My 9th-ish ORC and WASH Your Hands!

Racing for the finish line here at the last-ish moment!! 

This is my 9th-ish ORC and the smallest by far - just 65" square! 

You'd think I could have finished sooner :)

 

Our downstairs Powder Room. 

We were without a working sink in our only first level bathroom for the bulk of the Pandemic. 

Perhaps not the best choice but that's how we roll!

The before wasn't awful but now that this ORC is complete I realize it really did need a bit of a refresh and update. We were sheltering in place so I used what I had on hand and made only a couple of online orders and my husband, who was out and about being "essential," did two curbside pick-ups for me. 

This One Room Challenge presented the challenge of being locked down and getting creative with what we had on hand. Are there things that could have been "more" or better? Yes. But is our Powder Room better than when we started and are we happy with it? 

Yes. So, that is enough. 

And a valuable lesson too. 

It's nice to have a fresh look because we are spending still spending our time at home.

So, here we let's see what we accomplished...

It all started with the desire to use a gold/ochre color in this space and a partial bolt of fabric I had previously thrifted and then didn't use where I thought I might. It matched my favorite gold/ochre Sherwin Williams color - Anjou Pear. So we were off to a good start.

Is this the fabric I would have chosen if I had been in my favorite fabric store? 

Probably not but it is the color I wanted to use, has a bit of a chinoiserie feel 

and I had thrifted a large roll of it for $4.00. 

In the end, I love it in the room.

The biggest change, our only major expense, was a new vanity. Our old 80's cabinet was built into the corner and was large and clunky and the countertop and sink had been past their prime for ages. I had painted, faux marbled, done everything I could to make it appear far nicer than it was. 

We arranged a curbside pick up for a very reasonably priced, very plain base cabinet. Is this my dream bathroom vanity? Again, no, but in uncertain times being frugal seemed the best move and this one is perfectly acceptable and a vast, vast improvement over the previous one. 

And it was in stock and easily picked up from Home Depot. 

(The brass container I use as a trash can is old and has some wear but  is beautifully etched with a chinoiserie design)

We had a few demo/reconstruction issues and one was that the old base did not have flooring under it so we patched the hardwoods and I used paint on hand to create the floor treatment I had been wanting to do in there forever!

Black and white check floor. It is my favorite floor design of all time and is so versatile and classic. It can look chic, high end, Parisian, or farmhouse depending on what you pair it with. 

It is a lot of taping and dry time in between to achieve the crisp lines wanted but I think it's worth it and we love it.

Mollie was going to help pull tape when I finally(!) finished the floor

 but Cooper beat her to it!

Everything else (except the hand towels) came from shopping the house 

and using as is or doing a little DIY with paint and such. 

I bought the hand towels on a masked, socially distanced trip to pick up a needed prescription called in to the wrong place which happened to be Target! So while waiting for the prescription confusion to be sorted out I bought the extra hand towels. 

The vintage bamboo towel rack was thrifted before the Pandemic.

Never, ever underestimate the ugly lamp. 

I had been holding on to this monkey lamp for a while. 

I'm a firm believer that glossy white spray paint improves everything.

A couple of coats of my favorite extra high gloss white spray paint and a brand new fabric covered shade and the ugly lamp is a thing of the past!

The vintage bamboo shelf and artwork were in the Powder Room previously. The diffuser is by Better Homes and Gardens and came from Wal Mart. It makes the room smell like a spa and will be so nice when we have guests again!

Things on the bamboo shelf were gathered up from around the house and given a home in the Powder Room. I tucked in a little artwork from a trip to Turks and Caicos (remember travel??), 

a sweetgrass basket from Charleston and thrifted blue and white pieces. 

I'm not a fan of toilet paper holders that are mounted on the wall ( nobody replaces the roll anyway) so I decided to toss our TP in a big blue and white bowl on the bamboo shelf.

The vintage wicker suitcase conveniently hold more rolls.

The bamboo mirror was in the Powder Room previously as well. It was thrifted years ago and when we went to hang it up it was so tall that we couldn't have a light fixture above it. We installed an energy efficient, highly effective recessed light in the ceiling above the vanity. I generally turn on the lamp when we have guests and I like not having a light fixture that collects dust and is hard to reach to clean. 

I haven't missed having a light fixture in here at all.

The white garden stool was also in this bathroom previously. I did find the fabulous planter head on FB Marketplace a few weeks ago and I made a masked, outdoors pick up because I wanted her for this bathroom soooo much and we were ready for a little outing. It was perfectly safe and the sweet gentleman reminded me to use hand sanitizer when I got back in my car!

