ONE ROOM CHALLENGE // WEEK EIGHT // THE REVEAL

Welcome to Week Eight of the One Room Challenge!!!  This has by far been the most interesting ORC I have ever participated in.  2020 has been a difficult year to say the least, and trying to tackle projects during quarantine will be something I will never forget.  There was a mantra for our ORC space this year… “Work with what you have.”  A mantra I really do focus on when it comes to any design.  But somehow, even more so for this space.  I pulled together not only one space, but three utilizing heirlooms, vintage items, thrift store finds from my collections over the years and a lot of creativity.  Also, this space could not have been completed without all of the generous sponsors and support from the ORC Community.  So without further adieux,  lets dive into what you all are really here for, the reveal.

As you recall, these were the before images for my office space.  Literally a nondescript room that had no real sense of purpose.  Now it serves as our library, family entrance as well as my office.  Walking into this space now fills my heart with memories and feels as if it was always this way.  The personal stars for me are my late father’s Bourbon Cabinets.

chandelier / medallion / trim

This space all began with the crazy idea to recess these into the walls.  And I am so proud that our effort paid off.  You can see the entire process here.

They now store all of my decorative extras.  Accessories, scrap fabrics, pillow covers, etc… All of the things I have never been able to store at arms length, or as beautifully.

The center of the room is filled with my skirted table.  This serves as an entry table most of the time, but can also be cleared off for creating mood boards, homework projects for the kid, or design consultations.  The vibe of the central round table is carried over from our design plan for the last house that never came to fruition.  It is exciting to have that vision be brought to life in this new home.

chandelier / trim tape / sconce / desk chair

The skirted table cloth was created from unused blackout drapery panels I had on hand, because we were what? “Working with what we had”. And each panel was trimmed out using a beautiful trim tape from Fabricut.  Its subtle herringbone pattern really catches the light and provides beautiful depth and texture.  And speaking of light, how amazing is this Hudson Valley Chandelier?!  I choose it because the arcs referenced back to the arched cabinets.

The builtins were another major addition to the space.  I love how the addition of millwork can instantly give a space a purpose as well as instant charm.  Given the broken up layout of the walls due to doors/opening, I created cohesion by wrapping as much of the room as possible with the library shelves.  My husbands grandmother always wished his home be filled with books and his late mother, who was a librarian felt the same.  It is wonderful to honor these memories as well.  The shelves came together with a lot of planning and lots, and lots, and lots of moulding.  If it weren’t for Novo Building Products and Empire Millwork & Moulding none of these spaces would have been what they are today.  Be sure to check out the full build and moulding breakdown here and here.

sconce / chair
Constructing the shelves using over 200 slats provides me the convenience of having adjustable shelves, while being a gorgeous detail at the same time.  A wonderful marriage of Form + Function if I do say so myself.  And building the shelves around my vintage desk adds a nice contrast between the wood tones and the glossy white shelves.

I am slightly obsessed with my new sconces from Blueprint Lighting.  They put off the perfect amount of light while keeping my desktop clean from the footprints of table lamps and cords.  The curves again, relate back to the arched cabinets and play really well against the dental detail of the builtins.

art

Artwork also plays a big role in all of these spaces.  I mixed new pieces from Minted (like the one from above) with vintage and thrift store finds.  Playing with abstracts, photography and classic portraits add another layer of depth to design.

art / chair

This pair of Cane Chairs in my favorite shade of Aegean Blue are light enough to be able to pick up and move around if needed, especially if digital learning starts back up in the Fall!  But they also provide a pop of color, richness with the velvet seat and depth with their caned back.  I also love mixing metals, so the addition of polished chrome helped to break up the brass touches throughout the rest of the space.

art / wallpaper / portrait (similar)

I told you I was playing with mixing art!  I love this view into our new mudroom and it has a lot to do with The Blue Boy.  This was a thrift store find!!!  And it really was the main inspiration for the color palette.

art (similar) / wallpaper / flush mount / baskets / pillow

Talk about a big change!  This was just a huge closet before.  A catch all space, that again served no real purpose besides junk collecting.  By taking off the closet door and adding in Mudroom Cubbies, this space has a major sense of function, as well as drama.  After dousing the main office in my favorite shades of white (Sherwin Williams Pure White and Alabaster) this space needed to have its own personality.  By wrapping the entire room in Milton & King’s Candy Stripe wallpaper and taking the mudroom cubbies to black, it immediately stood apart from the main area while still complimenting each other.  I also choose a coordinating flush mount version of our Hudson Valley large chandelier.

