Week 4 - One Room Challenge - Metrie Pick Up!

(need to play catch-up?)
WEEK 1 // WEEK 2 // WEEK 3

past one room challenge reveals

SPRING 2016 // FALL 2016

Welcome to week 4 of the One Room Challenge! A biannual blogging event hosted by the lovely Linda of Calling it Home. She has challenged 20 designers and 200+ guest participants (bloggers, designers, design-lovers, etc) to redecorate one room (or more if they're feeling ambitious) in six short and sweet weeks. AND it has been announced that the deadline has been extended by one week due to the outrageous number of natural disasters our pals in the States have had to endure.

Week 4 was a big week for us. The wonderful people at Metrie are huge supporters of bloggers and the One Room Challenge, and they have partnered with me (and my dad!) on this challenge. We took a little trek down to their office / warehouse in Milton, Ontario to pick up a few key pieces for our project (also snagged that pretty little buffet I posted about last week!)  

I'm not exactly sure when or how I first learned about Metrie, from a kid my mom and dad were always huge DIY-ers and constantly fixing up our 'builder-grade' homes, and transforming them into spaces that felt custom and very personalized. My dad completely changed our housing standards when he started tinkering with wainscoting and learned how to cut a miter joint. Three houses later, and a whooole lot of sawdust, we've all become a bit obsessed with how we can use zush a space up with a little bit of trim. Here's our last house, where my dad worked some magic (you can also see our Billy Bookcases that we turned into built-ins)

Three years ago, when I returned to school for Interior Decorating at Georgian College, Metrie was part of our school's Decorating and Design Expo, with probably the biggest booth at the expo and a series of presentations. Throughout my three years at Georgian, Metrie representatives had visited our classroom with presentations and tons of product knowledge, assisting with project-based questions and recommendations.

Beginning in 1926 as a small family-owned business, Metrie has grown to become the largest supplier and manufacturer of solid wood and composite mouldings in North America (to be honest, I don't even know any other moulding brands...). And you would not believe the amount of product we saw in their Milton warehouse on Monday. It was PACKED. 

In week two I shared a little picture that outlined where I was planning to put my moulding, and now that we have officially started to hang the product, I feel comfortable sharing our plan, since I don't think it will change too much:

The room has an angled ceiling, which makes it look smaller than it actually is. The plan is to cover the ceiling and those awkward angles in 11-1/2" MDF Shiplap. I think this will help to make the ceiling feel taller, because we will be differentiating it from the walls. Does that make sense? Hope so. 

The walls will have 6" MDF Stile/Rails spaced evenly around the room (we're aiming for 6"), and then the True Craft 1 5/8" Fingerjoint Poplar Applied Mouldings will be placed on either side of the rails. The Rails and Applied Mouldings can be found on Metrie's website, under Wainscot Mouldings. I wanted to create a look that complimented my bedroom from last year's challenge since they are fairly close to each other, but I didn't want to make it a carbon copy. The wider panels and applied mouldings will hopefully give it an slightly more unique board and batten look.

We've started laying out the placement of the panels and it is looking better than I had imagined. I'm happy I went with the very linear pieces, as it will keep the space feeling more casual and slightly rustic, which lends nicely to the modern-farmhouse feel I had aimed for last season. 

SO excited for this weekend to hit, and for this room to take shape!

PS. Ditched that DIY light sconce idea, since it was looking like trash. Instead I made an impulse purchase at homedepot.ca on two of these little babies. Much better... 

And while we're on the topic of makeovers, this little lady came home unrecognizable :)
There's something about this new hair that makes her look 10 years older....

Week 3 - One Room Challenge - DIY-ing + Potential TV Stand

Guys, I would be lying if I said I wasn't stressing about the ORC...

On Monday my dad and I will be heading up to Milton to pick up the trim and moulding Metrie has graciously given us for this challenge. And I am hopeful that once we start to hang the trim, the space will come together quickly...wishful thinking?

For this space, I don't feel as though I need to purchase too much new stuff. I have a MILLION pillows to choose from and some artwork and accessories that will lend themselves nicely to this new space. One thing I have been on the hunt for is a new TV stand. This morning I was perusing my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and found exactly what I was envisioning (rare!). I took the measurements, since the TV wall is sloped and this buffet was much taller than my ikea unit, I was pretty doubtful it would fit, BUT IT DID! The only problem is now I have to wait until Monday for them to reopen and hope that it is still there. Fingers are crossed!

See how pretty?

