I've Had Enough!
I'm ready for this to be finished.
It’s typical to experience these feelings when you’re about 75 percent through a project, if not before.
The excitement of the final result has gotten lost amongst the piles of boxes, paint cans, and receipts. You’re tired of walking around things and living in a mess. Maybe the follow-up had your head spinning. You’re just done.
Relax, have a beer or a glass of wine, listen to great music, or go kayaking. Get your mind off the project. There is a great reward waiting for you at the end, and you’re only paying the price for that reward. Anxiety and worry will block your creativity and keep you blind to opportunities that present themselves.
Any worthwhile project will inconvenience your life and your established routine and force you to deal with situations you didn’t need to before. It isn’t enjoyable, but it will end. And, not everything in life goes perfectly; in fact, only 50% goes perfectly, so plan for it, anticipate it.
The key to a stress-free renovation or project is to manage your expectations, plan for surprises, be flexible….and manage the budget.
The Ups and Downs of the Week
Last week ended on a very high note with lots of wins and a substantial budget leftover. Locating the balance pieces in the room will get increasingly more difficult, as our selections must be even more edited to coordinate with the choices we’ve already made.
This week has been more challenging…..still, not a washout.
I focused on filling in critical elements that I needed in the bedroom – bed cover, the balance of furniture pieces, a rug, and accessories. I searched the resources I mentioned in a previous blog and went to a couple of yard sales.
Here are the results:
The TV Console
I am still dealing with orange wood-toned furniture! This one is a big bare chest and appears to be a high school woodshop project. I didn’t want to paint it a solid color that would look like a giant cube. Painting it in two colors would resemble our other furniture too much.
I looked back to my Mood Board for inspiration and direction, and I see that I lack the presence of raffia present on the board. I decided it would be great to add a seagrass wallpaper to the panels and paint the top and edges.
I couldn’t find actual grass wallpaper available but did find a seagrass print on removable wallpaper at Lowe’s for the “everyday low price” of $46.98. The colors were nice, but I had to pass since I’m on a “someday sale” budget.
I remember that I had some seagrass wallpaper remnants from a previous job many years ago (yes, I save a lot of lovely leftovers.) I knew the wallpaper had a slight metallic background with a lot of black grass, but I decided to search for it anyway.
I found it in my very organized storage unit, and it had more black than I wanted. I again looked at my mood board and decided I could work more black into the space. It will be on the opposite wall from the black headboard, balancing out the black contrast.
And I’ve got to be flexible. I call this a WIN….a drastic change. I used leftover black paint from the bed, but I put a Bree Wax finish over that to give it more of a glossy finish which pairs nicely with the wallpaper I have.
I considered adding a strip of black wood at the bottom and down the center to mimic doors. That would have worked nicely, but I am going for a soft, casual look for this room, so I opted not to and curved the wallpaper along the bottom curve to soften the effect.
The Easy Chair ...and side table
This was challenging. I wanted a casual, loosely overstuffed chair, off-white or oatmeal linen in color—no sharp edges or angles…and inexpensive. I couldn’t find anything remotely close to what I had envisioned.
I did find a couple options in grey melange fabric. One was rounded back casual in dark grey, almost charcoal and much darker than I wanted. The other was a lighter grey, with some tan and white mixed in, which was a much better color. But it is very midcentury modern in style – not exactly what I’m going for.
In my chair search, I did find a wonderful carved round side table. The colors are perfect and the style really works with my mood board. I loved it but not sure if it would work with either of the chair options.
All three of these pieces were from the same consignment shop, “The Red Collection.” The manager let me take all three for 24 hours to see which worked the best. You can see the chairs below.
I’ve paired them each with the carved side table I found, and also a small brass side table the owner has available. Which of the four options below would you choose? I bought one chair and the carved table for $110.00.
The Area Rug
The room is a very awkward shape with a couple different sitting areas which make rug selection difficult. I wanted a large rug centered under the bed which would cover most of the floor, hiding more of the yellowish red oak floors.
I had a large (11 x 14) rug in my storage unit that I was willing to donate to the project, so I kept in my back pocket. I remember it being a taupish brown color and hoped it color would work, so to the storage unit I went.
After digging the rug out, it was darker than I hoped, being a brownish charcoal color. But I was desperate so I hauled it to the room to check. It was awful in the room, effectively killing the vibe I was looking for.
So I’m still working on this. Here are some options I found from my storage, but I’m not really happy with any of them. They are all too small and I’m not optimistic. But the deadline is in 3 weeks, so I’m remaining positive.
The Bedding
The owner had a coverlet that would work with the room perfectly but had no coordinating pillow shams. I had to come up with something to use for shams, so I decided to go fabric shopping and make some. It is the perfect opportunity to add some color and softness.
I was careful to select casual fabrics with open “rustic” weaves to work with my mood board. I love the green fabric as it is a cross-weave mixing the green tone in my painted furniture with a lime green which adds some pop to the room. I’ll probably add some frayed edges to exploit the casual feel further.
I found the perfect terra cotta color, but it was in outdoor fabric. It was flat, and course, not the kind of texture I wanted for bedding, so I’m still looking for that. Coming from New York, I’ve been spoiled with fantastic fabric stores, but unfortunately, in North Carolina, where I live now, the pickin’s very slim….but hey, the traffic is excellent here.
This week's WINS !!!
It’s always important to focus on what success we have had and be grateful for those. Focusing on what went wrong just prevents progress and it really depleats your creative energy. The roadblocks and dead ends are just signs that there is a better road to take — take it!
So lets highlight the things I found this week that I’m very excited about. Each of these makes my path forward more clear, and narrows my focus for the lap.
And I'm SUPER excited about this $10 find:
Next week I'll show you what I'm doing with it!
To see rooms for other participants, click here:
www.oneroomchallenge.com/orc-blog.
I’m really enjoying this! Michael you’re an excellent writer and I’m learning so much 💞
My choice for the chair and table is #2 with #4 close behind- I really like the chair..
pic #3 for the table and chair! i absolutely love that table! how far are you from prospect hill? david stevens has a fantastic discount furniture store there!
can’t wait to see the final reveal!
I have no idea where Prospect Hill is. I’m practically done :). Thanks for the tip!