One Room Challenge Week 6 - Home Office Reveal

Better late than never they say. And I agree!  After 6 torturous weeks of self doubt and indecision, I'm pleased to report I got my room finished up and photographed a little earlier today. A big thank you to Wagner Abercrombie for working me into her schedule so handily and for getting the photos back to me lickety split.

Rather than starting off with the pathetic before photos of my room, here's a look at the moodboard and overall aesthetic I was going for in my home office makeover:

 Or something like this anyway.  Goodness knows there were a thousand iterations of that mood board.

Here are the dreadful befores.

Clearly lack of storage and organization are the biggest issues.  And then there's the fugly factor.

Fast forward to today and the painting, hand wringing and insomnia are now a thing of the past.

Lavender may seem like a strange choice for a home office, but I honestly couldn't love it more. Specifically, it's Benjamin Moore Touch of Gray.  In the spirit of full disclosure, when the paint first went up I was really questioning my choice.  But like I tell my clients, you have to wait until the room is done before you freak out about the paint color.  Once the layers start getting added it becomes less and less about the paint color. So I took my own advice and forged ahead -  and I'm so glad I saw it through.

So I do like me some vintage furniture.  The French table is a local antique mall find.  It's in perfect condition and has a snazzy parquet top that is a little hard to see in this image. The lucite chandelier is a favorite design element.  I found it a few months ago at Scott's in Atlanta.

Perfect condition and I got it for a song.  It truly transformed the space once it was in place.

The shelves are good old Home Depot garage shelves, made fancy with a few cans of Rustoleum spray paint in Gold. Lavender storage boxes are from Target.  I bought every one in the city of Chattanooga and truthfully could use a few more!  The elephant is vintage and was in my inventory.  The loveseat is also vintage and was acquired from a sweet client who ordered all new furniture for her condo and no longer needed this one.  

Those gorgeous pillows above?  They're Designers Guild Orangerie, purchased through from Kimber at House of Pemberley.  She not only provided the Orangerie pillows and wallpaper for my closet, she also provided some great advice and unwavering support.  She's a good one.

The vintage rug is an ebay purchase.  It's a little scary buying something like that online but this one arrived in a matter of a few days and is squeaky clean.

Here's another photo to underscore my struggle with decision making for my own home.

Pillow game.  I changed it at least 68 times.

It's the Sophie's Choice of the decorating world.  Kind of breaks your heart to make a selection because you love both of them so.

I regret that we didn't get more photos of my new closet storage.  The Designers Guild metallic wallpaper is the perfect backdrop for the mix of fabrics and wallpapers I store here.  

Here's the other work station.  More functional than pretty I 'd say. I love my inspiration board.  I thought it would be hard to fill up but apparently I have more inspirational mementos than I realized.

Can you believe that after record breaking hot temperatures, no rain for almost 2 months straight, and my knockout roses are putting these blooms out in mid November?  

Granted, the chair's not much to look at but it's my husband's chair from his grandparents house and so it's got soul and serves as a magazine rack.  

Thank you for following along on my home office makeover journey. And thank  you Calling It Home,and House Beautiful for hosting this fun event!  

Make sure you visit all of the reveals here and here.

One Room Challenge Week 5 - Home Office Makeover

Welcome to the fifth week of my home office makeover I'm doing as part of Calling It Home's One Room Challenge.

In case you missed it, here's the mood board for what I aim to create in my home office.

And here's what I started with:

A hot mess wrapped in a bright teal package. (This color was selected by my daughter upon claiming this room as her own before we moved in.)

So there are a few victories to celebrate this week.

My ebay rug arrived:

Going from beige carpet to this multi colored rug with lots of pattern is a giant change.  I'm still trying to get used to it - the room already feels completely different.

Also:

I bought this mid century portrait on Chairish a few weeks ago and just picked it up from the framer.  I love her kimono top and chic 60's up do.  I decided that she deserved a very fancy gold frame.  And oh boy! the colors in the painting really stand out against the lavender walls.

Take a look at the lamps in my family room from a few houses ago.

I still  love the shape of these lamps and have decided to give them an upgrade for this little home office project.

First up I ordered shades in the perfect shade of red from Pottery Barn Kids.

It's a great start, but I decided to take it a step further with this:

This stuff is great and I found it at Hobby Lobby along with the brush fringe.  No more burnt fingertips or glue hot glue hairs.  Another nice thing about using the Peel & Stick tape is that you don't get those little lumps you sometimes see with when you use hot glue.  

