One Room Challenge Week 6: The Grand Finale, Part 1

Well folks, our room is not fully finished but I'm happy with how Phase 1 turned out.  And as of 1am last night when we got home from the beach, it was not photo-ready, so please excuse any poor lighting or staging.  As a professional, it grates on me that we didn't finish the room as planned.  As a mommy & wife, taking the past week to go on a desperately needed family vacation after weeks of the stomach flu, budget woes, and high levels of stress due to personal circumstances beyond our control, was absolutely more important than finishing the room.  My mantra for this project has become, "it is what it is".  This season's ORC has been an exercise in patience and acceptance, two lessons which I seem to continually need to learn ;)

And now for the before and (mostly) after:


BEFORE

 


AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Pretend not to notice the spots on the ceiling. A little touch-up is still needed :)

I am sooo pleased with our built-ins.  They add so much character to the room & to our home.  This room has odd dimenstions; it is a small square with a bay window on one wall & doorways on two of the walls that limit furniture placement and size.  We now have storage for a bar area, our books, board games, art supplies, and even some serving pieces.  My husband is in trouble, now that I know he has this kind of talent.  His to-do list just got a little bit longer. ;)

BEFORE

AFTER

As for the other changes to the room, I am thrilled with the wall & trim colors, and absolutely adore my homemade abstract art. I feel like they balance the classic/historical feel of the federal mirror, sconces, & lantern.

Phase 2 will take time & money, so it will be a while before the room is truly "finished" (my husband doesn't believe I consider any space in our home to ever be finished; he may be right).  Still on our list to accomplish:

• drapes.  The charcoal linen drapes in the room are a pair I had in storage, & pulled out for a visual reference.  I think a white background with subtle pattern would do better at highlighting the beauty of the bay window, but I haven't found just the right one yet
• antique table & chairs; there's a reason I have a tablecloth on this one & it's not pretty ;)
• custom shades for the sconces.  I'm 99% sure I know what fabric I'm going to use for these, but have yet to bite the bullet since I'm so wishy-washy on my drapery choice
• finish the plate wall with silhouettes of my girls
• move our antique dark wood buffet up from the basement & switch out with the painted one.  No one felt like moving heavy furniture after a stomach bug 
• knobs for the cabinets on the built-ins.  They arrived but didn't quite make it to install
• more pops of blue and green to bring color into the room

A couple last shots of the room:

If you've stuck around for the entirety of this post, thank you.  And I would love it if you'd follow me both here & on Instagram (hcbinteriors); please continue to check in to see our progress on the space.  Big thanks to Linda of Calling It Home for creating this fantastic blogger phenomenon.  This round promoted 20 featured bloggers and over 200 guest particpants, along with House Beautiful magazine as a social media partner.  So impressive!

Also linking up to Thoughts of Home via Laura at decortoadore.net  Thanks Laura for hosting!

One Room Challenge Week 5: Calling "Uncle"

If you're new here, welcome! To my regular readers, thank you for checking back in! We are in the final countdown of the One Room Challenge, a 6 week event hosted by Linda of Calling It Home to makeover one room in your home (or someone else's. With their permission, of course).

We have made some amazing progress in some areas, and not so amazing in others.  After two weeks of the stomach flu making its way through our home, and losing a large amount of my budget to the unexpected expense of a new car, I have finally come to realize that we will not have a complete room next week.  It is what it is, and I am surprisingly okay with it (well, mostly.  There have been a few moments of frustration & one near tantrum, but overall, I'm satisfied with what we've been able to accomplish despite the challenges.)

The bookcases, which I shared last week, received even more attention after my post.  My husband decided he wasn't 100% satisfied with them, so he added more trim and detailing, and I am SO glad he did.  I thought they looked great before, but they truly look professional now.  One coat of primer and two coats of paint later, and they are ready for styling.  We also decided to paint the crown molding to match the bookcases.  I had initially been concerned that painting the molding gray would shorten our already low (8') ceilings, but it looks much more polished now.

Excuse the grainy photo.  Computer issues :)

 Our vintage federal mirror arrived, and I love the character it adds to the room.  I'm trying not to overwhelm the room/walls, so even though I had originally thought about a gallery wall for this space, I'm really happy with the quiet, clean look of the mirror on its own.  Plus, this is the main wall that my girls bang against as they run through the room during their daily races, so the less to be knocked down, the better. :)

We happened to have a picture light laying around in the basement from another project, so we added that above my girls' painting.  It gives the art an extra sense of importance, and my 5 year old thinks it is so neat to be able to turn on the "special" light so it shines on their painting.

Tune in next week to see our "finished" space.  And be sure to check out the other 200+ guest paticipants!