Spring One room challenge 2020

IT'S FINALLLLLY HERE!!!!!!! The Spring ORC has begun!!!

Who else feels like this year has been a million months long?  Thank goodness I've had a goal to work toward during this confusing time and have been able to tackle it little by little to keep from going crazy.  The ORC was supposed to launch in early April, then it was delayed because of COVID (though we were all still allowed to start, just not post).  I was sad about the delay at first but didn't know I would be homeschooling my kids several hours a week at the time.  Now that we are in a better rhythm with school (that was ROUGH at first!), I'm hoping this will be a fun way to get a little "me" time. PLUS, we moved to this new rental in February and I want to inject some flavor into this baby!

I will show you my design plan in a second, but I wanted to show you my inspo first.  Besides a heavy dose of Palm Beach Chic and some funky flair, I wanted this space to be very matchy.  Matching and coordinating is indicative of PB design and something I really have to push myself to do-- so I am excited to take on a new challenge.

I love how these rooms have predominately one color yet they are still interesting.  The simple color palette feels chic and clean.  The textures and materials really pop and the white in each space really punctuates the room.  These rooms are fresh and traditional, fun and classy.

Please Lord, let me find identical wicker chairs to these so I can put them in my space. 

This mirror wouldn't hurt either, AMEN!! 

And I'm always ALWAYS up for some lucite.

I posted my design plan on IG a few weeks ago but as I've worked on aspects of the room, some of the plans have changed.  I'll show you what I posted a few weeks ago and the changes I've made now.

Real quick, here's a before photo of the living room I will be redoing.  Behind me in this photo, is an awesome FL room that we spend tons of our time in that I hope to accentuate with this design as well. 

Since we are renting, everything has to be renter-friendly which means no changes to the carpet and the only wall I am changing is the blue one back to white.  We will change the fan and another light fixture knowing we will replace them with the old when we move.

Now onto the fun part:

Original PLan

The layout of this plan involved a larger seating area and a separate reading nook which were differentiated by the two rugs.  However, a couple things transpired that made me change directions.  Once we got started on the space, we decided we would make the corner reading nook a small dining area since we don't have a dining room in this house.  It's small but I'm used to working tables into small areas and have some ideas to make it work. 

The next thing that changed was due to our bunny actin' a fool and peeing all over our rugs.  This blue and white one was in my living room but Bun Bun dug holes in it and peed all over it (bad bunny).  ANYWAY, due to that craziness I had to come up with a new plan.  I figured it was because of the texture of the rug and knew we needed to switch to jute or sisal to deter her potty habits here. I also decided I wanted one large rug instead of two smaller to make the room feel larger and less busy.

Current pLan

I really want the room to be mostly blue and white, neutrals and pops of green.  Once the wallpaper was up that plan solidified even more and I ended up simplifying the color palette in the new design even further.  

Originally, I had wanted to put a slipcover on the IKEA sofa for something new.  BUT, then I decided I wanted to do this whole thing on a tighter budget and that I would work with the green sofa and paint the green credenza to save money instead.  P.S. I did that this weekend and it's DIVINE!

One thing that hasn't changed from the old plan to the new are the incredible items gifted from Spoonflower.  I'm obsessed with the look and feel of everything from them!  It's such high quality stuff and I love that I was able to pick from thousands of patterns to find the exact perfect prints.  The wallpaper, curtains, pillows and fabrics are stunning and I will be showing them to you as the weeks progress. EEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

In case you are curious: here's a running list of all the items I will have to tackle in the next 8 weeks.  

1. Hang wallpaper (nearly done)
2. Paint green credenza blue (done)
3. Paint accent wall white to match the other walls in the room
4. Hang curtains
5. Hang ceiling fan
6. Recover stools
7. Spray paint mirror
8. Recover armchair or thrift new
9. Thrift dining table, chairs and chandelier
10. Hang chandelier
11. Shop for decor
12. Style and photograph the space

There's still a lot of things that may change as the room evolves since I'm planning on using FB Marketplace and hunting thrift stores (if they ever open again!) to find the dining table, chairs, chandelier and more, for the space.  Plus, I like to have a plan but also see how a room evolves before I have all my design decisions solidified.  That being said, now you have had a peek inside my designer brain and how it likes to jump around.  It's just part of being a genius-- what can I say LOL.

If you haven't followed along with the ORC before, 20 featured designers are chosen to decorate their space in 6 weeks (8 weeks this time!).  The rest of us are guest designers that have jumped on board.  Make sure to follow both groups--on Wednesdays the featured designers post updates and on Thursdays it's the guest designers' turns.  We will be posting each week until June 25th (the BIG reveal!) and I hope you will follow along and support all the designers.  Make sure to check out the One Room Challenge blog to see the other rooms and thank you, Linda, for hosting this event and taking such good care of us this year! 

​See y'all next week!!! 

xo,
​Rachel
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