Here we are in progress.  It took me no more than 10 minutes to do 2 lamps. It's literally peel and stick and the stick part works really well.

 And done:

Here are my spiffy lamps in action atop my newly spray painted Home Depot garage shelves.

What I'm struggling with right now is how to address the stuff on the shelves.  I went and bought a whole bunch of wicker baskets in different sizes and weaves and it looked way too cluttered and busy.  So I'm trying to figure out what to do there because I really had not intended for the storage shelves to command so much attention.  If I could find some nice sized sturdy cardboard boxes I might paint them lavender so they blend into the walls and calm some of the chaos on the shelves.  If you have other brilliant ideas I'm open to hearing about it.  Feel free to share in the comments below.

Thanks for checking in on my progress this week.  Fingers crossed I make it to the finish line next Thursday!

Find links to all link up participants here

Find links to bloggers participating in the main event here.

See you next week!

One Room Challenge Week 3 - New Paint and Vintage Finds

It's hard to believe that this marks the halfway point of the One Room Challenge hosted by Linda at Calling it Home.  Progress is a little slower than I'd like, although we did manage to get a few things done this week.

Have a quick look at the plan for my home office makeover:

First, we have paint! Here's the color of lavender I ultimately decided on.

It's called Touch of Gray by Benjamin Moore. When it first went up I have to admit I was a little nervous about it going all Easter egg/nursery-ish, but the color is really beautiful in a happy, calming way.

Here's the room color before:

And here's what it looks like now:

It actually looks like the paint chip!

I'm also thrilled to report the end of the wonky ceiling fan era:

That nasty thing is gone, and has been replaced by this chic find from my last trip to Scott's in Atlanta

And look!  My bifold closet doors are down and so is the pole and shelf.  We'll be prepping the walls for a little wallpaper action.

I want a paper that's neutral because so many different fabrics and colors will be stored in here.  I also want something with a modern twist since so many of the design elements I'm using are traditional in style.  Gotta mix it up.

This is Ajanta from Designer's Guild. I think a little metallic is just what we needed in here!  I got it from my friend Kimber over House of Pemberley.  She's also providing the Orangerie Pillows I'm so excited to use. Kimber is an amazing resource for high end fabrics and wallpapers and she's infinitely  kind and patient.  I highly recommend her if you're looking for something special!

Lastly, remember last week I mentioned that the rug I wanted to use in my space was back ordered until early November?

I think everything happens for a reason, and in this case, the reason is this rug

I just got shipping notification this afternoon so fingers crossed I love it once it arrives.  Since most of the furniture in my office is placed against the walls, it will really show off that pretty center medallion.

So that's it for this week!

I hope to have my freestanding shelves finished up for next week's post.  Hope you'll stop by!

You can find all the participants for the main event of the One Room Challenge here.  Link up event participants can be found here.

If you're in the Chattanooga area and in need of a little design magic, make sure you visit my business website here.

One Room Challenge Fall 2016 - Week 2 - Home Office Plan

Yay!  You're back to see what I have in store for my home office I'm making over as part of Calling It Home's One Room Challenge. We're on the second week of a six-week room makeover sharing our progress each and every Thursday.

Let's take a super quick look at a single before photo of this sad little bedroom on the verge of it's transformation.

How did I let it get to this point you ask?  Well, this room was once used by my youngest daughter as her bedroom.  I allowed her to pick her own paint color.  It's pretty intense.   Anyhoo, oldest daughter moved out of her more highly coveted upstairs bedroom, youngest daughter claims upstairs bedroom as her own, Mom takes over youngest daughter's former bedroom to use as an office.

It wasn't perfectly executed.  It started with a desk followed by a large serving of procrastination.  Are you amazed I can crank out gorgeous interiors for other people in this space?

Anyhow, I have a list of needs that I want to address.  Form follows function and all.

1.  Storage. Stuff is all over the floor because I have no other place to put it. That fabulous bifold door closet is going to be outfitted with new shelves. The wide shelves should be perfect for rolls of fabric and accessories that are awaiting installation day.  Just need to get the hubs on board with that little project - my  most challenging task!
2.  Work space.  I'm going with two work spaces. One will be a desk with computer, printer and all of my files.  The second work space will be a big table that I can use to lay out fabrics, view wallpapers, etc.
3.  The pretty. Bring some. Stat. I'm envisioning a sophisticated, feminine space that's feels collected, happy but not too busy or overly decorated.

Here's a screenshot of the layout.  Sorry for the poor image quality. It's late and I'm having trouble with this old blogger website.  Screenshot courtesy of my iphone.

