It's Week 2! If you have no idea what I'm talking about...
It's Week 2 of the One Room Challenge (ORC), typically a six week challenge for guest and featured interior designers to complete the design of an entire room; however, this spring it was kicked off in May instead of April and extended to eight weeks due to coinciding with a global pandemic and stay-at-home orders.
So here we are!
If you need a Week 1 refresher, click here to read about my decision to makeover our master bedroom. I was super hesitant to jump in and am now somewhat scrambling to essentially improvise a design concept and get it all implemented - all on a super tight budget.
Last week, I listed my "must haves" for the design. A couple of these I've since checked off:
New headboard (Check! It already arrived!)
Ceiling light fixture (Check! Maybe...)
And of the "nice-to-haves".....i.e.: the lower priority items within limitations of time, budget and/or availability.....this is what I've got:
Nightstands - more appropriately scaled, with adequate storage, preferably matching, in a style that works and at a price that doesn't break our shoestring budget. (Check! Can you believe it?! I can't believe it!)
Here's the new headboard in all its installed glory:
You know when you get a really great night's sleep and then wake up the next day and look in the mirror and think, "wow, I look so much better today...I didn't realize how tired I looked yesterday"? Yeah, me neither. But however that feels, I imagine it's similar to what I felt when the new headboard went up.
I mentioned last week that blindly ordering online can be a total crapshoot. I actually have clients sign off that they understand this before specifying products without seeing finish or fabric samples because, let me tell you, some real doozies have arrived, looking only vaguely like their internet photos (insert internet dating joke here).
If expectations are realistic, though, ordering inexpensive pieces from internet "e-tailers" can be a great way to makeover a tired, unwelcoming space on a budget. In my case, I mitigated risk by going for the "safest" color option. Also, since it was only one item and not a pair or set that must consistently match in color - I decided to hold my breath and go for it.
I couldn't be happier with the outcome! Would this headboard have been my first choice? Nope. Is it perfect? Nope.
My only real gripes are
the repetitive, noticeable indentations created in the foam by the nailheads (this wouldn't be as prominent in a higher quality piece) and
slight misalignment of the nailheads along the top - but I was mentally prepared for these kinds of imperfections given the price.
And I have to say - even knowing full well that the seemingly insignificant details really *can* matter for the outcome of a design - I'm still amazed that replacing a curvy, beige, upholstered headboard with another curvy, beige, upholstered headboard has already made such a difference in the feel of the room. This is one of the things I fretted over spending on.....but now I'm ready to keep pushing ahead.
Next up, I found a pair of nightstands on Facebook Marketplace!
Here's the dynamic duo:
I'm not sure if these were lovingly hand painted by someone but, as the daughter of an artist, I definitely feel a pang of guilt over what I'm about to say next: these will need to be repainted.
I'm not 100% sure yet what color they'll be but I'm leaning toward black.
It will ultimately depend on how other elements of the design continue to shape up and whether or not I decide to change the color of our existing, faux-bamboo dresser (currently navy blue).
The dresser is more "delicate" to me than the more robust nightstands, so I want to be careful that my color choices don't amplify this difference. They also share some similarities despite being different styles, so I want to be careful about how I approach this too. I don't want the end result to look like I'm trying to pass them off as matching.
Along with paint, I'll also replace the drawer handles. A few hardware options I rounded up:
As you can see, the finishes and styles all vary a bit -- and I haven't actually purchased any of these yet to see how they'll truly compare; this task is on my to-do list as I figure out the metal finishes I want in the room.
The nightstands will also need some doctoring underneath the drawers because they come flying out with abandon when opened. But we paid under $100 for the pair, which is completely reasonable considering the work they'll need.
Next...
Another item I *might* have checked off the list is a chandelier to replace our boring, builder-grade fan. This one is a BIG maybe. This was another MP find and, after having completely lost my mind trying to find something absurdly inexpensive that is NOT a boob light (more on boob lights below), and not otherwise wrong across every dimension, I accidentally happened upon a listing for a very sculptural looking, hanging light fixture.
It was described as "tree-like" which made me even more intrigued!
The price was within budget and since MP can be a pretty savage place (pro tip: accept that you'll be logged into MP place 24/7 to pounce within 3.5 seconds of an item you want being listed and always, always be ready to run out the door at a moment's notice - you should probably sleep with your wallet and pants on), I wasted NO time going after it.
Here's the chandy:
I'll be honest...it wasn't entirely what I expected and it peed out rusty water on our carpet when we brought it home, but I'm still enamored with it. It seems to have been in storage for a while as it has minor rust spots showing through the paint (the rust pee was also a clue) and will need fresh wiring to ensure it's safe to install. That aside, it's definitely not a direction I would have gone aesthetically without spotting it by chance - especially since I wasn't all that open to the traditional, "armed" chandelier look and am typically against leaving bulbs naked - so this piece is something I'm still exploring within the broader design.
Currently, my *biggest* hangup with this light (no pun intended) is also my biggest discovery.
In the process of perusing Google images for design inspiration with similar light fixtures....I discovered that my branchy, tree-like chandelier is actually intended to be......coral-like!
This is both amazing and confounding.
I've always been innately drawn to coastal aesthetics and find myself continually drawn to these types of pieces and art. So it's no wonder I accidentally bought something coastal inspired. Unfortunately, I don't live near an ocean and have to constantly reign in this unfulfilled desire....and since the room isn't overtly going a coastal direction, I'm weighing whether this fixture will blatantly read "coastal" once it's installed - and therefore seem out of left field.
I also have to be careful because the duvet cover is a very pale, sky-blue and can easily give off coastal vibes that could spill over into the rest of the design.
(Duvet cover:)
And now as promised, an explanation of a "boob light".
I give you, exhibit A:
No further explanation necessary. These are all over MP and CL like builder-grade, female-anatomy landmines. Apparently, I'm not alone in my dislike of having a boob or two on the ceiling, but my personal observation is that contractors love to install them. Imagine that.
It's possible that by the time I found the chandelier, anything but boobs looked perfect, but I think it's probably just an awesome fixture with tons of style potential. Whether it's right for our room, though....TBD.
I hope you'll follow along for week 3 to see the concept I'm pulling together...!
I've been continuing to build on my initial color palette I started last week and am really excited about how it's evolving!
For a week 1 refresher, click here or on the image below.
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