The large picture over the toilet is a print of a fern cyanotype from the Biodiversity Library. 

The images are free and I ordered the enlargement online from Walgreens. It was less than $15.00 for that amazing print. I didn't have a 24 x 36 inch gold frame at home but I had a black one and some gold spray paint on hand!

I don't have anything on the wall behind the door. I just couldn't make up my mind. I had a gallery wall of travel photos there previously. I wanted something visually simpler this time. I thought about another cyanotype of a fern. I love ferns and grow huge ones on the porch each Summer. But that just wasn't it. And then 2 days ago I figured it out! So technically, the room isn't finished. I'm waiting on an online order. I'll be sure to share on my IG when it arrives and is in the Powder Room!

Thank you for stopping by!!

Be sure to see all of the other finished spaces here.

Thank you to Linda for hosting the One Room Challenge. It is always great fun to participate in and so exciting to have a fresh, improved space at the end but this ORC was an especially welcome diversion during this pandemic induced lockdown.

We are thankful to have a safe, comfortable home in these difficult times 

and are aware that others do not. 

I did not enter into this ORC lightly.

Fall 2016 One Room Challenge - Week 5

Progress and Perspective.

Well, it's week 5.

Things should be wrapping up, details fine tuned

 and photos being taken in the next day or so.

There has been some progress in our Master Bathroom project

 and I'll share a few sneak peeks below.

But first, Perspective.

This is (hopefully) posting automatically. I am on an Emergency Relief site in Bluffton, SC where we are doing "mud outs" on Hurricane Matthew ravaged homes. Weeks after the "big news" of Hurricane Matthew people are still knee deep in mud - literally!

 

This is everything this family owns.  Everything. Just waiting for debris removal trucks.

Their Master Bathroom.

Perspective. 

I hope you'll enjoy my progress shots and check back at some point to see my room finished after I complete my "mud out" adventure.

I'm not sure it will be by the deadline.

First, I chose this gorgeous, amazing, I'm obsessed fabric
 for a little shower curtain thing I'm doing.
 I took this in the store with my iphone and it looks waaaay "red-er" than it is.
 It looks fab with the coral bamboo cabinet.

Can we just take a moment?

It was on sale - yippee! 
And it is a historical piece from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation 
which is pretty appropriate.
I grew up in the DC area and my parents often took us to Williamsburg for fun weekends. We went during all the "seasons" including Christmas and many of my fond childhood memories are of those trips. And the cookies from the bakery. 
And then my Mom and Dad took us again when Mollie was young and "in to" American Girls Dolls - complete with a Mollie sized Felicity dress and cap!! All of the "residents" of Colonial Williamsburg stopped to talk to Mollie as if she were one of them. Such a great memory for Mollie!

The cabinets are white. Again.

(How many times will she paint these cabinets?? (QoftheD!)

The tape is still on the baseboards and I had a moment with the drill 
so you can see I will be touching up a couple of places. OY!

But aren't they pretty?
I wanted bamboo pulls and knobs but they were so expensive and, again, perspective triumphs. If I ever find some for less than $20.00 or more each then maybe!
These were on sale at Homegoods for $9.99 and they look gorgeous against the glossy white. 
I sprayed my old hinges to match. 
#usewhatyouhave

Here's one corner that is relatively together and clean. I try to look that way most of the time. Makes me feel better about the unchecked items on the to-do list!

And then there is this little sneak peek of lamp love.

And I'm still deciding about the salon/gallery wall over the tub.
So I went to the BIG GUNS for inspiration.

House Beautiful:

Stuart Membery's Loo.

You may remember I want to live at Monkey Palm in Bali.

#obsessedwithstuartmembery

Chairish:

and of course, One King's Lane and my original inspiration pic:



Be sure to visit Calling It Home Blog
 and see how things are looking with everyone nearing the finish line!!

Reveal: Black Is Back Library One Room Challenge!

I'm late posting and super impressed with the 150+ bloggers who posted bright and early on "reveal day."

I hope you like the quote above and I hope you agree that while the post is late,

The Black Is Back Library did not arrive "ugly!!"

At least we don't think so.

We are #obsessed.

Some things changed, some got dropped, some evolved,

but let's face it, at my house everything is a work in progress... including me!

Enough with the chatting.

