One Room Challenge: Week 6 Reveal

Six weeks have come and gone, marking the end of this season (and my first time participating in) the One Room Challenge! And it was just as fun and stressful as I had imagined it to be. A huge thank-you goes out to our host, Linda of Calling it Home, for organizing such a unique event. Over 200 Guest Participants (myself included) and 20 Featured Designers have been linking up each week (or in my case, most weeks) to share our progress and cheer each other on. Our challenge was to take one room in our home or a client's home and re-decorate it in six short weeks--easier said than done, but not impossible!

Let's recap...

Here's a before pic of the room I chose to redecorate. Super boring, slopped ceilings, and zero character.



In Week One I had introduced my space and pulled together a mood board that showed some of the furniture and accessories I was planning to use, while also giving a general sense of how the space would feel. I drifted slightly after spotting a pair of linen and sage floral drapes, but for the most part managed to stay on-course with my vintage-farmhouse-cottage-bedroom.

Week Two was a bust, nothing was accomplished.

Week Three I went shopping and luckily only managed to return a few items. For the most part, this space was compiled with furniture we already owned. Newly purchased items included the table lamps, drapes, faux-fur rug and bed linens.

Week Four I did some DIY'ing and refinished my Bubi's nightstands in a custom shade of Peony & Plum Dust Paint. I later also refinished an old MCM-style dresser with Peony & Plum's Dust Paint in Warm Black, both pieces were sealed with bee's wax.

Week Five was pretty slack, as again nothing got done. But Week Six my carpenter (aka, my dad) was able to put the trim up!! It was a trickier task than either of us had imagined, as the cottage is pretty old and therefore had some wonky plaster walls. But after two solid days of measuring, cutting, nailing, DAP'ing and painting, we were DONE and ready for the furniture and accessories.

One happy mistake was that because we are still in the process of moving into the new cottage, I wasn't able to move my bed in time. It wouldn't fit in my dad's truck, so it had to be put off until our official moving day. The headboard pictured actually came with the house, and as much as I want to hate it, I kinda like it! It may stick around...

The one major project that had to be put off until a later date were my sliding barn doors. I wanted to install two: one for the closet and one leading into the room. The plan is to add dormers to each of the upstairs bedrooms, and this could potentially affect the wall the doors would be on :( so rather then spend money on something that may have to be taken apart, the barn doors are being put on hold.

Overall, I had such a great time pulling together this space. I am currently out of town, so will have to wait until the weekend before I can enjoy those ironed sheets! A huge thank-you to my dad, Rick, who really isn't a carpenter, but totally could be. He's actually more into stone, as you can tell from his fab blog, Rick Minnings Cultured Stone :)

Looking forward to browsing all of the other beautiful spaces in the One Room Challenge , see you next round!

 

Pardon the blurry pics, they were snapped on my iPhone

#sodomino instagram feature

Just a teeny little Instagram feature on Domino's social page...nbd. 

Another goal accomplished and only 2393985732 to go...

floral shelf DIY

A few years ago I had picked up a set of three metal shelves from Urban Outfitters. Marked down so low that they were practically free, I grabbed them all without knowing where they’d wind up. Fast forward a year and a bit and my new room had an empty patch that was screaming for a set of three metal shelves ;)

I’m terrible at documenting projects with photographs, but covering the shelves was fairly simple. I traced each side of the shelf onto the wrapping paper, cut them out and pasted them piece by piece onto the shelf. For the top ledge, I used a slightly larger piece and folded the excess bit over to the underside of the shelf for a clean edge.

Gently smooth out the air bubbles as you lay the pieces of paper flat—this is probably the most important step to achieve a clean and smooth finish. Easy peasy.

The final product is now the perfect place to showcase an eclectic mix of books, pictures and mementos that had previously been cluttering the dresser.

Up next: deciding on a colour to paint that pink table!

so styled: burgers, beers and sangria

Cheers to the August long weekend! And cheers to my second styled post in less than a week (I have found my new obsession).

Despite being cooped up in the house prepping and purging for my move (less than a month!), I managed to satisfy my burger craving with a few cheddar jalapeno patties—sadly the sangria craving went unsatisfied, since the one featured is a fake. But c’est la vie, I will consume my calories with other tasty treats.

Set of 4 Assorted Napkins - Target $6 | Oh Joy! Round Melamine Plates - Target $12  

Lemon & Lime Salt & Pepper Shakers - Pier1 $10 | Planters Sadie Hedgehog Measuring Cups - Pier1 $14  Assorted Succulents - Home Depot $3-$5 | Snack Bowl - Wind & Willow $49 | Gold Craw-fish - New Orleans Souvenir $1.99 | Pickled Corkscrew - Fred & Friends $ unknown  | Lobster Bottle Opener - $ Unknown   

so styled: let's do lunch?

Since starting my blog I’ve always wanted to curate and style a post. Past posts have always been created as more of an afterthought—the result of me farting around my apartment arranging and rearranging something until it stopped annoying me, and then realizing I should probably take a picture for the sake of updating my blog. The pictures are usually grainy, taken at odd hours of the day/night, sometimes taken with my phone and “edited” with an Instagram filter, and are kind of just good enough for the moment.

This post was different. I actually went shopping for this post. Purchases included: one over-priced loaf of (deliciously) crusty artisanal bread, one single linen napkin found on clearance at Pier 1, two sets of salt and pepper shakers (also from Pier 1. And yes, I purchased two because I wasn’t sure which set would work best) and one lovely cloth placemat from Target. Everything else I found in my cupboards or the back of my fridge (I honestly don’t remember buying that lemon, but was so glad to find it).

I arranged everything on Saturday afternoon, but knew I wouldn’t be shooting anything until I had that perfect amount of just-right natural lighting, which I assumed would stream in through the kitchen at noon on Sunday

And because I had already invested all of this time and money setting up the picture, I decided to read the camera manual (something I had never done before). It proved to be helpful, since the picture isn’t blurry. One thing I will keep in mind for next time, is to watch out for embarrassing reflections in the silverware—despite looking perfectly bronzed, it is definitely not a flattering view of my thighs.

And yes, there will be a next time because I actually had way too much fun doing this, and have already decided the next one will be themed around this adorable lobster-shaped bottle opener I have....