This has been slow going and there hasn’t been a lot to show up until this point but it was so awful to begin with that I feel like every little thing is great progress! Or that’s what I keep telling myself!
I have painted everything white that needed to be fresh, glossy white including the swinging bed and now I’ve moved on to the gorgeous green floor.
We have had a green porch floor for years but a friend recently gifted me with Amanda Lindroth's book Island Hopping and I'm obsessed. Like, can't put it down. And it confirmed that this fabulous green was just the color we needed for our porch floor!
I have a thrifted, vintage bamboo mirror for the fireplace wall.
And I’m covering a lampshade.
And that's about it. Here's hoping I get a lot completed in one week!! See more ORC participants here.
This week is all about painting plus my inspiration and direction for this ORC challenge.
The "befores." It can only get better! (if you are just joining in you can read here how this space ended up in such a sad state!)
First up - paint.
The roof repairs are finished and the ceiling got a coat of blue paint.
In the South we paint our porch ceilings soft, pale blue.
It's a Southern gal's Southern porch so the ceiling is blue - it's a given with me.
SW Swimming it is!
I know it doesn't look like much progress but
it's been so messy and overwhelming for so long that this coat of blue paint has really given me hope that this porch will be looking so much better in a few short weeks!!
Next up, last (yes, last) November I found this beauty:
It was sitting in front of my Restore/Habitat for Humanity Store.
I did not "need" it. The porch was under a layer of tarps.
It was in perfect condition. Perfect.
It was 50% off furniture day. This wicker lounge was marked $120.00
(already a great deal - it's huge and beautifully upholstered in this creamy yellow chinoiserie fabric)
and it was marked through and labeled $60.00.
So I figured that was the 1/2 price already marked.
Nope!
It was an additional 50% off.
Yep, it was $30.00.
Okey dokey, coming home with me.
So this chaise is hopefully going to find it's rightful spot on this area of my porch. There is already a swinging bed on one side and it is staying, definitely staying.
It is the best reading/napping spot ever.
So we have to make the two work together in the space.
(a picture from before the leak invaded the porch!)
And see the fireplace on the center back wall? And the gas insert just sitting there?
My husband found the gas insert at Restore at a different time. We want to fit the gas insert into the antique mantel/faux fireplace we have had on the porch for years.
I will want to orient the wicker lounge chair and the swinging bed toward the fireplace.
The swinging bed used to hang across the opening but we have moved it to the side of the space to allow for better furniture arrangement. Still plenty of room to gently swing and relax! And then I'm hoping to add a few of these elements in a variety of ways so stay tuned! Maybe a little zebra ... Some floor paint...
Bamboo, elephants and blue and white are always welcome on my porch! And some fabulous fabrics for pillows... I'm scheming this week! Follow along on my Instagram and Facebook as well!! And be sure to see what all of the other ORC Guests are working on here.
The unplanned floor refinishing project consumed most of the week.
Because drying time. And rain in Atlanta. So humidity.
Due to my absence last week, the weight of this big old piece and time issues we had to do the floor in stages. The area under the dresser will happen quickly once the last coat of poly dries on the rest of the floor. It's a little inconvenient but it makes for a great before and after shot and who doesn't love visible proof that a DIY turned out great!!?
Look at the deep, rich color the floor is now vs. that awful yellow-y strip!
It is A-OK because they look amazing in their new dark stain.
We keep wandering around asking why we didn't do this years ago.
Anyway, unplanned and time consuming, but worth it.
And we started before we knew that there was going to be a week extension on the deadline. (Why did that never happen to me in college??)
So, it's working out well. If this seems like a run on sentence or a little less than precise for this stage in the ORC please remember that it finally cooled off here in Atlanta and we timed having to close up the house perfectly with coating the entryway floor with heavy duty polyurethane every night. We are a little loopy. And sore. Because when the floor is wet we have to jump from the steps to the Library and miss landing on the wet floor Or stay upstairs. I told you - loopy from the fumes. :) #challengeaccepted
I've purchased some fabric.
But now due to a possible rug situation I am wavering. I need the floors to be finished!! I need to get in there!
So here's "the list:"
1. Stain the floor (stained - now watching poly dry )
2. Continue looking for rug. (I may be on to something)
3. Add fabric border to the bottom of the curtains
4. Pillows for Brighton chairs.
5. Paint hall tree
6. Paint back of front door - something fun that works with fabric and rug which is TBD :(
7. Decide on accessories for the chest - they are in front of the mirror.
8. Decide on accessories for Brighton table
9. I want a plant in there somewhere...
I promise to have something-anything- more exciting next week.
And a decent picture even if it isn't mine :) See what everyone else is actually accomplishing here!
This is always. always the week that I have very little excitement to post.
