One Room Challenge | FA 2023 | Week 1

Dining Room Makeover – The Continuing Saga

Let’s recap from last season, shall we?

WHAT I GOT DONE

1). What I got done, soft blue-purple (think periwinkle) should add some happiness and calmness to this dining room situation, especially since we’re 5 weeks into this thing and that 180kg “lemon” of a table is weighing about as heavy on my mind as it is the dining room floor! We’ll probably end up having to drill a hole into the floor to stabilize the table.

Anywho, to achieve some instant serenity, I went for Valspar Moonlight Stroll for the wall color and A Stitch in Time for the picture frame moldings.

2). The electrician installed my Mid-century 6-arm bow tie chandelier by @pookylights (With this 1958 Italian Stilnovo Megafono-inspired piece, I couldn’t say no to the angle and swivel of those little double-cone shades!!) He also wired in two sculpted Brutalist style tube wall sconces in matte brass by @light_cookie on @etsyuk (these remind me of bamboo culms, so they fit right in here🎍🎋)

2). The electrician installed my Mid-century 6-arm bow tie chandelier by @pookylights and I spackled up all the holes in the ceiling before painting it a joy-inducing sky blue.

Need some interiors-related inspiration, ideas, networking, and encouragement?

Look no further than THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE, a widely anticipated biannual event — every April and October — the ORC #oneroomchallenge #ORC — where any interiors enthusiast with a blog, Instagram, or TikTok account can join the challenge and link their own room transformations up every week (we’re on WEEK 1 now). Starting Wednesday of each week, we report back and flood the interweb and social media with the latest and greatest news, updates, trials, and tribulations of our room transformations.

So, thank you to Linda Weinstein, the creator/owner of the ORC who started all of this fabulousness, and Apartment Therapy ORC’s official media partner, for the support and holding us accountable!

You can get more info about the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE and how to join, click here.

May 8, 2023October 2, 2023

One Room Challenge | SP 2023 | Week 5

Dining Room Refresh – Picture Frame Molding & Wall Color Change

This week shifted gears from the table and seating iascos and decided to tackle the picture frame molding.

Maybe it was the fact that the marble table arrived in an usable condition OR the fact that I built the banquette seat 1.5 inches too high OR that the wallpaper is on back order with every supplier, but I’ve been stressed WAY OUT and decided to do a 180 on the wall color entirely.

I figure a warm, soft blue-purple (think periwinkle) should add some happiness and calmness to this dining room situation, especially since we’re 5 weeks into this thing and that 180kg “lemon” of a table is weighing about as heavy on my mind as it is the dining room floor! We’ll probably end up having to drill a hole into the floor to stabilize the table.

Anywho, to achieve some instant serenity, I went for Valspar Moonlight Stroll for the wall color and A Stitch in Time for the picture frame moldings.

So, here’s what I was up to this week:

Need some interiors-related inspiration, ideas, networking, and encouragement?

Look no further than THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE, a widely anticipated biannual event — every April and October — the ORC #oneroomchallenge #ORC — where any interiors enthusiast with a blog, Instagram, or TikTok account can join the challenge and link their own room transformations up every week (we’re on WEEK 5 now). Starting Wednesday of each week, we report back and flood the interweb and social media with the latest and greatest news, updates, trials, and tribulations of our room transformations.

So, thank you to Linda Weinstein, the creator/owner of the ORC who started all of this fabulousness, and Apartment Therapy ORC’s official media partner, for the support and holding us accountable!

You can get more info about the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE and how to join, click here.

May 1, 2023May 8, 2023

One Room Challenge | SP 2023 | Week 4

Dining Room Refresh – Bougie Banquette

First time ever building something of this magnitude. (As you may recall, I wanted my very own wavy, fluted dining banquette with storage and seat cushions.)

That’s right, I was pretty damned proud of myself for a hot minute, and, if it wasn’t too high for the table now —YIKES! I didn’t take into account the added height of the bottom and top equates to over an inch — it would’ve turned our pretty damned good!

So, after I deal with this fiasco (i.e., disassembling the banquette, trimming the damned thing down, and reassembling it — AaaArRrRGhH!!!! Damn it all to hell!! — I can focus on the table trouble and this to-do list:

🌴 My Eccentrico, dual-tone marble dining table (sourced from @nue.modern ) arrived completely unusable, so I’m working with a local marble guy work out a solution so the 180kg monster doesn’t tip over and crush legs!

🌴 My decadent Geishas wallpaper by Manuel Canovas that I’m going to wrap around the room is on back order until May 12, so my next project for WEEK 5 it to do the wall paneling up and paint the walls.