Here goes photo overload.
(and this room was tough to photograph - it doesn't get much sunlight and it was pouring rain when I finally got it together to take some pics. 
Oh well, #cozy )

The walls were already black (and it was a Dining Room in it's previous life.)
They have been black for over 10 years. In a house with white walls everywhere else!
But I painted the trim, including window trim,
 the same glossy Sherwin Williams Tricorn black.
#gamechanger

Everything is black including the bookshelves.



The view into the Library from the front door!

There was a plan for a certain art project to hang above the family heirloom desk.
 It didn't happen yet so the big gold frame is going to hang there for a while until art happens.
 It's kind of like the unfinished portrait of George Washington except way less impressive.

Well, the unfinished part is the same :)

We had the books but pretty much everything else was thrifted!! I know, right?

We painted the existing chandelier a fabulous Rustoleum pinky-coral and updated it with round bulbs.

The zebra rug from the original plan was awesome but Mollie and I found this rug a few days ago and she said, "Get it now. It's perfect for the room!!"

 I did not know that the coffee table or the bamboo bench would end up in this room until one week ago today. They just worked and both were currently homeless and needing new spots in the house. Who knew?
#usewhatyouhave

And a little teaser of how cozy it will be to read a good book in front of the fire 

when Winter rolls around again!

 These bookcases are meant to house our books but they also work as my command center to handle all the details and mounds of paper that are part of everyday life. The bamboo office organizer and baskets were bought at thrift and consignment shops to hold all of our "stuff" in an attractive way.
So our shelves aren't just for books or shelfies - they are hard workers.

This chairs' seat fabric was inspired by the "palm leaf trend"
(I'm  always about palm leaf fabric trend or not!) all over One Kings Lane  right now. 
And by the fact that I already had it and have dragged it out for 2 previous ORC's. #usewhatyouhave

The curtains are a Bermuda Triangle type event where bad math done while rushing through a store, IKEA curtains that shrunk unevenly and blue ikat fabric that I already had intersected. Even though the bottoms were supposed to be the coral buffalo check I am very pleased with the post- Bermuda Triangle curtain disaster :)
#usewhatyouhave

I knew I wanted to cram the mantel full of blue and white but since each chair needed good reading light I knew a lamp would have to perch on the mantel as well. It is "camouflaged" with a new chinoiserie shade in blue and white!
#tricky

The chinoiserie pillows are made from fabric that I fell for at a local warehouse.

I wish the pictures really did this glossy black library justice but we love it and can't wait to use it on a regular basis. 
If anyone is interested in sources I'll be happy to post them soon. 
Whew!!!! This ORC is finally finished!

Thank you Linda for such a fun "challenge!!!"

Week 5 One Room Challenge!

 Week 5.

Cannot bear to type that!

I have finished painting the windows and window trim but not all of the trim in the room.

 Windows are scraped. Yay.

#no small thing.

Are you a taper or a scraper?

(aaaaand I need to get in the front yard and pull some weeds...)

Bamboo blinds found, purchased and hung. Check!
Deal of the century at Home Depot.

Looked there for the #motherdaughter ORC and couldn't find a thing.

This time major success!

 I have been tweaking the original fabric choices a little.

And changing my mind on the window treatment situation just a little.

 I'm still starting with inexpensive IKEA curtains. They were purchased yesterday.

 Some sewing still has to happen.

#fingerscrossed

(Does it concern anyone that black zip ties are part of my window treatment plan??)

My panic item on the"to do" list is that I have not even begun painting
 the white shelves black.
See still white. And still full of stuff!

That is major.

 We need some serious drying time in our humid weather

 before we put books back on freshly painted shelves.
 I just don't know y'all!
The luxury would be to buy 2 more of the basic black IKEA shelves to match the ones on the opposite wall. However, the white ones are perfectly fine except for the fact they are white and not black. #firstworldprobs
So frugality will win out and we will hope for a painting miracle :)
cause no humidity in Atlanta in May would take a miracle!

Waaaay less has happened than should have.

I was in charge of two large events at work in the last 3 weeks. 
Both occurred on  weekends so not much happened at home.
 I'm not sure how "finished" this room is going to be next week :(

(War zone pics to make everyone else feel better!!. You're welcome!)

And photographing a black room is proving to be tricky!

Any tips??
And if it wasn't tricky enough we took down the brass chandelier ( light source)
 last night on a whim.
#unplannedproject

 (cause I'm not behind enough already!!!)

Look at that glossy black trim, though!!! It's killer!

Check out the rest of the ORC Guest Bloggers.
 Many of them have waaaay more interesting things to report than I do :)

See you next week to "reveal" whatever is ready!!!