KATE PEARCE VINTAGE + THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE WEEK 5: WE ARE DOWN TO THE DETAILS

Can’t believe we’re just one short week from final reveal, but I am feeling good about that. The thing is, I suffer from anxiety. Even as a small child, I would be nervously organizing my room a week before a playdate, and as an older child, I was the kid that had my essay written a week before it was due. As you can imagine, I wasn’t very popular. But I didn’t do any of that to kiss anyone’s butt, I did it because if I DIDN’T do that, my subtle anxiety would morph into a full blown panic attack. And nobody likes those, right?

So here we are, one week from reveal, with a room that is very close to completion (thanks to my pal, anxiety!). And I think I can safely say this is my favorite space I have ever created. I can’t wait to show you the full blown reveal, but I do have some fun sneak peeks into a few spots that are nearly complete. The other flip to this coin is that we are booked solid this upcoming weekend, so we had no other choice than to be complete a bit ahead of schedule. We still have some small things to tackle: second coats of paint, some spackling, installing the remaining GrowFrames from ModSprout, perfecting the styling, and keeping our fingers crossed that the lightbulbs we ordered from Australia two weeks ago ACTUALLY arrive before reveal.

A lot of people ask how my husband, Bill, and I tackle a room together (they also ask if we get along during the process). To answer that second question first, yes, we get along super well during renos. It’s totally the sweet spot in our relationship where his yin meets my yang. He was an economics major and athlete in college, and believes strongly in keeping his opinions to himself. Bill loves an afternoon at the local microbrewery hanging with as many people as possible. Calculus and astrophysics are his favorite subjects, and he’s about as steady as an iron atom.

And then there is me, an explosively anxious creative-type who would rather play the piano or write a blog than socialize. I was an art history major, and prefer to spend my downtime in the outdoors or sifting through the dust of a 100 year-old basement at an estate sale. And I believe strongly in being a vocal advocate for causes I believe in. So, we’re basically POLAR opposites.

But with home renovation, we just mix so well. Bill uses precise measurements to program my abstract ideas in CAD, while I furiously soak in all the inspiration I can get and drive him nuts by changing his scrupulously defined space in CAD no less than 3,000 times. He does it all. He programs, he builds, he does plumbing, electric, and the best part is he does it all with close to ZERO opinions about my creative process. But that doesn’t mean that I kick back while he busts butt. I get my hands dirty, too!

Painting is my job. Bill HATES to paint. And that’s fine, because I love it. You see? Everything he loathes doing, I love doing, and vice versa…. and that’s how things actually get done around here. But, back to the paint. There was a LOT of painting with this space. The walls, the moldings, the entryway detail paint, the bookshelves, etc. As much as I love painting, I’ll be glad to have a break from it.

The entryway space, in particular, we did a major do-over with this weekend. We had initially painted those half-moons black to make the white hands we bought pop. We put it all together, and then we looked at eachother. Bill stayed silent (because he’s a smart dude), as I exclaimed, “I hate it!” I immediately saw his body relax as he said, “thank god you said that, I hate it too.” And we brainstormed for a bit and came up with a new plan together.

There were two things we wanted to accomplish by changing up the plan for the entry:

1. The space needed to be softer. The black was much too severe.
2. If we softened the black by painting it white, we needed to paint the hands a different color so they wouldn’t be lost on the white half-moon.

We decided on silver for the hands because it would allow the hands to have their shining moment, while still being easy on the eyes. And we decided to add shelves to each section. I remembered that we had some leftover reclaimed wood from the kitchen renovation so we ran to Home Depot to grab some brackets, and my husband whipped up those little shelves in no time. The shelves also serve two purposes: 1. a utilitarian purpose of being able to host cell phones, keys, etc. when we walk in the front door and 2. It allowed me to place some greenery in the space to carry the eye over from all the greenery in the rest of the room and, again, to soften the very bold shapes that were stealing the show in this part of the room.

The other major game-changer this week was the arrival of our beautiful Adjustable Kelly Sconces from Sazerac Stitches! When we installed these babes on the bookshelves it really just dialed the entire space up about a million notches. I LOVE how they pop against the black bookcases (and I can’t wait to show you at reveal next week!).

Our library ladder was also completed and the library ladder hardware arrived just in time, and I really can’t show it to you without revealing too much about the space, but suffice it to say, Bill truly knows how to build a GORGEOUS ladder. We decided to go with a the same wood stain that is on our kitchen island since the spaces flow into each other. As I had mentioned in a previous blog, this space flows into both our kitchen and dining room, and we were very conscious about making all three spaces play nice together.

So, sconces were installed during week 5, the library ladder was built and installed, the entryway was completed and much of the painting was completed. I also was feeling like a bit of extra greenery was needed for the bookcases, so that felt like an A+ excuse to hit up the nursery again. NO GUYS, I AM NOT ADDICTED TO PLANTS (she says as she increases her monthly plant budget, yet again).

It was a busy week, indeed.

These last two weeks are always my favorite part of the One Room Challenge and it has been SO fun to see so many incredible spaces come together. Please, please, PLEASE be sure to check out all of the other incredible transformation going down over at the One Room Challenge Blog. The twenty Featured Designers are creating absolute masterpieces, but so are the Guest Participants. It’s just my absolute favorite to see the talent oozing out of these HUNDREDS of rooms.

And if you’re as introverted as I am, you JUST may spend your weekend nights soaking it all in.

Until, reveal, friends!

XO,