other 19 ORC designers. And thank you for your comments and for taking this journey with me :)

Apartment 34 | Beginning in the Middle | Coco & Jack | The English Room | The Gold Hive

Gray Malin | Jenna Sue Design | Jojotastic | Kelly Rogers Int. | Linda Holt | Marcus Design

Michelle Gage | Natasha Habermann | The Painted House | Rambling Renovators

Sacramento Street | Shannon Claire | Sketch 42 | Stephanie Kraus | Bisou Style

Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by ORC

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One Room Challenge Spring 2018 - Week 3

Ummm, I'm not sure that I'm loving how quickly I seem to be having to create my weekly posts here ... the One Room Challenge is flying by and we've got a lot left on our plates to say the least!

What have we been up to since last week? Well at least I can say we made a few decent strides:

room is officially completely emptied of everything

sanding and painting the trim is DONE! (door and closets still need blue paint)

wallpaper is INSTALLED!

built-in cabinetry is booked to be installed later this month

all decor items have been ordered and many have begun to arrive

Here is some  photographic evidence of all of the above 'to-do's' from the last week in action:

Poor hubby went hard-core on painting that lovely inky blue trim, it takes MANY coats to get that kind of deep jewel-toned color. I helped with the taping, I swear :)

Our glorious Stroheim grasscloth wallpaper from Fabricut arrived and it's even better in person. I always knew I was drawn to texture, but this is literally like a slice of heaven! Hot off the press, we just had it installed yesterday! If you are ever unsure if this whole 6 week challenge is real .... everything you see is being done in real-time and nothing was prepared or completed prior to the 6 weeks. I think we deserve gold medals at the end, bonus points if you're also pregnant ;)

Yesterday's wallpaper install helper #1 (little Marky getting excited about his new room), and helper #2 (furry friend Yoki if you can spot her)!

The combination of the navy on the Metrie trim and grasscloth is even better than I imagined it would be. Paint still is getting some touch-ups, but look at that glossy finish against the rough natural fibers!

I've also switched things up a bit with the plans for our bed, I ended up finding a vintage 1930's bed with spindle posts that I fell in love with. And every room needs something old with soul right?

With a few tweaks to the moodboard, here's a reminder of what's happening with the decor of the space (now with the addition of the 1930's spindle bed and the BM Symphony Blue color):

Artwork, Gray Malin | Asana Natural grasscloth, Stroheim | Symphony Blue, Benjamin Moore | Pair of Swing-arm lamps, Lamps Plus | Vintage bed, Craigslist find | Ticking Stripe Rug, Bellacor | Coral bookends, Couture Lamps | Les Touches pillow, Arianna Belle | Table lamp, Couture Lamps | Veranda planter pot, Jill Rosendwald | Egg cabinet knob, Emtek | Roman blinds, Tonic Living

Now that we have much of the framework of the room, I'll focus on all of the gorgeous decorative goodies next week! And as always, don't forget that if you love watching makeovers in real time, you can visit the other fantastic designers on this challenge.

Apartment 34 | Beginning in the Middle | Coco & Jack | The English Room | The Gold Hive

Gray Malin | Jenna Sue Design | Jojotastic | Kelly Rogers Int. | Linda Holt | Marcus Design

Michelle Gage | Natasha Habermann | The Painted House | Rambling Renovators

Sacramento Street | Shannon Claire | Sketch 42 | Stephanie Kraus | Bisou Style

Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by ORC

Eek! We are officially half way through, wish me luck!

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One Room Challenge Spring 2018 - Week 2

It's week 2 of 6! I'm feeling decently high levels of anxiety to be honest ... not much has physically happened in the space yet BUT we have got all of our planning/ordering complete. So I've got less than 4 weeks to make it all happen, considering that photography has to happen several days before the official reveal day. Eek!

Come visit me on instagram all throughout the week and I will show you the current state of the room as it stands and all the goodies that are arriving in the mail, so far:

• we have taken out the bed and shelf, and have almost completely emptied the space of everything (gotta put that IKEA shelf on Craigslist next!)
• sanding and painting the trim is about to begin in the next couple of days
• wallpaper install is booked for early next week
• built-in cabinetry has been planned and install is booked for later this month

So a brief reminder of what this space looked like when we purchased the house:

And in it's current state minus the furniture/junk, it's a totally blank canvas. So looking at this particular wall, I wanted to use today's post to explain my plans for the built-ins! I really wanted this room to be a space that grows up with little Marcus and gives him storage and workspace. And every kid wants a window seat right? So here's the plan:

Looking at the image of the space above, and the drawing below, from left to right we are planning a desktop, a unit with open display shelves on top and cupboards on the bottom for hidden storage, and then a window seat all the way to the right side of the wall. We are so excited to have hired a five-star local family-owned Canadian company called Dynasty Kitchen to put this plan into action for us, as they make all of their products in-house and allowed us to select our own paint color for the unit (sketch below provided by Dynasty Kitchen).

Our transitional-style Metrie crown will be brought to wrap all the way on the front of the built-in, and everything will be painted in a luscious Benjamin Moore Symphony Blue (yep, I already changed my mind from last week's paint color selection).

Oh and the hardware! We can't forget about the hardware :) These Emtek egg cabinet knobs in French Antique finish are going to be the perfect finishing touch, I LOVE navy with warm brass tones. 

