Welcome back to week 4 of The One Room Challenge™. Thank you for following along as I join 19 other insanely talented folks in redoing a room in six
short weeks all while we document the process.
And boy is time flying. Let me put it to you this way, I did not think I would be reliving a repeat of my down-to-the-wire bedroom as was the case with the last ORC. But here we are at week 4 and I still do not have paint on my walls. How is this even possible? I want to cry myself to sleep on my big fat pilla. To catch up on the drama from the
beginning, click the following links below:
WEEK 1: Plan
& Inspiration
WEEK 2: Progress
Report – Floors
WEEK 3: Progress Report - Electricity
But now is not the time for melodrama so I will cut to the chase this week since last week’s
missive was a lengthy one. Full-on panic has officially set in.
That electricity debacle from last week is having an exponential effect
on my timeline which has resulted in pushing the painting and wallpaper install out
while we pace the floors like
caged animals patiently wait for silly details like ceiling patches to
dry. Grrrrr.
I am nothing if not predictable so running behind should come as no surprise. However, this week has not been a total wash as we shifted gears a bit to
focus on upholstery. I finally nailed
down most of my main fabric choices for the banquette throw pillows as well as a last minute add-on project involving animal print and pink fringe that my mister was super excited to
tackle. Side
eye.
This is the part where, in spite of telling you that I
would cut to the chase, I am going to take this opportunity to make it lengthy by sharing two
loosely related stories in which I happen to stumble upon some more great deals. But stick with me as they pertain to the animal print pink fringe extravaganza above. So...once upon a time, namely last Thursday, I had yet to nail down a suitable host/ess chair for the as-yet found dining table and was beginning to fear that I might have to use my desk chair as a stand-in
when I realized that I had a perfectly good candidate among my chair
hoard.
A few years ago I snagged an
unfinished Ficks Reed rattan chair in a random warehouse
close out sale. And by random I mean a
sketchy CL ad listing some designer fabric remnants for sale that my mister forwarded on to me. Like
a dope, with just an address, I headed out to some weird abandoned looking distribution/office park
with no signs of life. After discovering
locked doors covered in paper at the given address, I was even more sure of my
original conviction that CL is nothing more than urban legend. I squealed out of the parking lot on two
wheels when I saw two men quickly approaching my car from a side entrance. Thankfully, a woman in a rather nice looking
Lexus pulled alongside me to ask if this was the location of the Ficks Reed
sale. What
the what?! Turns
out that random CL ad for fabric remnants was not only legit but part of a
bigger sale by Ficks Reed that is held periodically to unload
merchandise. In fact, I am not even certain Ficks Reed
is officially in business anymore but I do know that they have created
incredible Palm Beach style furniture over the years that still carry a hefty
resale price tag. In addition to some great
fabric scores, I picked up an unfinished chair frame with gorgeous Chinoiserie detailing for
$10 which has been sitting unfinished and largely ignored in my back tile room
for the last three years. I can’t make this stuff up.
Now, a few weeks ago, I happened to stop by the fabric
store near my house – the very one that refused to sell me pillow inserts
during the last one room challenge. If
you will recall, I mentioned the terrible customer service. So I was not surprised to find a big GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE sign (ahem, again) when I walked up. What I was surprised
to find was endless bolts of fabric and trim as far as the eye could see marked down 70%. I quickly got over my rancor from the last
visit and began throwin bows, snatching up as many bolts of fabric and trim
that I could carry. People, we are talking an
average of $3 / yard, many of which will make their onscreen debut
during the reveal. One of my great deals
was 15 yards of fabulous pink fringe trim that I knew I would use somewhere and
that day arrived this past weekend when I got a wild hair up my bum to
resurrect the Palm Beachy rattan chair from obscurity and use it as my host
chair.
Now also, last week I made a trip out to one of my very
FAVORITE fabric stores, The Fabric Shack in Waynesville, OH to pick up the rest of my fabric (and inserts!!!) for the room and while there, fell in love with yet another animal
print. Shocker. I instantly fell for the blue colorway. Had to have it
and knew immediately that it was destined for the rattan chair. As synchronicity would have it, my girl
Elizabeth got the same fabric the same day for one of her projects. #greatminds. So the animal
print fabric married the pink trim and it is a match made in preppy Palm Beach
chic heaven. I nervously cut the patterns and my uber-talented mister handled the sewing. Yes, he does it all.
Now here is where YOU enter the story. I need help deciding what to do with the
finish on the chair given my cushion sitch. Should I leave
it nekkid, lacquer it up in some bright color, or simply stain
it? I have waffled 50 times. Help a desperately tardy sister out, what say you?
How ‘bout we check out some actual progress?! Let’s see what my lady friends are up to this
week...
A special thank you to the following sponsors and supporters of Chez V and The One Room Challenge that are graciously providing items to help me bring my vision for this room to life:
All photos and styling by Emily Vanderputten unless otherwise noted
kisses, mrs. V
