ONE ROOM CHALLENGE - WEEKS THREE AND FOUR - ACCESSORIES

A whirlwind trip to Nashville and The Country Living Fair last week meant that I missed the Week Three update of my office redo for the One Room Challenge guest participants.  Weeks One and Two included getting the room cleaned out and painted and working on the feature wall.  I'm still in misery over the fact that I didn't like my feature wall choice and have absolutely no idea which direction to turn!  Going from my blue walls to a pearly gray has completely thrown me off regarding staging photos and working with the wall color.  It's crazy how one small-ish change can create a domino effect of details required to get the perfect photo.  

This was my first trip to Nashville, and I met up with my BFF, Lynda, from Memphis.  A lovely time meeting vendors at the fair and shopping and eating our way through Nashville.  I finally found great food trucks!  I made it to Draper James!  The loveliest boutique you'll ever meet.  As we walked in, I was pretty happy to see a stack of Monograms For the Home on a display table, as some of my work appear in the pages. Lynda reached over to open the book, and the pages fell right open to a CDH applique towel. Could NOT have planned that myself! The sales girls were sweet enough to let me show off the other pages of calicodaisy handmade items.  

I walked away with a little notepad for the desk all wrapped up in lovely DJ paper.  Reese has made beautiful packaging choices.  

Meanwhile, I really have been thinking through the finishes for the office.  I've been collecting accessories for the room and auditioning fabrics from my stash for the bamboo chair seat covers.  What do you think?  Stacked bottom to top are:  Covington's Tuscany in linen, a tropical banana leaf and hibiscus in case I want to go with a pop of color, Stroheim Giselle in Indigo, Thibaut's Haleema (my favorite), and Ralph Lauren Home Antibes Batik. 

So, that's where I am.  My daughter promised to come by this weekend and help me make final decisions.  Monogrammed curtain valances and bamboo shades are up after the seat covers and then the lighting and staging the bookcases.  I see all the beautiful rooms blossoming on the ORC updates, and I feel like mine can hardly compare to the gorgeous finishes going on, BUT, my office is clean and tidy now and will be a lovely spot to greet my visitors.  See you here next week.   

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE – WEEK TWO – THE GOOD AND THE FRUSTRATING

Week Two of the ORC and my studio office makeover has passed with good momentum.  The room is cleared out and the walls are freshly painted Sherwin Williams Snowbound.  Wow!  I haven't had white walls in a room for at least 20 years.  See Week One to check out the blue walls I loved for eight years.  

There have been happy successes – painted room, bamboo blinds purchased, portable backdrop wall found for a deal, valance fabric and style decided, the gorgeous slip cover for the bench sewn. 

There are some frustrations, too – I don't really care for the paint color even after researching my choice for ages before ordering.  There is just a touch of gray to the white, but I feel like the walls look dirty.  My assistant, Lillian, (who sewed that gorgeous pleated cover!) encouraged me to hold out on my concern until we have the place staged, but I long to get on with a crisp white or maybe the creamy Cream Delight shade I have upstairs. 

The fencing backdrop wall is a fail! My cropped photos have the look of being in an old cabin or the backyard.  Not what I expected in the eye of the camera.  The inspiration wall included in my design board is a planked wall painted different hues.  I thought about applying a whitewash or gray wash to the fencing, but I want to go a more refined direction.  After thinking on it for a while, I slipped in a piece of beadboard I have on hand for shoots, and that totally changes the view and works out lovely.  

So, success and frustration but still moving forward. 

My List: 

1.  Paint the walls. 

2.  Create a SECOND portable backdrop wall with the beadboard.  First one failed. 

3.  Bamboo window blinds. 

4.  Monogrammed valences. 

5.  Stage white cabinets. 

6.  Slip cover for bench. 

7.  Skirts for bamboo chairs. 

8.  Decorative rug. 

9.  Lighting. 

10.  Artwork and accessories. 

Next week, I'm headed out to Nashville with a BFF to attend the Spring Country Living Fair.  I may have to double up Weeks Three and Four when I return home as there is loads of work to accomplish before heading out for a week of fun and relaxation.  

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE – WEEK ONE – STUDIO OFFICE MAKEOVER

The One Room Challenge.  This semiannual event belongs to Linda at Calling It Home. A number of interior designers and lifestyle bloggers are invited to participate in a six-week challenge of redecorating one room in a home, and everyone gets to follow along week by week watching the plans come to life.  Along with the invited participants, the rest of us can design our own spaces and show off our progress by linking in as guest participants.  The featured designers post progress on Wednesdays and the linking players post on Thursdays.  This is Week One, and the finale will be May 12, 2016. 

Twice in the past I've been contacted by participants to create items for their styled rooms, shams for House of Pemberley and shams + linens for Andrea's nursery at The Glam Pad.  It makes me so happy to see my work included in such lovely spaces. 

As luck would have it, just when I made the decision to get on with redecorating my studio office, this Spring's ORC begins this week as well.  Not being an interior designer myself, I am a bit wary of the commitment, however, I have been planning this makeover and collecting items for ages and have nearly everything needed.  There is just the hard work to put in and the courage to actually execute the plan. 

The studio office before:   

These photos were taken in 2008 when I thought calicodaisy handmade was going to produce monogrammed aprons and totebags and baby items – way before finding my home decor niche.  Remember when this shade of blue was so popular?  I have loved it and really regret painting it over, but it is time for a fresh modern look, and the gray-tinged white walls will be just right for shooting product photos. I spotted a handmade desk in Country Living magazine in 2008 with galvanized pipes for legs and had my husband make one for me.  A long desk to fit a computer on one end and a design area on the other.  

Three coats in and a make-do shoot in progress!  

Pretty much, I have all the hard furnishings for the room.  I plan to slip cover the sitting chair in white.  Two thrifted bamboo chairs may get skirted seat cushion covers and used for desk chairs.  Bamboo blinds.  Linen monogrammed valences.  The slip covered chair and valences will be my personal challenges for the room.  New adventures in sewing! 

At the top of the post, my design board features the overall goal of the space on the left and a number of design details to create on the right, including a portable backdrop panel for photographing finished products.  Please check back each week to see my progress AND pop by the ORC to check out the featured designers' updates and the linking participants updates.