ORC WK 3 - Master Makeover Updates

It’s humpty hump week of the One Room Challenge Link Up which means it is WK3 - the official half-way point and I am officially panicking.  The dew is off my dreamy rose of ambition and the reality of re-doing a room top to tail in a mere 6 weeks is setting  in.  So yes, moving swiftly past panic and into advanced panic town.

Check out WK3 for the ORC pros here.

My WK1 is here.

My WK2 is here.

To refresh memories, this is the original board I put together.

Gonna be real honest.  This week has sort of been a hot mess.  Project Chinoisy Safari Chic Master Makeover is going to be a down to the wire  kind of show.  Mainly due to paintmaggedon aka The Sandlot.  At least we have made some more progress on the walls – skim coat is happening.  So much relies upon getting the damn room painted.  Can’t really move stuff in, around, or hang up until the painting is finished.  And most people finished their painting in WK1.  Eep.

So in true panicky fashion, I spent most of the week shopping.  Oh and I did finish another run of my blockprinted fantastical dragon beastie fabric for lumbar pillows in the room.  Because, in the interest of transparency, I just can't afford the gorgeous Dana Gibson pillows right now in the big scheme of cost.

Good, no?   No, because I realized upon printing that I don’t really like the fabric I used (not the right weight or color but what I had on hand).  To add insult to injury, when I went to my locally owned go-to fabric place today to pick up some down inserts for the lumbar pillows they would not sell them to me.  WTF?!  As in they did not have the size I wanted in stock and would not order them for me, a repeat customer with money in hand, until, and I quote the manager here, ‘until we have sold more of our poly-filled inserts.’  Which, not surprisingly, they had a multitude in stock, because almost NO ONE wants poly-filled inserts.  Note to local fabric store: it is no wonder you almost went out of business once in spite of having the best local selection of designer fabric.  So now I have a new plan for the lumbars that will save me pillow-making time but involves more block printing and hand painting.  Two steps forward and threes steps back.  And now we’re doing the design cha cha.

Any who, all was not lost as I made a mad dash to IKEA to pick up some plain Ritva drape panels for the room that I planned to fancy up with some trim.  Everything was fine and dandy sandy until I got all hopped up on IKEA oxygen which is a lot like Target oxygen and I came out with a lot of other stuff and not even the Ritva panels.  Those cute pink Christmas ornaments were too cute to pass up. I am also blaming the humpty hump WK3 panic because instead I picked up some floral chinzty numbers a la Buatta even though I swore to keep most everything in the room neutral b/c of the deep richness of the paint.  Well…we’ll see how that decision plays out because it might even be a little too flashy for me.  The mr. will think I have plum lost me marbles. 

On to the next dilemma, sconces.  The original plan involved me and the mr. constructing our own.  Reality is killing that crafty buzz so I am on the hunt for affordable sconces with little to no lead time.  And Dear Lord, while we’re praying for miracles I would also like to be 115 pounds soaking wet.  Speaking of miracles, I came across the most perfect solution to my sconce problem today while at IKEA.  Let me introduce you to Ranarp. 

Perfect balance of vintage industrial vibe for me.  At a whopping price tag of $19.99.  I started to salivate.  Then I started to hyperventilate when I realized they are all sold out.  Of course they are.  I promptly sent out an SOS to the social media gods of Instagram promising all sorts of soul-signing-over stuff if anyone could locate 2 for me in their local IKEA store.  Then I made nicey with the customer service dude.  Turns out, Ranarps are in-store purchases only and they are sold out EVERYWHERE.  Except a few in the Houston IKEA and some in the Paramus NJ store.  So, here’s where you come in – PLEASE, I am not above begging.  Any of you have peeps in either Houston or near Paramus who would be willing to pick 2 up and ship them to me?!  Actually, make that 4 b/c I found out my homeslice Elizabeth has been hunting for 2 as well.

Never one to end things on a Debbie Downer note, I do have some lovely to share with you.  I scored some Jonathan Adler foo lamps for the bedside tables on a DEEP in-store discount (less than the online sale price).  

They only had one but a rockstar associate at JC Penny was able to order me a second one at the same price which arrived today.  Not the original plan but it was love at first sight and I just could. not. walk. away.  However, true to my fickle self, the shades just weren’t really doing anything for me.  The scale just seemed a little wimpy and twee.  So I am swapping them out with some dark grayish-black numbers that I like better.  Oops – except the ring size is a tad too large for the collar so I have to rig something up to fix that – hence my minion model balancing the shade.  

So even though I ran around like a crazy person this week with nothing on the brain except this ORC, I feel like I have little to show for it.  Let’s recap:

Last but certainly not least, I will leave you with a little teaser of the real showstopper.

I know, right?!

Don’t forget to check in on the other participants today!

kisses,  mrs. V

Life at Chez V

Happy happy Friday to you.  The weather here in the big OH is gorgeous, windows are open, music is blaring, and P and I have officially kicked off our Friday dance party early.  We are happy everything!

Please go kick off your shoes and kick off the weekend with a little boogie down production of your own!