🌴 For the wavy, fluted dining banquette, I have to turn that sumptuous mustardy-yellow upholstery fabric into upholstered seat cushions! 😅

🌴 Sew the Roman blinds (made from Tommy Bahama swaying Palms fabric) for the side window

🌴 Hand-paint IKEA Bjursta sideboard

🌴 Fix the baseboards/skirting boards (from when the dog chewed/scratched it up years ago) and repaint the doors

On a lighter note…

What is THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE, you ask?

As a widely anticipated biannual event — every April and October — the ORC #oneroomchallenge #ORC is only THE BEST place for interiors-related inspiration, ideas, networking, and encouragement!

Anyone with a blog, Instagram, or TikTok account can join the challenge by linking their own room transformations up every week. Starting Wednesday of each week, we report back and flood the interweb and social media with the latest and greatest news, updates, trials, and tribulations of our room transformations.

So, thank you to Linda Weinstein, the creator/owner of the ORC who started all of this fabulousness, and Apartment Therapy ORC’s official media partner, for the support and holding us accountable!

You can get more info about the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE and how to join, click here.

April 24, 2023May 8, 2023

One Room Challenge | SP 2023 | Week 3

Dining Room Refresh – Ceiling, Wall Paneling & Table

Here we are, week 3 of the One Room Challenge — knee deep in spackle and sanding dust. After the electrician moved and added some new wiring to replace the old lights (see this post from week 2), the ceiling literally looked like Swiss cheese.

Goggled and masked up, I did A LOT of mixing spackling compound, filling holes, sanding, mixing some more spackling compound, smoothing over uneven areas, sanding some more–then wash, rinse, and repeat for good measure–I’m finally ready to paint the ceiling. To be honest, the dust wasn’t too bad since I attached the vacuum cleaner to my DeWalt orbital hand sander (that little guy has earned his keep over the years!)

In the meantime, while I was waiting for the spackle to dry…

I decided to outline my wall paneling in blue painter’s tape first to get a feel for the layout. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cover all the walls, but after living with it for a couple of days, I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for the gold!

**Here’s me, laser focused (LOL) on getting the tape exactly right**

My Bosch laser level come in REAL handy to keep all the lines straight.

Just as a reminder, this is the decadent Geishas wallpaper by Manuel Canovas that I’m going to wrap around the room, inside those wall panels. It comes in 8 different color ways; naturally, I chose the MOST VIBRANT of the gang — FUCHSIA.

The whole room is going to look something like this…

I was going to leave the grayish-pink (I mixed this color up myself years ago), but now I’m rethinking the whole thing and decided to pick up some peachy-gray and grayish-lavender paint swatches and paint testers, too. (Disregard that purple paint on the wall; it’s too bright and I’m in hot pursuit of something more muted).

**Can you guess which of the above swatches I’m drooling over?**
*(Also, did you notice the bottom pedestal section of my marble table on the bottom of this image?)*

Yes, yes, my Angelo Mangiarotti Eccentrico marble dining table (sourced from @nue.modern ) is here. Why am I not ecstatic, you ask?

Get your popcorn out…

Believe me, I was doing cartwheels for a while. But things went south pretty quickly with this vendor. I won’t go into all the details, because I’m still traumatized and my eye is still twitching from the turmoil that ensued.

Very, very, very long and chaotic story short, sh*t hit the fan in a major way once it arrived: 1) the pedestal is 180 kg and isn’t stable enough to stand erect without being fastened to the floor (so when I invite people over for dinner, I’ll have to tell them to wear steel-toed boots — no bueno); 2) the table top has an actual crack in it, so if someone puts any weight on it, it could break off (another safety hazard); and 3) the delivery people just dropped it off expecting us to erect it. Can you guys believe it?! Sure, we have an extra engine hoist lying around to lift 180kg. C’mon!!! WTAF?!

Umpteen emails, calls, texts back and forth, I finally got my money back and now I’m working with a local marble specialist to help me figure out how to make a functioning table out of it without having to worry about it crushing people’s feet or edges breaking off.

Stay tuned until next week as the table saga unfolds…

On a lighter note…

What is THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE, you ask?

As a widely anticipated biannual event–every April and October — the ORC #oneroomchallenge #ORC is only THE BEST place for interiors-related inspiration, ideas, and encouragement!

Anyone with a blog, Instagram, or TikTok account can join the challenge by linking their own room transformations up during the next 8 weeks. Starting Wednesday of each week, we report back and flood the interweb and social media with the latest and greatest news, updates, trials, and tribulations of our room transformations.

