One Room Challenge Fall 2018-The Reveal
REBECCA McALPIN Photographer
VESTIGE HOME Stylist
Today’s the day friends, it’s reveal day for the One Room Challenge and we have a completed bedroom!
The last six weeks have been a blur since we purchased this house, put our other house on the market, sold it, moved, and worked on the room somewhere in between while keeping my interior design business afloat. It has been hard, and exhausting, and exhilarating, and I’m really glad this room is complete because it has taken many sleepless nights and early mornings to get to this place. I finished the room Monday afternoon and it seems almost like a dream that it is actually done! If you are just checking in and want to see more of the process, you can revisit the previous weeks here:
Ok, now I bet you’re ready to see this finished space, aren’t you? :) Here she is my friends!
My goal for this room was create a warm, layered space that embodies a sense of time and patina juxtaposed with modern elements. I always like a little before and after, shall we take a look?
BEFORE
A little bit of a change, eh? One of the things that jumps out to me is how you can see so much more of the detail on the fireplace with it being a bit of a lighter color. Now there are some shadows in the reliefs which really make them pop. I used Portola Paints lime wash in Vintage Black on the mantle, and while I had originally hoped it would be a darker black, this more slate-blue tone is kinda growing on me. It has a really nice patina to it so I decided to just let it be it’s own thing and not try and control the situation too much, sometimes that’s best you know. And of course, the walls are Portola Paints beautiful lime wash in North Woods, which is so perfectly soft and beautiful, I almost feel like I am wrapped in a cloud! The texture that it creates on the walls is incredible, almost like an old plaster. For the moldings, I wanted them to blend with the walls, so I painted them in Ben Moore’s Smoke Embers to flow seamlessly with the walls. I have always wanted black window sashes and these old windows were the perfect ones to take in that direction. I used the same color we painted the exterior of the windows, Ben Moore’s Onyx.
If you watched my Instagram stories you might have heard about the debacle with the ceiling light which was supposed to arrive Friday and never came because somehow it became missing from the box right before the delivery, so I frantically called France & Son telling them about this all out emergency (the photoshoot was in two days) and seeing if there was ANY way they could ship a replacement fixture overnight. They were amazing and totally came through for me on shipping another fixture that afternoon and saved the day because LOOK AT THAT CEILING FIXTURE! It totally makes the room, right? I have admired Serge Mouille’s work for years and always wanted this ceiling fixture in a room. It’s a big fixture though, and I never quite had the space, but this room was long enough that it just worked, and it’s delicate form doesn’t overwhelm the space, win-win!
The bed came together in the final week and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. I wanted to find something low enough to fit under the windows and this vintage headboard was a great shape and height. It was originally a stained wood, with a brown woven material in it. I cut out the old, woven material from the panels and used them as templates for the new caning. I painted the entire thing black and then reinserted the new caning with spray adhesive. I love how the black and caning contrast against the patina of the lime wash and gives a bit of a modern feel to the space. I used a simple platform base from Hayneedle that blended beautifully with the vintage headboard. Hayneedle was kind enough to offer 10% off to anyone clicking through on these pieces of theirs that I used in the room!
The lights are from our previous master bedroom that we ordered years ago from Schoolhouse Electric and the William Morris “Strawberry Thief” pillow is from Rejuvenation. I felt like the bed needed something a little old school and this patterned pillow was the perfect thing, plus, William Morris is one of my design heroes.
A sweet art vignette sits on the wall beside the bed including an abstract from my friend Angela Simeone, a portrait from Minted, and an etching of New York falls from the 1850’s from a recent trip out to Colorado. Although the pieces are quite different in styles, they are tied together in color palettes. The bedside stump is one I have been carrying around for years. We were getting ready to move from Monterey, California back in 2010 and were taking some trash to the drop off location before moving and someone had left the stump out by the dumpster. Of course I was in love with it at first sight :) and convinced Adam we should put it in the car and take it with us. We have moved it several times, from California, to Florida, where is sat on our porch, to Nebraska where I used it to hold a big pot of succulents, to our first house here in Philly where it was in the sunroom, and now to this home, where it made the perfect bedside table. Sometimes I get a little bit sentimental about these seemingly insignificant things that I have been toting around for years, but that is what makes them special, and makes your house a home. And the fact that I would have never thought it would end up at our bedside, but that it has, and it works beautifully makes it even more fun.
The rug was a lucky find at Home Sense, and adds a very soft and subtle pattern to this side of the room and blends nicely with the sitting area rug. A sprig of dogwood branches from our yard adds a fun splash of color. I ran out of time to get flowers before the shoot, so out to the yard it was and it ended up being the perfect thing to celebrate the season!
