One Room Challenge – Week One The Plan : My Living Room

I’ve been standing in the wings the last few years admiring a really talented group of bloggers do their #oneroomchallenges, just dreaming about the day that I would take it on. Well today is that day!  I’ve chosen to finally complete a project that has been a year and a half in the making, my living room.  When we bought our house, I had great bones to work with, beautiful dark hardwoods and moulding a great scaled fireplace but the walls were rather bland.  They were painted a basic “real estate” ivory and with it being a center unit townhome limited natural light.  As a commercial Interior Designer, I am always challenged to be CREATIVE, AKA cost saving.  I do have that drive in me to try and think outside the box or my proverbial comfort zone.  This seriously terrifies my husband to say the least.  I do believe his words this past weekend were, “you’re going to do what? Why would you take something that works just fine and remove it?” I do believe he thought I had six heads.  As designers, that is what we do.  We are constantly trying to think of ways to be creative or to try something new, often with things that we already have.    I do love you Nick and I assure you, this is not a personal assault on you.  J  Why would I do that, when you know I will be asking for some assistance?

So here is my room (before photos are a bit sketchy, but I never remember to take good before pictures.)

** No judgement zone… All before photos were taken during our walk through inspection when we purchased the house. All of the décor or furniture is that of the previous owner. I realized that I never photographed each room empty, but I think this will work well for comparison. **

Yeah, I told you it was pretty snooze-ville. So this is what I am thinking….

Yep, I am totally out of my comfort zone here. It’s funky, classic with a little dash of modern thrown in there.  For my former and current colleagues, you can all attest, that day that I said I would never use the color…. MAUVE…. Yes, you are seeing that correctly.  I would like to go on record that this is more of a lilac color… HA, who am I kidding its mauve.

Here is what I have already done in the course of a year and a half….

When we moved in, the whole house got painted, lots and lots of paint. The living room is “Ellie Gray” by Sherwin Williams.  This is a beautiful French Gray that would work with just about any design scheme I could come up with.  I am in what I will call my Gray phase.  I purchased the rug around the holidays last year and found a steal of a deal on a couch very similar to the original design intent.   That is the state that my main floor living room as been in the last year and a half.  I will say it has made entertaining somewhat easy, just rent tables and chairs.  I didn’t have to haul out big pieces since I really didn’t even have a sofa up until a month ago.

Here is what I plan to do…. 

 

1. Remove horrible and ugly dated banister and patch the (hopeful) hardwoods beneath. Please lord, let the hardwoods be in good shape and please let me not have to keep it for building code reasons.  This right here was the “You’re going to do what?” comment…
2. Center seating area on the fireplace. This has bothered me from day one.  With the banister in place, it really limits you on where you can place furniture.  Until now the couch has been on the banister wall and we have a bowling alley down the middle.
3. Create a secondary focal wall, so that no matter where you sit in the room, you have a pretty view.  Have I mentioned that I have and OCD tendency for perfect symmetry?
4. Purchase & Frame new artwork prints from the amazing Charleston artist Lulie Wallace.  Seriously you need to check out her florals and her new tabletop series.  She also has textiles and lunchboxes!
5. Purchase lighting.  I really don’t understand why builders don’t put overhead lighting in homes.  Let’s face it, cost.  So, I am going to attempt to source some super cool lighting that I can use on top of an existing buffet.  Then the piece de resistance… ceiling swag for the seating area.  I am going to have to get really creative since hubbie is keeping me on a very tight budget for this.
6. Purchase a coffee table.  Quite frankly it’s embarrassing that I haven’t had one.  Or what is worse that we have been using my daughters play table as our coffee table.
7. Keep an area for my daughter to have her play table and chairs.  This will also involve the use of creative storage solutions (i.e. baskets galore) to hide those fabulous brain stimulating, make your kid smart, bright and obnoxious toys!
8. Make throw pillows. I collect fabric and I’ve found some major winners on Spoonflower.com. While I do know how to sew, it is not something I enjoy.  Mostly because to do it right, it requires taking up lots of space and making a MESS!  I may attempt to get my mom to help me on this one, since she is coming for a visit in two weeks.
9. Drink some wine.  I figure this will more than likely be a vital part of this challenge. Did I mention I have a two year old and a full time job. J
10. Source and or make new MAUVE drapery panels. Still having a hard time typing that MAUVE…
11. Accessorize, style and find a photographer to capture some really amazing shots of the completed project.

 

Here are some of my favorite finds thus far for the space:

Slice of Key Lime Pie and Peas and Carrots prints

Did I mention how much I am crushing on Lulie Wallace at the moment?  I did give my husband a subtle hint that I would love for him to commission her to do an original painting of my wedding bouquet.  It will be our 3^rd Anniversary November 13^th, just saying, Nick you should really get on that!

Leopard Velvet Pillow…. Enough said.

You can find any size you need or want at Little Design Co on Etsy.  I am so excited for this yumminess to hit my slipper chairs!

Charcoal Dots by Domesticate

Go to spoonflower.com and check her out.  Amazing textile designer and I’ve already used this fabric to recover my dining room chairs.  It is DEVINE!

 

To be funky…… or to be eclectic… that is the question…

FUNKY…

 

ECLECTIC …

Let’s face it, the winner of this battle, will more than likely be the budget… Here’s to a mad crazy search that will let me find the funky but on a shoestring!

Here is what I am thinking for the secondary accent wall. I have a boat load of china from my wedding.  I believe close to 20 dinner plates, 18 holiday plates, etc. etc. etc.  I am a Charlestonian; it’s what we do, collect china when we get married.  I love its simplicity but it is doing nothing stored in the buffet, sooooo, why not bring it out and hang it up on the walls?  This is also a very southern thing.  PS Still need a great source on extra-large plate/platter holders.

So there it is, my One Room Challenge. I am so excited to see what the room eventually becomes. I am also pretty jazzed to follow along as other designers and bloggers link up their One Room Challenges.  Check out the links at Calling it Home and thank you Linda for creating such a wonderful avenue for all of us crazy ladies to share this journey.  Check back next week for my progress and whether or not the banister stays or goes.

Be sure to check out all of the other One Room Challenger Linking Participants at Calling it Home here.  As well as check out this awesome group of bloggers participating in the One Room Challenge here .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              xoxo, Emily