So, thank you to Linda Weinstein, the creator/owner of the ORC who started all of this fabulousness, and Apartment Therapy ORC’s official media partner, for the support and holding us accountable!

You can get more info about the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE and how to join, click here.

April 17, 2023May 1, 2023

One Room Challenge | SP 2023 | Week 2

Dining Room Refresh – Lighting, Chairs & Table

Okay, I won’t keep you in the dark any longer….(C’mon, I had to do it)

We have lights!

Okay, we had lights before…

Now we have THE BEST lights EVAH!

**These are my 3 new BRIGHT IDEAS (I can’t stop with the puns)**

🌴 Mid-century 6-arm bow tie chandelier by @pookylights (With this 1958 Italian Stilnovo Megafono-inspired piece, I couldn’t say no to the angle and swivel of those little double-cone shades!!)

🌴 Two sculpted Brutalist style tube wall sconces in matte brass by @light_cookie on @etsyuk (these remind me of bamboo culms, so they fit right in here🎍🎋)

🌴 Made.com Adrianne 3-Cluster Diner Pendant Light in Pink, Burgundy, Yellow Glass & Brass. (NOTE: I bought this light before Made went bankrupt last year and Next bought them out, so here’s a link for the exact same lights that I found on eBay).

***These sexy bitches sure know how to light up a room when they enter!***

Just for reference…

Are you sitting down for this next one?

🌴 My 1980s vintage Danish beechwood string dining chairs by Niels Jørgen Haugesen (sourced from @cherisheddesigns.uk on @vinterior ) are more gorge than my wildest imagination! As you may have deduced by the photo on the right, they’ve been squatting here since December 2021, patiently waiting for the rest of the room to level up. #slowdecorating

Oh, how the table has turned (C’mon, that was a good one)…

🌴 Here are some production pics of my Eccentrico, dual-tone marble dining table, sourced from @nue.modern (This reproduction of the original 1979 table is a creatively spirited balancing act of sculptural, geometric engineering sorcery by #AngeloMangiarotti, one of the greatest masters of post-war Italian design, art, and architecture!!)

But first… What is THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE, you ask?

As a widely anticipated biannual event–every April and October — the ORC #oneroomchallenge #ORC is only THE BEST place for interiors-related inspiration, ideas, and encouragement!

Anyone with a blog, Instagram, or TikTok account can join the challenge as a Guest Participant (me) by linking their own roo m transformations up during the next 8 weeks. Starting Wednesday of each week, we report back to the powers that be, flooding the internet and social media with the latest and greatest news, updates, trials, and tribulations of our room transformations.

So, thank you to Linda Weinstein, the creator/owner of the ORC who started all of this fabulousness, and Apartment Therapy ORC’s official media partner, for the support and holding us accountable!

You can get more info about the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE and how to join, click here.

April 10, 2023April 17, 2023

One Room Challenge | SP 2023 | Week 1

Dining Room Refresh

So, this is FINALLY happening…

I’ve been VERY SLOWLY gathering elements you see on this mood board situation for the Spring 2023 One Room Challenge. To be honest, this all started in December 2021 and I’m just coming back around to it now. Yes, you read that correctly — December 2021. Don’t ask! Slow decorating at its finest. 😅

Will I get it done in the next, fun-filled 8 weeks? You bet your ass I will!

But first… What is THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE, you ask?

Going into its 11th Anniversary Spring Edition, the ORC is only THE BEST place for interiors-related inspiration, ideas, and encouragement! As a widely anticipated biannual event–every April and October–each round, 20 design influencers are selected as Featured Designers to transform a space.

Also, anyone with a blog or Instagram account can join the challenge as a Guest Participant (me) by linking their own roo m transformations up during the next 8 weeks. Starting Wednesday of each week, we report back to the powers that be, flooding the internet and social media with the latest and greatest news, updates, and trials and tribulations of our room transformations.

So, thank you to Linda Weinstein, the creator/owner of the ORC who started all of this fabulousness, and Apartment Therapy ORC’s official media partner, for the support and holding us accountable!

You can get more info about the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE and how to join, click here.

The before isn’t bad…

Neither is this view…

But did you notice I NEVER showed the ceiling lighting? Well, this crazy setup is why!

Yeah, the ceiling lights are a HOT MESS! Totally off center. And the wall lights? They’re not even connected to power right now. Plus, I’m not in the least bit inspired by them, so they have to go pronto.

Anywho, it’s a refresh, so the custom-mixed wall color (my own concoction) is staying, the custom-made Tommy Bahama swaying Palms curtains I personally toiled over are also staying, as is the @madedotcom teal bombe chest.