Each cubby is outfitted with plenty of space for backpacks, jackets, handbags, etc, and the large baskets below hide extra shoes stylishly.  I also incorporated a new kennel for our one year old puppy, Poppy.  Her kennel was built using scrap wood, leftover balusters from our stair project and a piano hinge.  And my mother hand sewed her a bed in Milton & Kings coordinating Candy Stripe fabric.

lucite barcart / mushroom lamp (similar) / brushstroke ginger jars / wallpaper

On the opposite side of the mudroom lives our Mid Century Armoire.  That figured walnut gets my heart pumping every time.  And now that it is paired with the thin stripe, I mean.  Instead of a physical coat closet, we found that this piece really serves all of our needs and keeps the clutter a closet can easily collect at bay.

The addition of this small lucite bar cart was an unexpected choice, but we needed a place to land our keys.  The bar cart was the perfect size for this little corner as well as the perfect height for dropping our change and keys.

Leaving the mudroom, you once again reenter the library.

The Empire Millwork & Moulding used throughout the room made a huge difference in the space.  And one of my favorite details is the Art Rail Moulding that wraps the room.  As someone who loves art, I find myself swapping pieces around quite a bit.  Being able to hang pieces from the art rail using hooks and chains, keeps that flexibility much easier.

carpe diem art / mirror (similar)

marbled garden stool from Apt2B

Now onto our final space, the guest bathroom.

This space was very brown before.  Poor construction and lackluster fixtures led us to completely overhaul this space.  A first for us.  Fortunately The Tile Shop was on board with our project and helped me choose everything we needed for our first major tiling job.  You can read about the entire process here.

A quick upgrade we gave to our bathroom door was new hardware.  These Bristol Knobs from Emtek instantly gave our hollow core doors fresh life.  And the glass orbs tie back into the chandelier globes in the office and mudroom.

wall tile / floor tile / shower curtain / faucets & fixtures / art

For the overall vibe of the bathroom I wanted a clean, bright and classic space.  But loved the idea of using a griege tile vs my go to white.  The neutral tones in the glass 3×12 wall tile relate back to the vintage rug in the main space and the gloss of the glass tiles really makes this space sparkle.  The original plan was to only tile the shower/tub, but after completing that I choose to continue around the vanity wall giving it a more vintage vibe.  It also serves as a functional background behind the toilet and sink.

The floor is a beautiful marble 1″ hex tile that has subtle tones of white, cream, beige and gray.  I love how more of the greige tones appeared once paired with the 3×12 glass Rosewater Tiles.

art / toilet paper stand / toilet tank tray

mirror (similar) / faucet

I decided early on to install a classic pedestal sink I picked up at our local ReStore a year or so ago.  As well as my favorite antique mirror.  It was a Mother’s Day gift a few years back and I had always envisioned it paired with a pedestal sink.  It’s gold leaf finish is so pretty, and something I did not want the plumbing fixtures to compete with.  So rather than looking for gold or silver fixtures, I went for Matte Black.  This modern finish paired with the more classic shape from the HansGrohe Joleena Series really plays well with the gold mirror and neutral tiles.  The entire series ( faucet, shower, tub spout) all installed really well and make their own statement in the space.

The only thing I liked about the original space was the built in shelving.  Although there were only two shelves (the top and the bottom).  I added a third shelf in the middle to fill the large void and provide more storage.  And as this is a guest bathroom, that is really used mostly as a Powder Room open storage is a great feature.  Keeping the shelves stocked with fresh towels, toiletries and plenty of toilet paper helps to keep guests comfortable.  There is nothing worse than being a guest and out of a major necessity.  I hate having to open closets/cabinets in search of toilet paper.  So I always like to store it stylishly, but definitely readily available!  A leather magazine stand from Apt2B replaces the standard basket to hold the extra toilet paper.  Baskets have all the fun, so why not take a look around and think outside the wicker box for storage ideas.

I still can’t believe we completed all of these spaces in Eight Weeks.  However my body is telling me we definitely did!  I worked on these spaces every single day to complete in time.  And the hard work has paid off.  We now have three beautiful and most importantly functional spaces completed!  Thank you to Linda for taking the chance to include me once again for the One Room Challenge.  It was extremely gratifying to be able to tackle a space in our own home for the first time in my ORC history.  And once again a huge thank you to the sponsors and to you all for coming back and cheering me on.

SPONSORS

The Tile Shop / Novo Building Group / Empire Millwork & Moulding
Hudson Valley Light Group / Blueprint Lighting / Fabricut
Milton & King / Emtek / Apt2B

ALL POSTS

Week One // The Before
Week Two // The Bourbon Cabinets
Week Three // The Built-Ins
Week Four // The Built-Ins + Moulding
Week Five // The Mudroom
Week Six // The Bathroom
Week Seven // The Final Touches

Ae sure to check out what everyone else has been up to!!