I was so excited to join the other guest designers on this designing journey. I love a challenge!! It felt like it wasn't going to get finished but after a lot of late nights and no days off...I finished!!! I want to thank my daughter Gabi for being here every step of the way, my husband for being patient while I worked endless days and all of you for your encouragement and support. Check out all the other designers here
Before the reveal I want to share a little back story to the project....
Why I chose the style for the bonus room and adjoining guest bedroom. My husband and I just finished a renovation on our main floor just a few months ago in a Modern Traditional aesthetic that included a Modern English Butlers Pantry. I originally decided to do the One Room Challenge in a decor combination of Chinoiserie/Traditional/Modern theme.... because I thought it would add color but not too much color....but it just wasn't working for me.
I have to say I spent a lot of sleepless nights on this project. Well I do on all of my projects but this one especially. Mainly because of fear. Fear that my design would cause people to think that this is the only style that I do. Even though I just did a Modern Traditional aesthetic on our main floor and that I have done Modern Farmhouse, Traditional, Mid- Century Modern, Industrial and more for clients.
You see I was in the restaurant business for over 20 years. I created and designed several and two were very funky in design.. For a long time I feel like everyone thought that is all I could do. It was really way out there...lol ( I'll share all that another day). I thought if I do this space in lots of color it would take me back to that time that I felt stuck in what others thought.
So I let go of the fear and just let my creative juices flow....literally adding to the design as things would come into my mind. It was a very fun project.
LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT WHERE I STARTED!!
The Bonus Room
The Bonus room has served as an overflow room for the kids to watch TV and play video games. It had carpet, have I told you I hate carpet??!! I never had any desire to go upstairs to hang out. I just kept putting off decorating that space it wasn't high on my priority list of changes we are making to our home but The One Room Challenge came along. I knew it would be a challenge( haha) but I needed the push and committing to the ORC Blog, Better Homes and Gardens and the fellow designers that were participating was just what I needed to get this space pulled together.
It was terrible!! The bonus room had beige carpet, beige walls, white ceilings, fluorescent lighting
(ugh... design disaster). The guest bedroom had the same dreadful carpet, brown walls, white ceiling fan and outdated window shades.
NOW TO THE REVEAL!!!
The final design included a mixture of new, antique, found, collected, and I repurposed as many things as possible....and LOTS OF ART AND COLOR!!! I wanted this to be a space that the kids would love and that us adults would enjoy as well. I can see Andy and I up there hanging out with friends. It is that cool!!!
The sofa slip covers started with yellow color and I dyed them with Indigo, see how I did it here. I then did a reverse tye dye by adding bleach ( I will do a post soon for the DIY)
The blue velvet chairs were originally my husbands grandparents that I had recovered a few years ago. They are a perfect fit for the space.
The slanted ceiling made the room feel small so I chose a whimsical wallpaper and it made it feel larger check it out Daydream( black) by Hygge & West
After installing and painting the new plywood plank flooring, I needed to ground the room with layered rugs. I used for bottom rug an antique jewel tone Persian rug. I added the faux fur rug from Amazon to add softness on the piggies.
The coffee table is soooo cool! I have a friend that has an antique store and she had this tucked away in her treasure trove. It is a Mid-Century Modern Lane Acclaim surf board coffee table. If it was refinished it would cost $800-$900 but this one was painted and hideous. I slapped on a little Sherwin Williams Very Berry paint and Voila!!!
I initially had Mid-Century Modern lighting installed but after doing the Tetras'esque art on the small center piece of ceiling I had to change it. These Victorian semi-flush mount chandeliers had been in my storage for years. It adds a nice traditional touch with the some of the modern artsy style n the room.
Now for the Outsider Art...that is what it is called if the artist is not formally trained.
I had an old oil painting that I have had for years stored away and nowhere to use it. It had a perfectly good gold frame and the canvas was perfect. This would have cost close to $400 if I had to buy canvas and have it professionally framed. How much did it cost me??? Only my time to paint. I wanted to do a little spin on Rose' All Day. I love it!! It is for sure outsider art but it adds color, whimsy and it cost me nothing.
The three paintings of girls was done by my daughter Gabi in 2008, at the time she was 13. The one with the two girls is a self portrait with her sister Sarah. Sarah at that time had dread locks and I love how Gabi was able to paint them in the painting.
Such a Sweet girl. The other two girls are "just something she thought up," she said.
The BIG PINK CANVASES are what they are... BIG PINK PAINTED CANVASES. I intended on doing something fun for them but ran out of time. I will do something on them soon....but for now they serve the purpose of covering up the Televisions!! We installed a Samsung Frame TV on our main floor because in a living space TV's can be an eye sore. This was a quick and inexpensive fix for the bonus room.
Now onto the guest bedroom!!!
Let's take a look at the before...
THE REVEAL!!!
I love texture and layers of it!!! The walls were oddly shaped...the ceiling on one side had a slant from the roof line. The wallpaper in the bonus room was tough on the slanted ceiling so I opted to paint a wallpaper look.
More painting!!! Thank goodness I love to paint and so does Gabi, because we did a lot ....lol! The bed frame we painted in Sherwin Williams Sunset glow.
This chair has been in storage for years but now has a home. I removed the old dusty pink velvet upholstery, sanded the wood a bit and painted it with Sherwin Williams Autumn Enchantment. After three coats I added a cheetah print micro-suede to add that little bit of animal print to the room.....
My plan was to paint something on the large white linen roman shade but ran out of time. I'm going to add that to my to-do list.
I wanted to bring some of the Tetras'esque art into the guest bedroom, so I did a 4 x 4 art piece on the wall. I painted it in contrasting pink color. Whopping $75
How about that sweet side table with built in lamp??!!! I painted it in the best black paint ever Tricorn Black. I think everyone these days is using it!! I wanted to showcase the shade. I was twelve when my dad picked it out when we moved into our newly built house. I think it's a nice touch from my past.
If I went through everything I did in this space it would maybe qualify for the longest blog post ever.
I hope you go through the gallery of photos below and enjoy all the bits & baubles and details large and small.
Thank you for following along these 8 weeks and hope you will still come visit from time to time.
Congrats to all of you that finished this One Room Challenge!!!
It is tough to work, take care of family and home and do all the necessary things in life and then throw in a transformation to a space at the same time!! It was lots of fun and I'm already planning my ORC for the Spring!!
All of the photography was done by the very talented Tassi Williams Photography
