One Room Challenge :: Week 2

Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Minted. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own!

This week in ORC land, it was all about the gallery wall!

If you asked my husband for one of my worst qualities, he'd probably say my indecision.

In high school I had big dreams to become an interior designer, and luckily for myself and others that didn't happen because all of my clients would have unfinished spaces. Oops! I knew I wanted to move our family photos to our loft space and replace them with fine art, with a few family photos mixed in, but I was overwhelmed at the options.

Enter: the sweetest Minted Art Stylist, Cherie.

In case you're unfamiliar, Minted offers personal art styling for those of us that need a little boost in our decorating skills. There are a lot of perks besides not having to wrack your brain for the perfect art combination or spend hours looking through all of the pretty fine art options.

As part of Minted's art styling process, you receive 2 custom concept boards, 2 additional revisions, a full rendering of your wall with each option provided (for visual people like me this helped a TON!), and a 20-25% discount plus free shipping on your purchase!

You aren't required to buy everything, in fact to keep our gallery wall within my budget I opted to buy just the art and use my own frames for a couple of the prints.

To start you take a fun, quick quiz telling them what space you need art for, what your decorating style is, and the color palette. I think I selected contemporary, classic, and vintage if I remember correctly... this seemed to fit the overall Modern Farmhouse style I am going for.  Then I emailed Cherie an image of the wall and the exact dimensions she was working with.

And here is the perfection that she came up with...

 

Honestly she nailed it. I loved every piece of art, the subtle hint of blush in some of the pieces, and the mix of frames. I had my heart set on art shelves, but the second option she provided was so gorgeous I almost opted for that instead! Seriously how sweet is that Mother's Embrace print?

Here was option 2:

I asked her to tweak a couple things, like add a mat to the Parisian Windows print, and she sent a new rendering of the wall so I could see how it would look. I happily approved, so she sent me final hanging instructions and all of the details I needed to place my order.

I can't wait to share more progress next week! In the meantime my next to-dos are to find some bamboo shades to add texture, replace the rug, and find pillows that are toddler friendly (i.e. machine washable).

If you have any questions about the personal art styling process, feel free to reach out! I highly recommend it for a perfectly tailored gallery wall if you're stuck like me! Thank you so much to Minted for working with me on this space!

Now I'm off to get inspired by the other ORC projects!!

One Room Challenge Week 1: Before Photos and Inspiration

6

One Room Challenge :: Modern Farmhouse Living Room

I've been dragging my heels on finishing our living room for SO long, its almost embarrassing. It doesn't need a major overhaul but a refresh with this thing called styling will go a long way considering how much time we spend in this room! So I thought what better time than the One Room Challenge, where I actually have to meet a deadline in 6 weeks?!  

If you're hearing from Calling it Home, welcome! I hope you stick around!

 So here are the before photos....

Not terrible by any means but it just doesn't look finished. Here are a few of the big things I think this space needs:

- Our ceiling light doesn't work so that needs to be addressed or replaced

- Accent pillows. Lots of them

- Some kind of greenery. I have a black thumb AND a toddler so I'm totally going with a faux plant in here

- An updated gallery wall with a mix of personal photos and fine art 

- Replace the rug that somehow looks white in this photo but its actually super gross and worn out after having a dog, toddler, and husband trample on it for 2 years 

- One accent chair or two? Or just a different style?

- Floor lamp to hold us over when the ceiling light stops working

- The whole thing needs a bit of styling

 

I love to add hints of the farmhouse style but I really like it to be more of a clean and modern farmhouse look mixed with classic furniture.

Sofa. Coffee Table (DIY here, or similar). Pouf. Basket. Key Art Print. Paris Art Print. 

Faux Fiddle Leaf Fig (really want this one, or maybe a shorter version). Accent Chair.

Floor Lamp. Throw Blanket (similar). 

So there you have it! Any thoughts for mixing classic with modern farmhouse? I don't want to go too over the top with farmhouse but I also want it to be fun and relaxed!

 

6

One Room Challenge Week 2 Progress

That title was such a teaser because on the outside, our progress on the playroom and DIY built-ins has been....

(crickets)

Literally, nothing has happened. Unless you count finally installing furniture straps, cordless blinds, and unsuccessfully installing an over-the-range microwave... but clearly those are unrelated.

One of the many advantages to having a general contractor in the family is we can call him whenever we have questions. So when we were planning out the built-in design this week, we asked how to secure the built-ins to the floor without ripping up our carpet.

So what did our contractor say?

"Send me your measurements. I'll design it and write up a materials and cut list for you."

Umm, yeah that works for us!

So as of today we're just waiting on our plans from my ever so sweet brother-in-law! And I feel so much better because lets be honest, I was ready to scrap the project because it was so dang intimidating.

You better believe I'll share all of his helpful tips along the way! 

Side note: if anyone needs a contractor in the Chicago area, I'm happy to give you his contact info! I've seen the work he and his team do and it makes me so sad they aren't local to help with some of our projects!

6

One Room Challenge :: Playroom Makeover with Built-Ins

Today I'm introducing you to our hot mess of a playroom.

Behold, in all of its unkept, bland glory.

When we moved in to this house I knew this space was going to get some use as it poses significantly less danger for my wild and crazy toddler than the wood floors, steps, and nicer quality furniture in our downstairs living space.

But its really freaking boring and there is zero lighting in this room at night. Which means after putting Rowan to bed I trip over and step on the loudest toys ever on my way to the steps.

Since we don't have enough spaces in the house I want to redo (you know... that series I mentioned and haven't touched yet), I'm adding this one to the top of the priority list! Every week for 6 weeks I will be sharing progress of our playroom makeover by joining tons of other creative bloggers in the One Room Challenge hosted by Calling It Home. So fun, right?!

As with every DIY project we do, we'll take our low budget and beginner DIY skills and hope for the best!

So here is the plan:

DIY Built-in Window Seat with bookshelves - I've clearly lost my mind because we've never done anything like this before, but here in my inspiration. I doubt we'll do cabinets, just all open shelving so I can throw a basket or two in there.

The cutest toddler chairs and table 

DIY Growth Chart like this  

Add a light

Add some color with these adorable Minted alphabet and number prints, and a fun banner

Add a chalkboard, art supplies station like this 

Ditch the ugly couch (we'll replace it eventually but we really don't sit on it much right now)

I'm not even sure if all of this will fit in the space, so if anything the chalkboard area can be ditched because Rowan is only 1 and will eat any and all chalk. 

Here is a peek at my horrible drawing skills.

If the built-in shelving and crown molding trim goes well, we think it would add so much value to the house and help majorly in the organization department. The kicker is, we play in this space every day after work so keeping it kid friendly while in construction is going to be rough. Because you know, we move at a snails pace around here!

We've got a contractor friend on speed dial for advice and I'll be sure to share all of the highs and lows with you along the way.

If anyone has completed a built-in project like this before please share any insight you've got. We'll need all the help/motivation/wine we can get!

See more of the vision for the playroom here and the DIY projects we'll be using as a guide here.

And in case you're interested, scroll through some of my favorite projects we've done so far here! 

9