I am also experimenting with a DIY wall sconce kit that I picked up at Michaels this week. I'm struggling to make it look pretty and not like a Pinterest fail. The lamp shad is a metal cage that I plan to spray white, and string with wooden beads and then spray the entire thing white again. Seems pretty easy and basic, but it's looking a little messy at the moment. The ingredients are below, but the step by step directions are heading back to the drawing board. I am determined this will work, because it looks fab in my mind, but we shall see!

I'm looking forward to heading into week 4 and hopefully sharing some trim pics and doing some paint tester pots!

Thank you again to our lovely host Linda of Calling it Home, for hosting the ORC and bringing together 200+ bloggers, design pros and design enthusiasts. 

One Room Challenge - Week Two - Before Pics & Plans

Hi Friends! Last week I shared my hopes and dreams for the future of this room with a few gorgeous inspiration pictures (you can see that post here--pretty, right?). And explained how my dad and I are teaming up again to add some character to an otherwise 'blah' room. It was a good post.

This week, with the help of Ashley from Metrie, I managed to nail down some trim and moulding selections. Typically my dad and I will make a couple hundred trips down to our local hardware store to peruse the sales, comapre the mouldings and trim available and design as we go, but now that we are working with Metrie, we had to make some tough decisions early on (and by tough, I mean choosing a rail size and then going back and choosing a different one because the original one didn't work with our applied moulding. And then hoping math was right and we ordered enough. It got intense.)

I'm not going to share what we chose just yet, but here's an idea of where it will be going:

As mentioned before, I'm going to try really hard to avoid purchasing anything new for this space. I'm going to shop what I've got as much as possible, but will likely make some impulse purchases somewhere along the way.

Things I am definitely in the market for: New TV unit - hopefully something second-hand that could be refinished, an area rug, and possibly some wall sconces.

I'm also in the market for a new paint colour. I think I'm going to break from my usual go-to, Benjamin Moore, and try out Canadian Tire's Premier Paint collection. They've got some pretty options, one in particular is called Cakepop. I like it mostly for its name, but also because I'm really into nude nailpolish and it kind of reminds me of it. Just hoping it isn't too pink...

 Regardless, Canadian Tire has lots to choose from...

I'm also going to share some pretty ugly before pictures. Normally I would tidy up and style things a little more when taking pictures, but there's no time for that. They aren't horrible, but not great...

 

One Room Challenge - Week One - Inspiration & Planning

Here goes another One Room Challenge!

This session I will be redecorating our upstairs guestroom, and reconfiguring it into our second media / living room. The room gets tons of natural light, and is a very cozy and welcoming space. Since we're entering into the winter months, we don't get many house guests, and for those who will be coming up north for a winter getaway, will have two other alterative rooms for them use (one being this past ORC post).

My first One Room Challenge was my bedroom, and (when clean) is still my all-time favourite bedroom that I've ever had. I love the mix of colours, textures, traditional and modern elements, and especially the Metrie mouldings. My dad has transformed our family's past three homes with mouldings, mitre saws and elbow grease, and it is definitely one of my favourite ways to personalize and add character to a space. We used Metire mouldings in my bedroom, a simple 3" rail, and created an improvised board and batten look that has continued to influence and inspire the remaining rooms in our current house.

In addition to all of the positive feedback I've had on my bedroom, the icing on the cake was when Metrie included it in their list of Top 25 Rooms from the 2016 Every Room Tells a Story contest. It was definitely a proud moment for my dad and I :)

This season of the One Room Challenge we've been fortunate enough to partner with Metrie to create something that will push my dad's carpentry skills a little further and cross off another room reno on our to-do list.

The goal for this space is to transform the room using Metrie moulding, paint (I've been itching to try Canadian Tire's Premier Paint...), a new rug (loving this one from Rugs USA), a new media stand....and that's pretty much it! The goal is to shop my home as much as possible and use furniture and accessories that I've already got on-hand.

What I'm re-using: My Kivik Ikea couch from my first apartment, my steamer trunk coffee table, my TV, existing linen drapes, Hemnes Night Stand from Ikea, table lamps and art work that have been otherwise collecting dust. I may cave and purchase something fun along the way, but otherwise I'm hoping to stick to my plan as much as possible!

I've got a pretty solid idea as to what I'm hoping to do with the Metrie mouldings, as you can kind of gather from my above concept board, and below inspiration pictures. But we're going once again for a cottage-vibe with some softer lines, which will be better explained in the upcoming weeks.

Best of luck to all of my ORC participants, and a huge thank you to Linda of Calling it Home for once again challenging all 200+ guest participants.

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