One Room Challenge. One More Time. Half Time.

This will be my 5th ORC.

One Library. One guest bedroom.  Mollie's bathroom and Master bathroom.

Four rooms greatly improved by this awesome event.

I have plenty of rooms that need ORC caliber attention.

But life is a tad nutty right now
and I'm going to be out of town 3 or so of the 6 weeks of this ORC
 so I'm going to go back and give my first ORC the finishing touches it truly needs.
Is she crazy?? Half the time??
Or maybe you are thinking  I'm lame
 to go back and tweak a room that has all the hard stuff already done.
But I just love the challenge of the ORC and don't want to miss out!


During my first ORC I underestimated my 5 week time frame,
spent too long mucking the junk out and painting the walls white



to really give it the final zhush it needs.
I talked about being an 85%-er when it comes to the final, final details
 and that was so true with this room.
So this is the 'before.'
We are starting where the I left off.



I still love my previous inspiration rooms but I also have a few new images that I'm inspired by.

Maybe I can tweak a few things in my "half the time ORC."

I love this pic from IG which is of the Caspari shop in Charlottesvillle, VA.



So maybe more pillow variety. Looser arrangement?
I love the orange chinoiserie on the bed. 
I love white bedding that I chose previously but this is fun!




And art.
I painted a large blue and white vase with coral in it the night before the reveal



(that's how things go sometimes) and it's the only art in there.
That's bananas!!

I feel like a big fabulous gallery wall around this armoire might be just the thing!
Lots of vintage and thrifted bamboo frames would make my day!



Remember this gallery wall?

I have this fabulous thrifted chair...



I block printed some fabric that became curtains in a #secretproject (still to be revealed)
so I might want to print some to use in this room
 (I must remember I only have 3 weeks to pull this off!)
And as always the game plan is more creativity than cash!



So follow along here and on my Instagram and see what I can pull off in my "half the time ORC!"


Thank you Linda for this event and all the inspiration and motivation it creates.

Back To My Roots...

This is not about genealogy.

It's about fabric. 

And paint.

Pigment. Dye. Whatever the choice may be.

I have a Bachelor of Visual Arts in Surface Design.

What I do in my daily job has zero to do with design.

(This is a peek at my "knock-off" project)

So, given the fact that my parents spent a fortune on my design degree 
(Thanks Mom and Dad!)
 and I'm not using it to earn a living I decided to go back to my roots.

And hand paint some fabric to use on a project.

I call this my #secretproject on IG.
I'll be able to share more soon but for now we will talk about jazzing up plain sheets or yardage for about $1.27. Yep, $1.27.

I used my jazzed up sheets as curtains and you'll find out why soon. 
I also used this process to perk up some pillowcases.

First, here is an idea of my inspiration textiles.

via

 I am loving the hand painted/hand blocked  fabrics 
that are everywhere in decor these days.





 
via

Here's what I did.
This is definitely a "do as I say not as I do" tutorial. ;)

I started late at night because that's how I roll 
and it makes taking "good blogger" photos harder. But this is what we have!

I draped my kitchen table in plastic dropcloths because it was really cold the 3 days I had to work on this so the big table on the porch was not an option.

I gathered up supplies.

My recycled palette - Chic Fil A Catering Nugget Tray, foam roller, and Sherwin Williams Acrylic Latex in the perfect blue.

I know all about textile medium and extender but I have lots and lots and lots of clothes with latex house paint on them and it doesn't wash out. So I feel good about skipping the textile medium on this project. And if they faded slightly it would only add to the handblocked look.

And it's 11:30 at night, so there's that. 
I compromise with myself very easily late at night.

There's the $1.27 stamp. 

Roll a thin coat of paint on the stamp and start stamping.

Again, the sheets or yardage should have been pressed (or at least tumbled- yikes) but it did not matter for the "look" I was after so I lazily skipped that step.

I just eyed the repeat pattern and did not worry about the stamp image being "perfect" every time. I wanted a hand made, worn type of look. I wanted that Anthro vibe for these.

I just kept stamping, blow drying, shifting the sheet and stamping some more

 until all the sheets were finished.

And the next morning everything looked pretty good in the daylight!
Off they went to the #secretproject, ironed and crisp looking!
(There will be a full reveal!! Soon.)

 And then I pulled out my favorite Sherwin Williams green paint - Talipot Palm - and decided to go green on a couple of sheets and pillowcases
 for the #secretproject with another $1.27 foam stamp.

I love the green, too!
Grab a foam stamp and some leftover paint and give something solid a new look!
It's fun!

UPDATE: The latest issue of Country Living had this great feature on block printing!!
Check it out!



*I am not affiliated or compensated ( too bad!) by Country Living magazine. 
I just wanted to share.

UPDATE: Be sure to check out my most recent hand blockprinting project here.

Fall 2016 One Room Challenge - Week 4

This is the ongoing list on my iphone.

I feel like there should be more check marks :)

However several things are right there - hanging in the balance -

 allllmost ready to be checked off!!

    Good thing. 

There's a lot that looks like this:

 

And I went looking for fabrics again because the one I loved online was not "IT" in person.

Below are some contenders:

I have decided and it's on sale!!

 I just need a few minutes to hit my local store and grab it. 

I cannot wait to see it in the room!

Be sure to follow everyone's progress on Linda's blog, Calling It Home!! 

I can't wait to see how far along everyone is!!

Fall 2016 One Room Challenge - Week 3

I am scarily calm about this.

I'm not sure why.

Because the Master Bathroom is scarily a mess!!

The giant mirror is down and the 80's wallpaper is there for all to see. 

I shared how I feel about 80's wallpaper on my Instagram this week.

White paint headed that way!

 There is one of the fabulous thrifted bamboo mirrors temporarily propped on the counter so we can leave in the morning knowing we've brushed everything that should be brushed and I have both earrings in!

I did clear out the tub.

 Had to find a new storage spot for my bamboo mirror stash 

but we are doing some electrical and they were in the way of the ladder.

The cabinets are still gray.

 I should be more concerned about this. 

And the floor is covered in drywall dust which is luckily the color of our carpet.

 So there's that. 

I did spend some productive time looking at fabric to use in a shower curtain hack. 

I'm in love with several. 

Price might be the deciding factor, I'm sorry to say.

#reallife

And I worked on this mirror a bit.

 But not a lot :)

See? 

Waaaay to calm for the number of weeks left on this shindig!

Be sure to check out all the other room transformations on Linda's blog, Calling It Home!