And then of course I get to do the fun part like zhushing with fabrics, art, books (I bought a 33-volume set of Britannica encyclopedias off Craigslist this week - $33 and in mint condition), and a lovely roman shade from Tonic Living (my moodboard from last week in case you missed):

Artwork, Gray Malin | Asana Natural grasscloth, Stroheim | Gentleman's Gray, Benjamin Moore | Swing-arm lamps, Lamps Plus | Navy Linen twin bed, Bellacor | Ticking Stripe Rug, Bellacor | Coral bookends, Couture Lamps | Les Touches pillow, Arianna Belle | Table lamp, Couture Lamps | Veranda planter pot, Jill Rosendwald | Egg cabinet knob, Emtek | Roman blinds, Tonic Living

And I think I'm going to let the cat out of the bag and show you my plans for a pop of color against the navy blue and natural grasscloth wallcovering, I got this sneak peek from the talented Arianna Belle yesterday of a combo she designed to help me make that color pop stand out:

Yes! Red will be scattered throughout and used in several fabric combos. 

Thank you for all of your lovely comments and suggestions on last weeks post, I read and am definitely considering the advice in each comment you guys left for me! Please hop back to see the continued choices and progress we make by next week, and please visit the other 19 talented folk on this 6 week journey with me:

Apartment 34 | Beginning in the Middle | Coco & Jack | The English Room | The Gold Hive | Gray Malin | Jenna Sue Design | Jojotastic | Kelly Rogers Int. | Linda Holt | Marcus Design | Michelle Gage | Natasha Habermann | The Painted House | Rambling Renovators | Sacramento Street | Shannon Claire | Sketch 42 | Stephanie Kraus | Style Me Pretty Living

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One Room Challenge Spring 2018 - Week 1

*This is a request to have Wayback remove this blog from the archives. Thank you kindly!

When you read the title of this post, be honest, did you think to yourself 'she's crazy'? Because you just might be right! Apparently I've got myself into another grueling 6 week One Room Challenge, but in all honesty I'm beyond honored to have been chosen as one of the 20 featured designers for the second time. What an anxiety-inducing, thrilling, and rewarding process this ORC game is! If you are new here, welcome, I'm Nancy and I'm so happy you are here. I'm a 30-something biology college prof whose been blogging her way through most of her 'adult' life. Since 2010 I've been exploring my passion for design, with my first home reno, and now my second home. You can view my past ORC guest participant nursery here, breakfast nook here, and my featured designer bathroom here.

Now the next question you are likely asking is, what room is she doing this time? Well, it turns out it's already time to create a big boy room for our 2 year old son Marky. It literally feels like just yesterday we finished the nursery. And before you think to yourself, aw boring, she's just re-doing a room she's already decorated ... nope! We are starting from scratch with an all-new bedroom that hasn't been touched as far as decorating goes (it's currently a dumping ground). Why, you ask? Well, as it turns out we have one other little project going on .... poor Marky will be evicted from his current nursery come September 2018 ... to make way for BABY #2 :)

So let me quickly take you back, way back to what the Real Estate photos of the room looked like approximately 3 years ago when we bought this home. Pretty plain-Jane with the 1980's carpet and blue blinds, a chair rail and nothing much going on.

There was an overall pink undertone in the space and I'm going to go ahead and blame that on the dusty rose carpet. Also note the light fixture and the popcorn ceiling, both of which we have already addressed before we moved in:

So if you look at the current state of the room, we've smoothed out the ceiling, replaced the tiny crown and baseboard, and of course that flooring is long gone:

I'm showing you all my mess in here, which is a bit embarrassing, but I'm hoping it'll make for even better before & after comparison's in the end!

I'd say we definitely have a clean and blank slate, let the decorating begin! And I'm nervous but ready to dig in. Here's a mood board to start us off and give you an idea of the direction I'll be going in:

Artwork, Gray Malin | Asana Natural grasscloth, Stroheim | Gentleman's Gray, Benjamin Moore | Swing-arm lamps, Lamps Plus | Navy Linen twin bed, Bellacor | Ticking Stripe Rug, Bellacor | Coral bookends, Couture Lamps | Les Touches pillow, Arianna Belle | Table lamp, Couture Lamps | Veranda planter pot, Jill Rosendwald | Egg cabinet knob, Emtek | Roman blinds, Tonic Living

I'm hoping for a handsome and grown up feel that won't quickly lose it's charm. I'm going for a classic blue and white palette but will plan to add some unexpected doses of color here and there throughout the room as well. I'm going to add a Company C striped rug from Bellacor to emulate this. I'll also be adding some wood furnishings to warm up the space. And take a look at that stunning addition of the Les Touches fabric combined with the monogram on the bed below, that's definitely the pattern pop I will be adding from Arianna Belle's shop!

And the major warmth factor, the grasscloth! Stroheim's natural grasscloth's are to die for and this might very well be my favorite element in the room. I've selected the Asana Natural wallcovering which is light and bright but brings the perfect dose of texture to the space.

We are planning a built-in with a window seat, more to come on that front next week. We'll be selecting Benjamin Moore's Gentleman's Gray for an inky blue feel and painting all the Metrie trim in the space the same color.

Come back to visit me every Wednesday for the next 5 weeks to see how I'm progressing! And please go visit all of these other beautiful and talented people to see what this Spring 2018 ORC will be all about. I've got all links listed just below. A huge thank you to Linda Weinstein, the creator and organizer of everything you see here, all of the fantastic sponsors as well as media partner House Beautiful, one of my all-time favorite glossies to turn to for inspiration. Here we go!

Apartment 34 | Beginning in the Middle | Coco & Jack | The English Room | The Gold Hive |Gray Malin | Jenna Sue Design | Jojotastic | Kelly Rogers Int. | Linda Holt | Marcus Design | Michelle Gage | Natasha Habermann | The Painted House | Rambling Renovators | Sacramento Street | Shannon Claire | Sketch 42 | Stephanie Kraus | Style Me Pretty Living

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