So here are the pièces de résistance of this fabulous refresh:

🌴 1980s vintage Danish beechwood string dining chairs by Niels Jørgen Haugesen — sourced from @cherisheddesigns.uk on @vinterior (because why not add a little minimalist, modernist style to the mix)

🌴 Eccentrico, dual-tone marble dining table, sourced from @nue.modern (This reproduction of the original 1979 table is a creatively spirited balancing act of sculptural, geometric engineering sorcery by #AngeloMangiarotti, one of the greatest masters of post-war Italian design, art, and architecture!!)

🌴 Mid-century 6-arm bow tie chandelier by @pookylights (With this 1958 Italian Stilnovo Megafono-inspired piece, I couldn’t say no to the angle and swivel of those little double-cone shades!!)

🌴 Two sculpted Brutalist style tube wall sconces in matte brass by @light_cookie on @etsyuk (these remind me of bamboo culms, so they fit right in here🎍🎋)

Other DIY elements:

🌴 Wall panels (because those new wall sconces deserve nothing but the best!), combined with the most decadent wallpaper by Manuel Canovas Geishas Wallpaper

🌴 Wavy, fluted dining banquette with storage and seat cushions. I found the most sumptuous mustardy-yellow upholstery fabric, so hopefully I don’t EFF it all up! 😅

🌴 Roman blinds made from the Tommy Bahama swaying Palms fabric for the side window

🌴 Hand-painted IKEA Bjursta sideboard (it definitely needs a glow-up)

🌴 Fix the baseboards/skirting boards (from when the dog chewed/scratched it up years ago) and repaint the doors

Here goes! Wish me luck!

July 5, 2020June 6, 2021

One Room Challenge | SP 2020 | Wk 8-9

Going for the GOLD! Doing two stairways!

Since I had to remeasure the turns on the steps and send the material back to our stairway runner peeps to sew the edging on, it was necessary to go ahead and do the second stairway now. It did set me back time-wise, but it was a necessary move since I want everything to look uniform.

So, I’m not going to meet the ORC deadline, but I’m glad about doing it this way, because it all gets done at the same time.

It’s OH SO close to being done, but I’m not going to rush it.

I’ll keep doing updates to this post to keep you all informed of my progress!

In the meantime, here’s where we’re at with the hallway…

While I’m continuing on all of that, go check out all the fabulous REVEALS from all the One Room Challenge Featured Designers here and Guest Participants (like me) here!

June 18, 2020July 5, 2020

One Room Challenge | SP 2020 | Wk 7

The Case of the Stairway Runner Snafu

Week 7 is not the week to run into a snafu, but such is life. I’m just rolling with it, though.

Recapping from last week: Our stair runner guru from Stair Runners Direct sent me these sexy little Salvador sisal stripe stair runners, so I couldn’t wait to play around with it.

Isn’t that dark blue edging the perfect color to pull the entire space together?! It’s a bold, vibrant, extravaganza of color, prints, and textures!

Wouldn’t ya know it, though. I had to go and pick out the hardest pattern to try and match up on winding stairs, especially when your carpet guru isn’t local and can’t come to the house to measure directly with the material on hand.

If you look at the arrows on the pics below, you can see those winding stairs aren’t quite a match on the edges. So, the Stair Runner Direct people being the wonderful human beings that they are, offered to send me the uncut material directly this week so that I can cut it myself while installing the straight part of the stairway.

So, once I’m done getting the perfect cutouts, I’ll send them the materials so that they can sew on the dark blue edging. No biggie, though. It’ll just be 2 stairs that won’t be finished while I wait for that to happen.

So close, but not quite a match on the edges.

Plus, with all the Covid-related warehouse/shipping delays, I’m waiting on my super-fantabulous Ourika Berber-style Runner from La Redoute Interieurs. Fingers crossed it makes it before reveal time!

So, we’re back to this:

Tearing out carpeting
Priming
Painting
Installing stair runner

While I’m scrambling to catch up on all of that, go check out all the One Room Challenge Featured Designers here and Guest Participants (like me) here!

June 11, 2020June 21, 2020

One Room Challenge | SP 2020 | Weeks 5-6

Painted Walls + Stair Runners

As for getting my walls done during week 5, let’s just say “disaster” would be an understatement. But since I’m all about putting it ALL out there for you guys–the good, the bad, AND the ugly–the photos below will give you an idea of last week’s shenanigans. I definitely don’t make things easy for myself. LOL

I was looking to transition some colors from the lower stairway to the upper stairway in a fun, bright way, but after playing around with multiple colors and designs, I wasn’t feeling it anymore. It all distracted too much from the blue palm wallpaper in the guest bedroom, which is my pride and joy. Plus, all that orangey-red was giving me an eye twitch!