Honestly I just want to hang out in this spot all day. These beautiful, moss green chairs from Article are definitely a star in the room. Their low arms and curves keep this area from feeling too cluttered and the green velvet is just luscious!! Article also offers free 30-day returns, so if you find that the piece doesn’t end up working for your space, you can always send it back, which is a great option for a big piece of furniture. The Girard Lamp from Hudson Valley Lighting brings in a bit of a traditional element, and I love the way the brass looks with the moss green. A place to put our feet up is going to be essential with hanging out in this spot, so I chose this sturdy coffee table from Hayneedle. The oblong shape keeps a nice flow to this area and it has a really lovely woodgrain to it that adds some subtle texture. The handwoven rug has the perfect faded feel that I was looking for and unable to find in the right color in a vintage version. The soft pinks and blues are calming and tie in with the vintage tile on the fireplace. The little wooden stool (fondly dubbed the “Mimi Stool” in our house) has been with us for several years. It’s handmade, and wonky and had to be repaired once when Adam tried to use it for a step stool and it split in half-haha! It’s the perfect little spot to set your coffee while reading.
I decided to paint the doors in the room (and will likely continue throughout the entire house) black. It’s the same black as the widows, Ben Moore Onyx. The doors are original 5-panel doors with glass doorknobs and they seem to have so much more presence when painted black, we did this in our last house too and I’m just not over it :)
The mirror is from Lamps Plus (yes, they sell more than lighting) and I love how it feels like a cool, modern touch above this uber traditional mantle. In all honesty, I never really liked the center relief of the floral swag on the mantle, but the shape of the mirror sort of mimics that and I feel like it could kinda be growing on me now.
I built some simple, oak shelves in the 11th hour and I love how they have a minimalist vibe next to the fireplace and provide a spot to display a few precious things and a spot to tuck in a basket for wood.
Loving, loving the lime washed patina on the mantle. I used two coats of their sealer so that the surface is cleanable. Here’s a closer detail of the mirror as well. Another, simple branch from the Japanese maple in our yard gives some drama to the mantle.
Our old, walnut dresser found it’s new home in our bedroom again and I’m loving the modern form of the Piper Lamp from Mitzi contrasted with the traditional dresser. I sourced this gorgeous art piece from Minted from artist Kelly Money. She is a local artist, painting fantastic clouded pieces which I have sourced for client projects before. I loved this piece in particular because of the greens and yellows which I felt tied in so perfectly to the other parts of the room. I also thought it would be the most wonderful thing to wake up to in the morning since we can see it from our bed. Minted offers this in a gallery wrapped canvas which really makes it feel like the original painting, and the printing quality is fantastic, you can see so many of Kelly’s original brushstrokes, it is a great way to get more of that original artwork feel for a lower cost. You can also request commissions from various artists through Minted, which has definitely got my wheels turning for future projects!
Here’s another shot of the bay window and the beautiful Japanese maple outside.
And here’s another shot of the bedroom from the other side. For those of you wondering, here’s a peek at the Hayneedle platform bed as well.
Ok friends! That’s a wrap! I’ll be sharing a walkthrough of the space this afternoon on Instagram Stories if you want to hop over (and the whole project is saved in my highlights). Thank you so, so much for following along, for your comments, so many of your reached out and offered your encouragement and excitement for the project. Thank you to Linda from Calling it Home for organizing this for all of us and to Better Homes and Gardens for providing media sponsorship, all of the generous sponsors who donated products for this space, my husband, Adam who took care of so many of the things in our personal lives while I tried my best to keep up on this project and work, and my photographer Rebecca McAlpin who moved the shoot to Monday to give me every available minute to finish the project. It feels so good to have at least one room in our house not in complete chaos after our move and we’ll rest easy after these long days of work now.
Alright, now go check out all the other incredible featured designers (linked below) and guest participants too (they’ll be sharing their reveals tomorrow). Everyone has been working, so, so hard to get the finish line on this. Thank you!!!!
xoxoxoxo,
nicole
At Home with Ashley | Brepurposed | Dabito | The English Room | Erin Kestenbaum
Harlow & Thistle | House of Brinson | J & J Design | Kelly Golightly | Linda Holt
Megan Bachmann | Michelle Gage | Mimosa Lane | Murphy Deesign | Vestige Home
Old Home Love | SG Style | Shay Geyer | Sita Montgomery | SMP Living
Media Partner Better Homes & Gardens | TM by ORC
