Finally!!!! It is time to share my One Room Challenge! If you are new here I basically took a long long break from blogging and decided it was time to jump into my creative juices & join this challenge! I am a local Las Vegas Native with family from Morrocco, Paris, & around the globe. I am a lover of vintage and the founder of ThriftersAnonymous here in the blogosphere and Youtube where my bff and I take you on thrifting adventures around Las Vegas & more! You may have seen me on Season 11 and 12 of Storage Wars on A&E & local news sharing my thrifted finds & tips. My BFF and I started a new company called Throw It In the Cart and we are determined to change the world. I AM ADDICTED to Home Decor & find myself holding on to all of my families treasures. I am no designer but love creating a story within our home. I finally decided that I was going to make time to finally share who I am and what is going on in this crazy mind of mine. No more random furniture and chairs and "old stuff"...it is time for me to get things done. THUS...the One Room Challenge. 8 weeks to finish a room...I set my own rules and while I didn't finish all the things...
I am IN LOVE! I did this with the help of my hubby! I decided I wanted to do a nursery for our 2nd child back in February and we lost the baby after 7 weeks. I didn't give up and decided to work on a space that not only would work as a guest bedroom but a space that would make us feel calm and allow for an escape, a place to get creative, take a nap, read a book. A place to store our treasures, our families treasures, a place I can create.. I know there was a lot of pressure...but I was excited.
See my progress from week to week here: week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6, week 7
This room used to be a guest bedroom that we never went into and guests rarely stayed in haha THEN it was the beginning of Black Raven Films/Office , then back to a guest bedroom. So we now needed to merge them..so please let me welcome you to my creative global eclectic office/guest bedroom/sewing room!
I will be sharing more in a follow up blog post with more detail pics but this took so long I just wanted to get this up here!!
SO...Here are a few of my favorite things that I added to this space and where I got them!
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ADDING WALLPAPER: The design for this room started when I saw this wallpaper from Milton & King. I did order a few samples to make sure as they are all so beautiful! But I inevitable went with what I had originally wanted! When they wanted to work with me and send me the wallpaper for no charge I immediately got nervous and started to get nervous...but I knew that as long as I trusted my gut and feelings of what and how I created this space it would look amazing! I do feel like the use of wallpaper really allowed for me to create a space within a space. I was pretty stubborn when it came to it and was determined. I am all about interesting and evoking an emotion so yes I could have just painted it the blue but that would not have given you that WOW!
MIRROR OBSESSION: I LOVE mirrors...I also don't plat it by the rules..and there are so many in design it makes me pissed. This beautiful mirror was in a locker I believe Season 12 of Storage Wars that Edwina and I were in and we bid on it because of it! I was obsessed with it from the day we got it...I didn't want to sell it haha I priced it like $300 over what it should just so no one would it haha
It worked. haha
BUILDING BUILT INS: I knew I wanted to create built in bookshelves to hold all of our books & finds from all of our travels and family passed down. This was something my hubby was excited to do & took this as his baby for the room! They turned out amazing!! We used lights from Amazon to plug in and he added outlets and made sure the switch worked to turn them off and on. We added crown molding that I thought really tied it beautifully! The cabinets for storage are not complete yet so stay tuned for those!!!
GO BOLD: I also knew that I wanted it to be blue... I sampled like 8 colors and dwindled it down to 3. You can see Week 6 I believe for the swatches...but I decided on HALE NAVY by Benjamin Moore. I used Eggshell for the built ins and Ultra Matte for the walls!
For those who know me you know that my favorite color is blue...If I had it my way our whole home would be shades of blue haha I live in Vegas and everything is beige. EVERYTHING Everyone is always painting everything white and everything is so neutral don't get me wrong I think that neutral speaks to me in different ways...but this room...this room needed the calming thought provoking color.
FURNITURE THAT HAS 2 USES & INSPIRES: It took me like 5 weeks to decide on a color but I will say I knew I was going to go with a darker blue...but prior to all of it I decided I wouldn't be buying the custom sleeper couch that was over $5,000 ...I wanted to really stick to a budget and spend the money on items that I thought would be worth it. So I scoured facebook marketplace and stumbled upon this vintage Sleeper...and man did it make my heart sing...it was totally opposite of my initial direction..but I was willing to take the risk! $100 later I was so happy I did!
I also picked up these mid century birds & fell in love with them!!
SHOP YOUR OWN HOME: Now...for some of my unexpected favorites. See not everything was finished...with a 7 day hiatus from the challenge and our lab Sampson who has been declining, my cat who was diagnosed with kidney failure and work that just seems to be getting more difficult we just ran out of time. SO I did what I do best. I shopped my own home..literally. Almost everything you see in this small cove where I will be sewing and creating is from my home! the rattan light fixture is a vintage find from Faith Lutheran $14.99. I think you can even see me find it on my youtube ThriftersAnonymous! The desk is from Deseret Industries and thank you to Edwina for picking it up for me! $7! all of the items on the desk were finds and the African pieces on the side were from Marshalls over 15 years ago! The chair is an antique Leg O Matic folding chair I found for $4 at Jover Art another video on Youtube! I replaced the knobs with these beautiful stone knobs will be getting some close ups for you guys..not what I intended but I actually love it!
THE RIGHT RUG: The Oldest item may just be this rug I ordered all the way from Turkey. I had to have the women cut it down which ended up removing some of the design I wanted but in the end I really love it. It is the perfect mix of old, a hint of a design that doesn't clash with the couch. It is thin enough to roll my chair but with a rug pad allows a nice feel under your feet!
RE-UPHOLSTER & RE-USE: I was so frustrated with my hunt for an ottoman I actually wanted 2 but the ones online were ridiculous like $300 so I went thrifting. I did find a pair but was delirious and let them go you would have seen that episode on our youtube channel. So I shopped my home and found one that I re-upholstered. I kind of lazy did it and didn't end up finishing . I will be adding these antique wheels to it and more brass pins...but for now it is doing the trick. there just isn't enough space for two so I opted for 1.
These are also his art prints & I AM OBSESSED! I have a few more I have to get up and will share in another update!
DIY FRAME MOLDING: I have wanted to do this for so long & finally just did it! With the help of my hubby of coarse...it is probably one of my favorite elements and was so easy! The miter saw helped tremendously...so don't be shocked if you see this in our home for future rooms! SENTIMENTAL ITEMS: I have a beautiful collection of items from family and love showcasing them! Will share more but for now I used some frames from my grandmother, grandfather, vases from my mom's flower shop, pieces I have collected in my travels & more!
I'd like to take a moment to thank a few people. First those who helped to put this challenge together! Wow. It was amazing and thank you so much for all the work you put in!! What an incredible community! I didn't get to meet too many because my time was crazy...but it was so awesome! The other transformations are so inspiring!!!
Secondly, I'd like to thank my husband. This whole challenge would not have even been possible without him. He built the built ins from scratch...helped me cut the molding, applied the molding, installed my lighting, & encouraged me. While nursing our lab, late nights, no sleep...He remained calm during my indecisiveness, & so much more! I still have a lot to share and will be giving you a live tour very soon! Until then! Go & create that space you have always wanted. No matter what anyone says,..set a deadline...& stick to it. It will be worth every second!
Thank you all for the love!
