One Room Challenge Spring 2016 | Week 5
It’s been a productive week here Chez Moi with lots of goodness rolling in and all the pretty starting to take shape. If you follow me on Instagram you’ll have seen some of the details as they’ve arrived, including our STUNNING new Essex chairs from Whittington & Co which arrived yesterday. Friends, I am smitten beyond words. These chairs sit perfectly, the result of the pitch being so carefully designed and the envelope cushion construction on the seating being so flawlessly crafted. Noah curled up in one the moment he got home from school and declared he was never getting out of it because it was the most comfortable chair he’s ever sat in. He isn’t wrong.
Beyond being impossibly comfortable and incredibly gorgeous, these chairs tell a good story. It’s a story of the people and the planet involved in their making being deeply respected. They tell the story that a beautiful process always leads to a beautiful product, and as a designer, a home owner and a citizen of humanity, that makes me happier than anything.
Some of the other pretty to arrive this week included gorgeous frames from Framed & Matted to house some beautiful pieces of art from Minted. The point of all of this loveliness was to make sure that no corner of this main floor makeover was left unturned, including the stairway. As I shared last week, we’ve had a blank wall here forever, and given that this wall reads from both the front entry and the kitchen, it’s felt soulless to me for far too long. Enter the magic of a gallery wall.
I am sooo happy with the way this turned out. I love the way the beautiful signed, limited edition prints from Minted mix in with the paintings I’ve collected over time as well as the super cool print from my brilliant friend Melody Hansen that is on the bottom left of the grouping. I chose two really simple frame styles from Framed & Matted, both in black, to create cohesion with the only variation being the thickness of the frames. This is one really easy way to create cohesion in a gallery wall. Another is to vary your mediums but try to repeat some elements of colour (I did this with shades of green, blue and yellow here).
I hadn’t previously realized that Minted offers artist signatures and archival paper on their limited edition prints, and I am in love with the watery, mountainous, woodsy story the three prints featured here help me to tell. That’s the whole point of a gallery wall in my opinion – it’s an opportunity to tell something of your story. For me, this tells our family story of wanderlust. We are never happier than when we are by the ocean, hiking in a forest or in the mountains. These are the prints featured in case you want to scoop them up for yourself – one, two and three.
I know a lot of people are intimidated by gallery wall installations, but I am telling you the absolute truth when I say this is probably the easiest DIY I took on for this ORC. I’ve developed a fool-proof method for art installation over the years that totally takes the sweat out of the process. If any of you are planning a gallery wall and want to know how to install your art like a pro, I’ve created a How To Guide so you can download the virtual me and it will be like I’m right there with you while you install yours. Check it out here.
Speaking of DIY’s, it’s time to reveal the finished product on my lovely lady dipped portrait from my friends at Anewall. Last week I asked you to weigh in on which Farrow & Ball colour she should bathe in (Oliver Jeffers style), and the results were mixed. Which is funny, because I took a left turn when I got her back from the framers and decided she was too demure and quietly coy for either of the original colour options of Blazer Red or Drawing Room Blue. She started out wearing the historical equivalent of a LBD, after all, and I felt I needed to honour that, so here is how she came to be veiled in the end.
Yep: Pitch Black. I think it’s really the perfect Farrow & Ball hue to hide her thoughts and secrets behind, don’t you? I love her! You can take the girl out of the historical context, but you’ll never get her out of her Little Black Dress.
Speaking of black and classic and gorgeous, my top secret art project came home this week in the form of this gorgeous Ashley Woodson Bailey “Fringe” print which we mounted on board and finished with ArtResin.
This one took a little longer than expected, so I don’t have the process video I was hoping to share with you, but you can learn more about how to use this amazing VOC-free, non-yellowing product here via the video we made for our last ORC project together.
Other classic beauty to arrive on the scene includes a pair of these gorgeous brass floor lamps from LampsPlus.
When it comes to lighting, function has to come first, which is why I had to go with a lamp with a linen drum shade. The way it diffuses light is soft and warm and casts a wider glow than a directional down lamp, and this room needs that at night. That said, this floor lamp is far more than just functional. It is elegant in its simplicity and totally timeless: the perfect design neutral choice to evolve with our tastes.
In other news, I may or may not have chosen to feed my copper addiction a bit further with the introduction of this gorgeous tray in the kitchen.
OK, so I did. No regrets. Copper in the kitchen is like butter in baking. Meant to be.
I’m still waiting on my rug pads from RugPadUSA to arrive before installing the living room rug, but I cannot wait to get that 9×12 installed as I know it’s going to make a HUGE difference to the room. Also making a STUNNING difference are the drapery panels which went up today. Unfortunately with all I was doing I didn’t manage to get a photo of them before the light was gone, so you’ll have to stay tuned on Instagram for some sneak peeks before the reveal next week.
Reveal. Next. Week!!!
Oh friends, I could not be happier! The end is in sight, and I cannot wait to share all this hard work with you. I also can’t wait to see what my fellow design daredevils have been up to, and I do hope you’ll follow along with all of their creative genius via the links below. There’s a whole lot of beauty being created by these friends of mine, and next week’s reveals are sure to be nothing short of spectacular.
Until then, stay well, hug your loved ones, and focus on the beauty you find in each day.
Claire Brody | The Curated House | Design Manifest | Driven by Decor | Honey We’re Home | Hunted Interior | The Makerista | Making it Lovely | My Sweet Savannah | Pencil and Paper Co. | The Pink Clutch | Savvy Home | Simplified Bee | Sketch 42 | Jill Sorensen | Orlando Soria | Thou Swell | The Vault Files | Waiting on Martha | The Zhush | Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by CIH