One Room Challenge {Week 4}: Go Big or Go Home

Decor

I’m a big proponent of having a show-stopping design feature in every space. It could be a cool accent wall, an amazing light fixture or a killer piece of art. Think of it like a room’s signature, if you will. The thing that everyone will remember once the walk out. Yes, painting our entire media room a rich dark hue will certainly make a statement, but that not actually what I’m considering this room’s showstopper.

Care to venture a guess what is? If I pull back and show you a bit more context about this room do you think you know?

Ok, ok, I won’t hold you in suspense. What you’re looking at is the entrance to our media room. We’ve taken was once a standard doorway {you can see the before here} and expanded it – dramatically. When you’re fortunate enough to have 12-foot ceilings to play with you have to take advantage of it right??

We went ahead and both broadened and heightened the media room-to-be’s doorway to jumbo-french door proportions because I have this vision in mind…

The media room doorway will feature oversized glass french doors with steel frames! I have always loved the juxtaposition of that dark framing against crisp white walls. Adding that touch of a modern industrial twist in a classic Victorian space just feels so right. And I love the excuse to hang thick velvet curtains in the room to cover the doors when it’s movie night! I’m hoping the final effect is as lovely as it is in my head right now, but I’m feeling pretty good about this decision.

What do you think? Are you on board with my door choice? I’d love to know. And be sure to check everyone else’s Week 4 update. These rooms are coming along swimmingly. It’s so fun to see everyone’s progress! If you’re playing check up, check out Week One, Week Two and Week Three.

One Room Challenge Week 3: {A Room For the Boys}

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So I have a confession. Something about blog-land has been on my mind for quite some time. Where the hell are the men in design? Have they all passed out under the choking cloud of chevron, glitter, acrylic, gold, pink, and brass? Are they buried under furry pillows, floral prints and Moroccan everything? I’m dying to know how all the interior design lovers around the interwebs have rendered their men mute. Because I know the guy in my life would never let such an overtly feminized style fly.

And if I’m going to be honest, I kinda can’t stand they hyper-girlie design trends either. I find spaces grounded in thoughtful, yet practical design both refreshing and calming.

There are a few key elements to this look.

A less is more approach. If there’s one thing I’ve come to learn over the years, particularly now that we have a baby – you really don’t need a lot of stuff! Sticking to utilitarian pieces will serve you in the long term. Yes, you can accessorize with things that you truly love but the tchotchke is only something you have to dust (or keep out of little fingers’ reach!).

Only add pieces with meaning. When you have an empty space it can be very tempting to fill it. But instead or running to the nearest big box take a more considered approach. What do you really need? What do you really really love?

Prioritize function as well as form. There isn’t a lot of room for precious pieces in this kind of style. That doesn’t mean you can’t collect beatutiful pieces but there’s a lot to be said for a gorgeous leather ottoma that will petina with age or a marble coffee table that will stand the test of time.

I’m excited to keep these design mantras in mind to create a space that is as useful as it is beautiful. Here is my current furniture inspiration for the media room.

I see a cozy sectional that will be ready for lots of hours spent lounging. The key to making the room interesting is a variety of textures. Linen, leather, a wool rug, a cool textured mirror. I might sneak in a pop of metallic with a killer floor lamp, but we’ll have to see if that passes muster with my guy’s discerning design eye. With this insipiration in hand, I’m excited to move onto the next step – shopping!

Be sure to check out the rest of this week’s updates.

room image 1, room images 2

One Room Challenge Week 2: {Picking Paint}

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When it comes to paint colors I’ve always had two really strong preferences, in two very distinct extremes: bright white or way dark. Thankfully, when it came to our media room the hubby and I were {surprisingly!} in agreement. A bold dark color would create a cozy, yet dramatic atmosphere in the space. We want this room to make you stop and pause as you pass by the doorway. If you missed our inspiration images be sure to go back and check out the first One Room Challenge post!

The media makeover room has already come a long way. The plaster walls have all been floated with dry wall {the cracks and 140 year old plaster were just too crazy to try to deal with} and all the mudding, taping and priming are complete. Just having the primer up makes a world of difference in the room! It almost tempted me to leave it white. Almost.