All images and layouts by mrs V.

kisses,  mrs. V

ORC - WK 2 Updates on Project Chinoisy Safari Chic

My how time flies when you’re having fun or working against a deadline.  Week 2 of the One Room Challenge link up is here already and all I have to show for it are mountains of dust and a scratched cornea. General ORC details here.  Background on my master bedroom makeover and WK 1 info here.

So, back to my WK2 updates and Project Chinoisy Safari Chic which really should be renamed Paintmaggedon.  On second thought, scratch that.  It should be called Project Sandlot as in Smalls You’re Killing Me With All This Sanding and Prep Work Shit.  As you will remember from WK 1, our bedroom walls are plaster board and covered with layers of dimply paint.  In order to get the dark, shiny walls of my dreams, we have to sand the walls to a SMOOTH and level surface, which is no small task since we are doing everything ourselves.  Armed with power sanders and tons of 40 grit sand paper, we have finished sanding 2 of the 4 walls.  Next comes a skim coat to level the surface as there are so many high and low spots.  And then more sanding.  So, yeah, the Sandlot.

In other news, I picked up another little project for the room.  My search for an affordable Imari style lamp was proving to be about as successful as the search for the Fountain of Youth.  I stumbled upon this vase at a consignment shop and was immediately smitten.  Nice curves.  Check.  Lovely design.  Check.  Affordable.  Check.  So I got a wild hair to turn this into a lamp.  Ordering parts today.  Fingers crossed I don’t electrocute myself.

Now go over and visit this week's link up page to see what everyone else is up to this week!  70+ participants!!!!  

kisses,  mrs. V

ORC Challenge - Project Chinoisy Safari Chic Master

It’s D-Day for us amateurs.  Today kicks off the 6-week ORC link up.  Hello and welcome to those of you who are new to Chez V.  Feel free to poke around and make yourselves at home.  You will find that I am a momma, a frustrated baker, an accidental DIYer, a lover of all things vintage particularly chinoiserie, an avid cook, a reluctant gardener, an obnoxiously loud laugher, and a boogie down queen.  Other than that, I divide my time obsessing over all things design related, entertaining at home, reading anything with print, watching one too many Bravo shows, and occasionally (read most evenings) enjoying a cocktail on my patio.  Welcome. Without further ado, I give you the scary larry BEFOREs of my much neglected master bedroom.

BEFORE
- a little too granny french country -

BEFORE
- shot from doorway showing other side of room with terrible, horrible, no good, very bad fan that
the mr. refuses to part with - silly him, it's donzo! -

BEFORE
- a minor attempt at zhushing the turd until makeover starts - pillow swap from other
rooms in the house and a 'borrowed' piece of art I commissioned from
MFAMB for my 5 yr old -

So I mentioned yesterday that I already tried to tackle the room I have chosen - my master bedroom.  I declared a self-imposed ORC in June.  I made a plan and even made some critical design decisions like paint, lighting, artwork, and rugs.  I committed myself to 6-weeks with a teeny budget.  All systems go.  Paint arrives and I announce, with gusto, to the mr. that I will be painting said bedroom the dark, dreamy, shiny color of my dreams.  To which he replied, ‘that will look like shit.’  Say what?!   As is the case with all of my best laid plans, the mr. is always the voice of reason and squasher of dreams.  He informed me that our plaster-ish pebbly walls with x-layers of paint would show every nook and cranny of a dark, shiny paint.  He said that we would need to sand the walls prior to painting.  Who sands walls before painting except when patching holes?!  I told him he was crazy talking. Whatevs, I said.  And promptly began painting some sample squares to prove him wrong.  See?!  Shit.  I just need to add a few more coats and NOBODY will notice.  Double shit.  What's with all these dimples? So fine, we need to sand.  I start with a block and heavy grit sand paper only to realize after 5 minutes that my arm has officially fallen off and landed in Australia.  I have covered approximately one square foot.  By this point the smug mr. is laughing and introducing me to various power tools of the sanding variety.  All of which sounds like blah, blah, blah, messy, messy, messy, blah to me.  After 3 hours with power tools, we had still only sanded one corner and inhaled our weight in dust.  At which point the mr. suggests that we should probably test for lead paint.  And boom, wheels are off the design train in week 2.

headboard | bedding | paint | chandelier | sconces | jute rug |persian rug | leopard pillow | floral pillow | mirror

So here I am again taking another whack at this master bedroom that has gone virtually untouched since I moved into this house 8 yrs ago.  EIGHT yrs ago.  Sads.  The plan is still sort of the same Out of Africa colonial vibe.  These items are wishlist items, most of which I can’t afford at the moment due to some extenuating circumstances that are too private and boring to discuss.  No matter.  I will be attempting a few DIYs and scouting is one of my favorite pastimes, so I will find affordable options even if I have to beg, borrow, or steal from family.  No shame in my game.

This is the plan I put together in June and I am sticking pretty close to the vibe of the original plan.  I do hope you will join me each Thursday over the next 6 weeks as this makeover progresses.  A huge thank you to Linda for extending the challenge!  Here’s hoping I at least get the damn room painted.

kisses,  mrs. V