Hello friends! I am so glad you’re here to check in on our progress :)

In case you’ve missed our other posts, catch up here: week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4! We can’t thank Linda at Calling it Home enough for this amazing opportunity. It has been an absolute pleasure working with the sponsors of the challenge and we feel reeeeeeally lucky.

Also, I made real decisions this week. #miracle

As you know, we just WENT FOR IT on the floors and we are soooo glad we did…

We used the stain Early American (Minwax) and then added just a little bit more stain to the clear top coat to darken it ever-so-slightly. My favorite thing is how the extra worn spots took the stain much darker. That’s 150 years of traffic. SO crazy!!

We then used a matte finish top coat, similar to a poly, but this stuff can only be bought by trade professionals…it’s that good. We are super happy we hired for this job, the floors were so bad and it would have taken us forever. I fear our room would have just been called the “almost finished pine floor room that never got painted or decorated.”

Thank you, Guy and Susan for introducing me to the best meme ever.

Once the floors were finished and covered we started the molding process.

Guys.

This molding from Metrie is soooooo good. Like, sit down next to it and just move your hands back and forth all over it good. Too much? It’s true.

The two piece crown still blows my mind. And just so everyone knows, it’s absolutely as solid and high quality as it looks. (In fact, it was a tiny bit of a challenge to install because our house is NOT STRAIGHT, like, AT ALL and this molding is too solid to really bend.)

It took us an extra day to perfect every angle, but the results are absolutely stunning.

We also added our beloved picture hanging rail…

This allows us (Andy) to change our art often without putting holes in our walls. We can’t say enough about how much we love it *and believe that everyone should have it in at least one room in their house.*

Plus, it adds so much character.

Just when you think 3 pieces might be enough, we added one last little chair rail on the ceiling so that when the moldings are painted all the same color as the walls (but just a tiny shade darker and/or slightly shinier finish) the crown will look appropriately massive.

We did a couple of “built in” areas…first the closet with the most amazing 8′ Metrie doors. We had curtains here before and no ornament whatsoever, so it was extremely satisfying to see these doors come to life in this space.

By the way, they are heavy. Really, really heavy in the best way. So impressed.

In the sleeping chamber of my fancy suite I built out a bed crown frame and continued the molding around it exactly the same as if it was always part of the room. I am going to do a tutorial on how we are making the whole thing come together, but just know that I have had that photo of the canopy bed I showed you earlier on an actual cork board for almost 13 years- THE TIME HAS COME AND I’M SO EXCITED!!

I told you we never really get to decorate for ourselves, so having something that I’ve wanted for so long (and thought I’d have to wait for my castle in France for) is pretty cool. PLUS, it’s going to be totally achievable. I can’t wait to share the step by step.

In that canopy we will be using Fabricut fabric who is another wonderful sponsor of the ORC. They have been an absolute dream to work with as well and all of our windows (we have FIVE) and this canopy will all be the same fabric. I want that matchy-matchy look in a good way.

It was SO hard to narrow down the exact fabric, we had several finalists and I want to surprise you next week! I actually designed multiple rooms, one based on each fabric and then some, that I will share in the coming weeks after the final reveal. I find it fascinating that a fabric combined with paint can totally change a room from one feeling to another and I am excited to share the “almost” plans.

A few of the finalists:

Fabricut - Watercraft

Fabricut - Les Plumes

Fabricut - Cappadocio Stone and Citrus

Fabricut - Cappadocio Mossy Stone

Next we chose some amazing sconces from Bellacor. We have used Bellacor in the past as well and we’re so thrilled that they were sponsoring. They have a HUGE selection and we, again, had to get it down to finalists…I almost lost my mind at this point because it feels a little ridiculous to be forced to chose from so. many. beautiful. options. All of my rooms need sconces now, of course.

Here are the sconce finalists:

Sperry Sconce - Bellacor

Royals me Sconce - Bellacor

Harper Sconce - Bellacor

All of these are beautiful, so it really came down to scale:

I asked Andy to send me mock ups on the wall while I was in New York and this is what he sent. Adorably placed too high, but helpful nonetheless.

It’s seriously crazy how much goes into a room when you really think about it. I hope you all love the final product (…that won’t be grandma-y at all, well maybe just a little.)

We definitely have a pretty healthy collection of antique chandeliers in our multiple hoarding/storage sheds. We have a lovely one in the office, but I want just a little more of a modern touch to keep the room from crossing over into full-on elderly.

Truax by Brian Patrick Flynn for Crystorama

I REALLY wanted to use the Truax from Crystorama by our friend Brian, but it isn’t available because it’s so freaking perfect that everyone has bought them all 😭 We have an antique and another pick in mind from Crystorama that we are soooo excited about.

We have some things coming from AllModern as well that I know you guys will love. I loooove using their site. It clearly states everything you need to know about lead times, dimensions, colors etc and their suggested items at the bottom of the product page are spot on. I could spend days browsing there happily (and I did ;). I know that sounds kind of strange, but it’s experiences like that online that make me excited to shop from a retailer. I highly recommend you check them out.

For artwork we are using a LOT of antique pieces (shocker) but also ordered a few new ones!

We have heard so many amazing things about minted and we were excited to look through the incredibly diverse library of art that they offer. We chose 2 large prints that are both framed in matte gold frames. ❤️❤️

Minted

Minted

They were incredibly easy to order-we did it on our phones, as one does in an airport, and loved the experience. I can’t wait to see them IRL.

For our other new pieces we used Framebridge’s app-addicting, FRAME ALL THE THINGS-to upload a digital image (I want to surprise you 😵) and designed the treatment of it all on our phones as well. Seriously so impressed.

They can also custom frame what you send them and we are really looking forward to trying that on our next project :) My favorite thing about the app is that you can see every possible combination and then even preview it on your wall (or airplane cabin) to make sure that you love it.

We also wanted to frame our little inspiration piece for the room. We have deviated just a bit from the initial vision, but I think the spirit of it is still present.

Well, I should say will be.

We still have unpainted walls 🙃

This is exciting, right!? It’s all like…will they finish!? Is it even possible!? Haha. Ha. Ha.

We have more beautiful items coming from ATG, which is now called The Mine. My favorite thing about their site is that they have almost everything. You could seriously do whole houses top to bottom with their items, and in multiple styles.

My fabric arrives any day now and I will be frantically sewing pinch pleat curtains, wallpapering the ceiling-you guys are going to die when you see it-hanging lights and placing some last minute orders. We are straight crazy. T minus 7 days (and we have a Las Vegas trip and an LA trip we need to make in the meantime.)

We are definitely keeping it real over here!!! It’s going to be an exciting reveal for all of us, haha!!

Don’t miss everyone’s update this week!

Centsational Girl | Chris Loves Julia | Christine Dovey | Dwell With Dignity | The English Room

Glitter Guide | House of Brinson | House Updated  | J+J Design Group | Lark & Linen | Abby Manchesky

Nesting Place | Old Brand New | Old Home Love | The Pink Pagoda | Rambling Renovators

Erica Reitman | Sketch 42 | Suburban B’s | Erin Williamson  Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by CIH

 

Thank you all for reading!!