I’m very clear that I want this room to be a deeply saturated dark gray; walls, trim, ceiling – all of it! But I didn’t know that finding the perfect dark gray paint is almost as hard as picking the perfect white! There are SO many options to choose from. I grabbed every Benjamin Moore fan deck I could get my hands on to start color comparing. I love Benjamin Moore’s Natura paint line. It has zero VOCs and zero emissions. I’ve used it for every room in the loft – it literally has no smell and the quality is fantastic.

Did you know lots of grays actually have a brown base? I really wasn’t aware. Others have a lot of green in them. And of course many have blue undertones. Looking through my options I wanted to stick with the cool gray color family. I like the truly neutral grays, but even with narrowing that down, it was still hard to choose. After hemming and hawing, I decided to try out two options; Gravel Gray and Almost Black.

Out of the can they hardly looked different from one another! But that will always play tricks on you. You never quite know what a color is going to look like until you get it up on your wall. So over to the house we went on a bright sunny afternoon when I knew there’d be tons of natural light streaming into the room. It’s the best way to see what a color is really going to do.

After the two options went up on the wall {two coats mind you} and dried the final result kind of surprised me! Can you guess which color is which? And, I’m curious. What option do you prefer? Granted, the camera doesn’t give you the full nuance of the color {I also recommend judging paint colors at different times throughout the day, from different angles – even when looking from a totally different room.} But I would love to hear your thoughts! I can’t wait to share the final reveal to see if we want we chose matches up to public opinion.

But for that, you’ll just have to check back in next week! In the meantime, don’t forget to get everyone else’s progress updates. There are SO many killer projects in this group!

TM by CIH

Introducing: The One Room Challenge!

Decor

While I’ve been waxing poetic about my design dreams for our Victorian for months now, today we’re kicking things into higher gear – with the One Room Challenge! You may have caught wind of this awesome series before. In it, 20 bloggers make over one room, blogging the process and sharing updates with you every Wednesday. I’m so excited to be joining this season’s crew. Obviously, this challenge is perfect for our current situation – we have boundless makeover needs on our hands. But what to focus on??

When looking around the Victorian, I immediately saw a room that deserved some focused attention. You see, the Victorian came with this lovely “parlour” space off of the living room. It could be a library. An office. A playroom perhaps. But I’m a huge fan of keeping the TV out of main living areas so when we looked at the most practical use for this room, it became immediately obvious – this little den could be where we can isolate all of our electronic distractions into a media room. Aka – our man cave! Well, man cave light. I like me some football too {and Scandal – let’s be real!}.

The parlour was delivered to us in such…ahem…lovely condition.

The marbled forest green trim really had me at hello. Ugh. But in all seriousness, this room actually has great bones. Under all the green paint, that original molding is stunning. The light in the room is lovely and the 12 foot ceilings are dramatic. In the grand scheme of our remodel, this room actually requires only cosmetic improvements {although I do have a couple of showstopper ideas in mind!}.

But let’s start with some inspiration. Since this room needs to be as guy friendly as possible dark, sophisticated color palettes are really catching my eye. Furniture should be cozy, luxe and layered but with a noticeable masculine edge.

I can just envision sinking into a plush couch, cocooned by a richly hued dark walls, velvet curtains pulled to enjoy Pitch Perfect 2! But first things first. We need to pick the perfect paint color. We’ve got to solidify the look {easier said then done when you’re melding his & hers styles}. Then we’ve got finalize a layout and select furnishings. And I’m excited to bring you along for all the fun!

So if you’ve been craving some serious design inspiration – you’ve definitely got something to keep you occupied for the next six weeks – 20 times over!! Be sure to check out the other bloggers participating in the series. If past challenges are any indication, you’re in for some seriously amazing makeovers. Be sure bookmark your favorites to follow along!

Arianna Belle
Because it’s Awesome
Coco+Kelley
Design Darling
Design Indulgence
Design Manifest
Christine Dovey
The English Room
Vanessa Francis
Hi Sugarplum
Honey We’re Home
Jojotastic
The Pink Clutch
The Pink Pagoda
Simplified Bee
Style Your Senses
A Thoughtful Place
Kimberly Whitman

The Zhush

TM by CIH

images via mlik magazine // arch daily // lotta agaton // la dolce vita blog

The One Room Challenge is Trademarked by Calling it Home

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