So, I was reminded of that old U.S. Navy design principle, “KEEP IT STUPID SIMPLE,” and painted the entire stairway and hallway in those fabulous Valspar Glistening Aqua and white stripes. Much better, right?

Speaking of changing my mind, I was going to have the same runner for both stairways as well as the hallway that joined the two, but now this whole situation was just turning into a STRIPE-A-PALOOZA, which I wasn’t feeling anymore either. So, back to hours, and hours, and hours, and hours of online shopping I go!

The hallway needed a good color mix–along with some graphic and textural intrigue–to tie the stairway, hallway, guest bedroom, and living room (my next ORC revamp) together, and this super-fantabulous Ourika Berber-style Runner from La Redoute Interieurs was love at first sight! (I Photoshopped the rug into this image from ORC Week 3 to see how it would look, and I’m not ashamed to admit I’m all GIDDY about it!) Hopefully this little honey will get here before reveal week, though.

Speaking of super-fantabulous, here’s a closeup of those sexy little Salvador sisal stripe stair runners from Stair Runners Direct. I chose a dark blue edging to give the other colors that extra pop!

Needless to say, this week it’s gonna be ALL ‘BOUT THE STAIRS:

Tearing out carpeting
Priming
Painting
Installing stair runner

While I’m doing all that, go check out all the One Room Challenge Featured Designers here and Guest Participants (like me) here!

May 28, 2020June 14, 2020

One Room Challenge | SP 2020 | Week 4

Wall Colors + Stair Runner Templates (the stuff nightmares are made of)

**These are the DULUX wall colors I (FINALLY) decided on**

You know that feeling of excitement when you’re ready to paint a wall? Yeah, I thought I did too, but that feeling of excitement rapidly faded into the murky deep abyss of this stairway below and was replaced with pure exasperation — and a few choice expletives!

After I got done caulking the baseboards (which look fabulous now!), I had to go back and re-spackle the ENTIRE bottom edge of the wall — from the top of the stairs ALL THE WAY DOWN to the bottom of the stairs — because there were some gouges left in the drywall (meaning: I left them behind after I got overzealous with the caulk scraper last week while removing the old, cracked caulk).

Anywho, moving on….

So to derive SOME joy out of this week of tedious tasks, I decided to at least measure out my stripey-muralish wall and slap on as much blue painter’s tape as I could, so that it looks like I actually DID SOMETHING!

You see that magnolia-colored area where the wall meets the baseboard? THAT’s where I had to RE-SPACKLE!

Then we had NIGHTMARE #2: Making stair runner templates

And since I don’t like making things easy for myself, I decided to go ahead and order stair runners for the 1st floor stairway AS WELL AS the stairway leading from the 2nd to the 3rd floor. So, that meant making 3 separate sets of templates! (NOTE: this 2nd stairway would be FAR TOO AMBITIOUS to include as part of the 8-week ORC, but I don’t want to go back next year and find out that the rug maker no longer produces the stairway runner I chose, because that would be MY KINDA LUCK! So, I’ll be completing this section later in the summer, at my leisure, with wine).

Anyway, you may be asking yourself, “Why is she making three separate sets of templates?! Aren’t the angles pretty much the same?”

Well, a logical person would certainly THINK SO! But whoever was responsible for putting in these stairs must’ve missed a few weeks of trig class, because the angles on these stairs were a HOT MESS!

Let’s just say the sum of 3 angles = 180 degrees of pure crap! So, it took me several hours to make each template from scratch, because of varying hypontenuses (hypotenusi? hypotenusen? whatever the plural of that word is). So, this is what I eventually ended up with. They’re all packaged up and sent off to the fabulous Nicola at Stair Runners Direct so she can work her magic.

1st set of stair runner templates … so far, so good

So, that’s my crazy week in a nutshell.

And since crossing things off a list makes EVERYBODY feel better (read: MUCH LESS likely to throw out some choice expletives), here’s what I got accomplished this week in list form:

Re-spackled the ENTIRE LENGTH of the wall
Painted the wall Dulux White (it’ll be the base color for the stripey-muralish design)
Taped off the wall stripes (after rendering, erasing, rendering, erasing, and rendering again)
Chose my remaining Dulux wall-mural(ish) colors
Made the (god*%#ned) templates for the stair runners

And the ceiling paint came in this week (in much less time than the original estimated 30-day timeframe, I might add), so I’m definitely WINNING AT LIFE from here on out!

So, I’m all set for the weekend.

Meanwhile, go check out all the One Room Challenge Featured Designers here and Guest Participants (like me) here!