In addition, I am currently in Virginia.
Which is beautiful with fall color and cool, crisp air.
Look at that sky with those colorful trees.
So, I am not home getting anything done.
But I'm not without some progress to report.
My handy husband is at home stripping the finish off
of the long time disliked yellow-y oak floors.
Some of you may be thinking to yourself, "I don't remember any mention of redoing the floors in the previous ORC posts or the design board."
BINGO!
You are correct.
Since I have been dragging my heels on the fabric decision, am out of town and haven't accomplished much except to do other non-ORC related projects I decided to add refinishing the floor to the "list."
The To-Do List
1. Stain the floor
2. Continue looking for rug. (I may be on to something)
3. Add fabric border to the bottom of the curtains
4. Pillows for Brighton chairs.
5. Paint hall tree
6. Paint back of front door - something fun that works with fabric and rug which are TBD :(
7. Decide on accessories for the chest - they are in front of the mirror.
8. Decide on accessories fro Brighton table
9. I want a plant in there somewhere...
Be sure to check out all the progress on other ORC rooms here.
So, I'm inspired - white mirror on white wall it is. And one more time - since I left it out of Week 1 and had to cram it in to a Bamboo Friday post - here is my Inspiration Board. It's a bit bare but it IS the starting point:
Be sure to follow my progress in real time on Instagram
(or see what I'm doing while procrastinating on my ORC!)
I have chosen to freshen up our foyer - entryway, if you will. It's the first room you see in a home. so in the words of the famous Julie Andrews- "Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start." #doremi
There are some things we like and will stay.
There's something I don't like but it has to stay because I don't live alone... so, there's that ;)
And the foyer really needs whatever it is it needs (?) to perk it up,
to take it to the next level and to just pull it together.
The obligatory "Befores":
When you walk in the front door this is what you see.
They've been rewired and I love them there. Things staying (I am pretty sure): dresser, elephant on the left, green chinoiserie lamps. Things that might move: prints, accessories on the dresser.
"The Herd" isn't staying.
The largest one on the far left is mine but the others have gone off to the shop @elizabethandpayne
Next. Standing at the front door looking right.
There are French doors to the right.
A few years ago I "DIY mirrored" them.
More on that later.
(The chair and the Amazon boxes were just there temporarily.)
And there is the thing I don't like - the hall tree full of hats.
But my husband wants.it.there. #staying
I have white IKEA curtains across the front door.
They are a game changer. I've had them at least 5 years.
We can pull them for privacy at night and to block out brutal Summer sunshine that would fade artwork, etc. They are great in the Winter - they actually block some of the cold.
They have actually changed our heating and cooling bills.
They could use something - trim, painted stripes, a band of colorful fabric on the bottom. And the curtain rod could be improved upon. It's plain Jane from IKEA.
All possibilities but the curtains must stay - they are so functional.
Here they are pulled (not neatly, I might add #keepingitreal) on a sunny afternoon.
They puddle but maybe I should shorten them a tad? They just look messy because they get moved so much.
On the same wall is a mirror and some of my Haitian art collection.
The bamboo mirror was a thrifting find and I painted it yellow.
Below the mirror is the "challenge" part
of this One Room Challenge...
I found this pair of amazing, fabulous, dream come true Brighton Pavilion Style bamboo chairs and table a couple of months ago.
We were leaving on a mission trip the next day so Mollie and I ran to meet the seller and brought them home.
I had intended for the entire set to go on that wall.
But, guess what?
They are bigger than I realized and do not fit.
I don't want to break them up so I am trying to be tricky and try to incorporate one into the Library where the green bamboo chair used to be and use the table and 1 chair in the foyer.
The set will run along the wall but actually be in two rooms.
I will need to figure out how to make this work and not look disjointed or just plain terrible.
I don't know if I can pull it off or not.
It would be easier if the flooring did not change but, of course, it does!
Fabric or pillows may be the solution to creating cohesiveness.
The room is actually very neutral and may benefit from some more layering.
The walls are white and I'm still liking my clean white walls.
This room opens onto the only non-white walled room on our first level.
The walls are glossy black and there is a lot of color in that room.
Something to take in to consideration.
This is what you see when you walk into the front door and look through the opening on the left side of the foyer at the bottom of the stairs:
(Oh, and the rug has changed since this picture was taken.)
A friend gave me this rug that she did not like and it had barely been walked on. Literally. (I now think the blue ikat on the bottom of the curtains needs to change but that's for another time!)
The second Brighton chair will sit where the green bamboo chair is in the picture.
Whew. That's a lot to take in.
And it's a bit confusing so here is a quick little sketch to help you visualize the whole thing:
In true ORC fashion,
things are bound to change on the daily so follow along
