It's here! D-Day! And before I get too far down the road of orating my journey, I want to give special thanks to my Mom for being my trusty, faithful, fearless and energizing companion on this challenge. She is always doing the brunt of the work, in typical mom fashion, and I don't know what I'd do without her. I couldn't be happier that the reveal is happening today, because I am so caught up in the spirit of the Olympics and this only fans the flame! There were times when I lacked direction for my One Room Challenge and there were times I was so excited about what we were going to do that I could barely sleep at night - visions of fabrics danced in my head. But overall, this was one of the more rewarding experiences I've ever had, because it was just the kick in the pants I needed to get my bedroom done. I really loved doing this! And to check out our progress through the six weeks, you can see our posts below. I'm already dreaming of what room I can do next!
Let's start at the beginning. I dreamed of textiles and patterns and neutrals and pops of color and got so overwhelmed with ideas that I could barely contain them. I settled on something along these lines:
The only real snaffus we ran into were with paint and the rug.
The first order of business was putting some color over the builders-grade antique white on the walls. After many years and new owners, my home wanted to freshen up! I decided on White Winged Dove by Ben and Mom and I slapped it up on the walls the first time. I also painted the ceiling a rich gray-brown color called Smoked Oyster (also by Ben).
Yep, you caught that, I did say first time. After the ceiling and the walls were gussied up, the White Winged Dove became SUPER lilac and I just couldn't deal with the prepubescent walls my room was sporting. The ceiling color was the culprit, as it was making my walls take on a purple hue, so we made a quick change-up last minute and painted the walls Dove Wing (also by Ben). Once that was up on the walls, we instantly breathed a sigh of relief. It changed the entire dynamic of the room and we were back on track.
Here is my room before.
And here is my new bedroom!
A collection of photos in some bone frames I've been holding onto for a while of my Grandmother, my Mother and myself (middle) all aboard white horses.
The most important accessory - Wilma Applesauce Brower.
We decided to bring the ceiling paint down, onto the walls to create an illusion for your eye. I'd love to add crown molding one day, but in the meantime, this is a fun alternative. Initially we had some stair-steps painted in each corner with the wall color to give the illusion of a canopy overhead, but my eyes kept twitching when I looked at it, so we filled them in just a few days ago.
Mom and I made the headboard a few months back, wanting to add some scale to the room. We used a tablecloth I bought on OKL and Scotchguarded it to resist stains. I love leaning back on it to read. One day, I'll make a slipcover to go over it when I tired of this pattern, but for now, I'm very happy with it.
I found an awesome curtain panel at World Market that looked so much like the rattan swirls in my ceiling light, so I bought it without a purpose in mind. Luckily, my upholsterer is amazing and whipped it up into a light and airy roman shade. He also took some fabulous coral velvet that I bought and made custom panels for my window. I love how sheer the roman shade is, it lets the most fabulous light in in the morning.
As we tried in vain to document the new room yesterday afternoon, the light changed on us a million times and the weather went from overcast to stormy back to sunny. If you can look past the bad lighting in the pics, you'll see all the elements we added and blogged about along the way.
Recognize these? My old salvage-yard corbels made their debut as a shelf, thanks to the help and patience of my Mom, Bro and Hubs!
I switched out my black glam shades in favor of some neutral burlap shades and added some dip-dyed silk ribbon that matched the shades of my ceiling and my curtains.
See this bolster? It used to be a scarf that my Mom had in the 70's. I've always loved it, so when she was merging and purging her closet, I snatched it up and had my upholsterer make it into a pillow.
And the lamp here is my Grandmother's Waterford crystal lamp that I hold near and dear. I could never find a matching one, but I did find another Waterford lamp (on the left) with the same shape so at least it has a friend.
Mom and I were crazy for Coco Puffs over this light. I bought it a year ago and kinda thought it might end up in my room but couldn't quite commit to a hanging swag pendant. I finally took it to the lampery and had it hardwired and put up on the ceiling. Wilma barked at it for three days and we still catch her giving it the skank-eye from time to time.
I decided against the zebra cowhide in favor of a large rug that would cover my craptastic carpet in the bedroom. The rug gave me such a headache but I'm so glad it arrived in time. From being back ordered until the end of August to showing up on my doorstep a week later, I was ready to return it and get the zebra hide instead. In hindsight, I still covet the zebra cowhide but this faux Beni really works well and we love putting our feet on it first thing in the morning!
Mom did a fabulous job recovering an old ottoman that Wilma uses to shimmy up onto the bed with this brown and white Quadrille fabric I found on eBay for a steal.
And she does say-so herself.
One more time. Before:
And after:
Thank you so much to many of the loyal bloggers who tuned in every week to watch our progress. Your kind words and e-mails of support and encouragement meant so much. I found a lovely group of friends who supported each other and in turn, helped each other dream big and for that, I'm very grateful. A very hearty thanks to Linda for orchestrating this whole thing, I had such a great time and hope to be invited back for a future challenge! And before you go, please check out the rest of the field's One Room Challenge reveals:
Lisa - Trapped in North Jersey
-Bethany
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Nancy and Bethany
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