So basically we're talking two work stations on opposing walls (one of them in front of a big double window), a love seat that sits between some heavy duty industrial shelving, and more storage shelves inside the former closet. Got it?

Good because now we're going to talk about the pretty.  I'm feeling particularly inspired by the color palette of this lovely space by Mark D Sikes recently seen in House Beautiful -

And also this pretty living room by Angie Hranowsky.

And yet. Neither one of these is an office but I'm all over the color palettes.  The soft lavender walls feel fresh and somehow calming and energizing at the same time. I've been dying to work with lavender for the longest time and I've hired myself to do just that.

Also there will be a heavy dose of vintage. Some items have been purchased just for this space and others will be pulled out of my own inventory.

Here's how I'm hoping it will all come together when it's all said and done.

There are already hurdles.  The rug I planned to use  is back ordered until the first week of November.  That's pretty darn close to reveal day, so I'm keeping my feelers out in hopes of finding a proper substitute. I'm also waffling a little on using such a large and primarily red rug.  I want to get a room sized rug and that's a whole lot of red.  Maybe too much?  I'm a little nervous about it.

AND - I'm still undecided about chairs.  I found a few vintage prospects but haven't made a final decision on those. I do like the modern femininity of the ghost chairs, so I'm keeping that option at the top of the list.

One thing I'm convinced will happen is a little bit of Designers Guild Orangerie fabric.  It's a showstopper and it could come in as pillows or upholstery for the desk chairs.

So gorgeous - I can't wait to get my hands on this!

So now you know.  I can't promise my room will be exactly as it appears in my mood board but I'm pretty happy with the direction and I'm looking forward to seeing how it unfolds along the way.

Next week I'll share some more details and about the individual selections and I'll share my new paint color. It's on the walls now and it already feels like a completely different space. Paint changes everything doesn't it?

Make sure you visit the bloggers participating in the main event of the One Room Challenge.  You can find links to their makeovers here.

You can find bloggers participating in the Thursday link up here

And finally, if you're in the Chattanooga area and would like to make over a room in your home, make sure you visit my website here

One Room Challenge - An Introduction and My Home Office

Guys!  It's been quite a while since I've posted here, but I decided to blow the cobwebs off this blog and join in on the fun for this round of The One Room Challenge.  You know the one, it's where a group of bloggers select a room to redo from top to bottom in six weeks, sharing progress updates every week - Thursdays here - I'm one of the linking participants.

If we haven't met, I'm Kim Lemmon, and I own a  little design firm in Chattanooga, TN called The Green Room Interiors.  I'm all about classic design that feels fresh and vibrant, and since the room I'm doing for the ORC is in my own home, I'm excited that I can make it a true expression of my  personality and my personal style.  And isn't that what great design is all about?

Here's the room I completed for my very first One Room Challenge, about 3 1/2 years ago. It's the family room in my circa 1972 French Provincial ranch I affectionately refer to as "Project Dollhouse". The art on my gallery wall gets moved from time to time and I have since replaced the sofa with a vintage hunter green velvet Tuxedo sofa, but for the most part this room has functioned perfectly for our family. If only it stayed this tidy all the time.

My next ORC room was my kitchen, seen here:

I also joined in on the fun as a linking participant with my hall bath makeover seen below. I'm still completely smitten with the Brunschwig & Fils damask wallpaper:

and then finally, my living room and dining room combo: 

Do you feel like you know me a little better now?

Great, because what I'm going to show you now is tough.  Trust me, it's even more painful for me than it is for you.  It's an empty bedroom I'm claiming as my home office. I may or may not have organization/storage issues that need to be addressed.  Luckily my assistant is pretty cute.

When you don't have proper storage, stuff ends up all over the floor.  Infrequently used exercise equipment will be relocated to the basement, where it is even less likely to get used.

Nice.  The upside is that with before photos this bleak, there's nowhere to go but up.

I do hope you'll come back next week  to learn about my plans for my command central.  I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that you won't see gray walls and neutral furnishings. I adore surrounding myself with beautiful color and find it so exciting to come up with interesting color combinations.  So that's what we'll be doing over here anyway.

Thanks for stopping by!  Please make sure to visit the main event bloggers  here and all of the other linking participants here

And a big thank you to  Linda at Calling it Home for dreaming this all up and hosting.

If you're in the Chattanooga area and in need of some design help,  please feel free to contact me at The Green Room Interiors 423.653.3186 or email thegreenroominteriors@gmail.com.  You can also visit my business website here.

See you next week!