What a week! I can't believe we're heading into the last week of the 2021 Spring One Room Challenge already! It's gone by SO fast. I've definitely been burning the candle at both ends for all of Week Seven, working about 12 hours a day nearly every day trying to finish everything up for the big reveal next week. I decided to try something different this week because I'm so exhausted and get up early this morning to write my blog post instead of starting on it at 11 pm last night, which is what I usually do. Let's just say I'm pretty sure I feel just as tired and I'm also running late now. You'd think that after almost 40 years of definitely not being a morning person I'd have known this would be the case, but I'm going to use the excuse that I'm not hitting on all sixes at the moment from all the non-stop DIY and leave it at that! Anyway, let's get down to business now, shall we?
Although the past week has been insanely busy, it's also been insanely productive. I'm finally starting to see things getting done and that's always a huge motivator to keep going. The built-in maple shelves were sealed; the last bit of the hardwood floor was finished up; all the trim around the doors and windows got installed; and outlets and switches (even the covers!) have been attached to the wires hanging out of the walls. I also hung new closet doors in the hallway that separates the den from the rest of the house and painted them the same pink I used on the walls (Pink Ground by Farrow & Ball - my fave). Instead of making them ourselves like we did the kitchen cabinet pulls for the 2020 Spring One Room Challenge, I got these round pulls from a shop on Etsy, whose owner so kindly rushed the order to make sure I got them in time.
Now let's talk about the Alexis chairs in Ember Velvet I was gifted from Kardiel, one of my fabulous sponsors. One word: DREAMY. These are by far my fave chairs I've ever owned. The velvet is ridiculously soft. The color is absolutely gorgeous. Doesn't it look just perfect with the pink peeping in from the hallway? They're so comfortable too! We've been thoroughly enjoying them in the living room for several weeks now, but I'm SO STOKED to finally see them in place in the den.
Another exciting development was adding the fluted detail to the sides of the fireplace. I'm seriously dying over how it turned out. We started by cutting out quarter round pieces to add to the sides of the fireplace, creating four contact points for the PVC pipe (yep, PVC pipe!) we used to create the look on each side.
Initially, I'd planned to use maple half rounds; however, because the ceilings in the den are 9 feet high, we ended up in a bit of a predicament. I knew we definitely weren't making them ourselves like we did for the dining table because they'd have to be so long, which would leave a lot of room for error; PLUS it would take so much longer to do. Of course, I could've ordered some online, but I was having a hard time finding pieces longer than 8 feet and those were almost $50 a piece for 1 x 1/2 inch. Insane! I also really liked the idea of having the fluting a larger scale to match the scale of the terrazzo on the fireplace, so we went with 10 foot pieces with an inner diameter of 3 inches.
We custom fit each piece, holding them up one by one and marking where to make the slots for the half round pieces to fit into. After making the marks, Derek cut the notches on each one and then we used quick grab construction adhesive in each notch to make them stick. It was a long process, but definitely worth it!
I also added this design I dreamed up to the ceiling, which is comprised of maple and flexible half round moulding. Initially, I'd planned for the medallion in the middle to be raw maple like the details on either end; but decided maybe it might be too much with everything else going on in the room, so I painted it and I'm glad I did! Can't wait to show you the finished product next week!
Alright, that's it for now! Stay tuned for the BIG REVEAL and thanks for reading!
You can head here for past ORC posts:
Also, make sure to go check out what all of the other featured designers are up to this week:
Sachi Lord | Susan Hill Interior Design | This Is Simplicite | Tiffany DeLangie | Victoria Lee Jones
Many thanks to Kardiel for sponsoring this post. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks to the rest of my sponsors for this event as well:
Blueprint Lighting | Candice Luter Designs | Concrete Collaborative | Gantri | GoPro Quik | Maman Rugs