Arsenic Lace

one room challenge

One Room Challenge Week 4 of the Hallway Refresh

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There is not a whole lot to report. Week 4 of the One Room Challenge Hallway Refresh has been pretty slow because I’ve been waiting for the all the items to arrive. I unpacked everything that came last night. As you can see Phil my cat has already claimed the rug.

The wallpaper shipped and the shop assured me it would be here on time. It’s coming from overseas so I’m still a little nervous about the timeline. Luckily that email the participants got yesterday was a sigh of relief. They extended the One Room Challenge by a week to compensate for all the disasters that have happened recently. Final reveal will be Thursday, November 16th.

This week I received the rug, chandelier and coat hooks. I also put the bench together that I bought at IKEA last week. Well, Ethan really put the bench together ;). We are currently using it as a coffee table in the living room and I love it. It’s possible that I might buy another. The original plan was to do the DIY Plant Wall but the macrame plant holders haven’t come yet. Hopefully, they will arrive next week so I can get that done. It will be a fairly easy project and I get to take a trip to my favorite place — the plant store!

Once the wallpaper gets here I can install, hang the hooks, and put the bench in its proper home. Next week I’m concentrating on installing the light fixture. I wanted to save the stairs for last but I may have to get that done before the wallpaper depending on when it arrives. Stay tuned to see how the Hallway Refresh unfolds!

One Room Challenge Week 3 of the Hallway Refresh

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One Room Challenge Week 3 is upon us and things are speeding along. The Hallway Refresh has progressed a little bit and almost everything has been ordered but I’m still waiting to receive the items. Luckily there isn’t a ton to do once all the items get here (except the stairs and wallpaper). I’m going to update you on some changes I am making to the plan and what I put on order. Plus I picked out the colors for the stairs. Yay!

The bench from Ikea that I originally decided on was unavailable. I found a great substitute that is a little bit more compact and way more stylish.  I actually like it better. Everything happens for a reason, right? The bench is actually a coffee table, but I saw it styled at the foot of a bed and seating for a dining room table as well. It’s going to work great as a landing space for my purse and a home for shoes underneath. A cat will probably enjoy some naps on it as well.

I’m starting with a very soft pink at the top of the stairs and fading it into a dark coral that I will be painting in groups of 3 of each color.  I chose paints by Benjamin Moore in Soft Pink, Creamy Peach, Perky Peach, and Summer Sun Pink. The stairs are going to be so happy to look at, I can’t wait for this to come together!

I had to order the wallpaper in a custom size so I contacted the shop.  Hopefully, I hear back soon so I can place that order. I went ahead and ordered the hook rack, ceiling light, macrame plant hangers, and a rug. Also, I had to change the rug because the size I needed wasn’t available, but I found this one that is 2’3″ x 3’9″ which I think should work perfectly.

We’re in the middle of the One Room Challenge with 3 more weeks to go. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all turns out and finishing another space in my home. Full speed ahead! Check out my One Room Challenge Hallway Refresh board on Pinterest to stay up to date with my ideas and items.

One Room Challenge | Design Plan + Budget

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Hi everyone! This week I’m sharing the Design Plan + Budget for the Hallway Refresh. I feel guilty for not being able to post a cocktail since my One Room Challenge post from last week but there are plenty of delicious things on the way. Plus, did you notice the refresh my site got? The hallway isn’t the only thing getting upgrades around here! I’m updating you on my progress for the One Room Challenge which I will be doing for the next six weeks. I hope you will join me in my efforts to stay motivated in finishing up the decor in my home.

I’m making final decisions on wallpaper and decor so that I can get the ordering process started. My one regret from the Spring One Room Challenge was that we ordered late and it caused me a lot of stress. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get everything in time and the wallpaper arrived two days before the final shoot. That means I had one day to get it installed and style the whole room. I almost had a breakdown but I pulled through and got it done. Thankfully there isn’t a ton to order but the stairs are going to be the most time-consuming thing which will be my last project before the reveal. I want those stairs to look super fresh for the photos.

The wallpaper was the hardest decision to make for the final design plan. At first, I wanted to do something geometric so that the wallpaper in the hallway didn’t compete with the wallpaper in the living room. Who am I kidding though? I couldn’t stay away from a tropical/botanical print and I have landed on this one from Boho Walls on Etsy. It is neutral with still adding a pop of color and some much-needed fun to this space.

The other hardest decision I had to make was what color to paint the stairs. Originally I wanted to go a dark teal because I thought it was bright enough to be colorful but dark enough to hide dirt. In the end, I didn’t think this color went with the rest of the house though. There are a lot of neutral tones in this house with touches of pink and a lot of green from the plants. I wanted to stay within these colors because I want the overall feel of the house to be cohesive. So what color did I land on for the stairs? Pink of course!

I know it isn’t the most practical because pink won’t hide dirt. I’m going to paint each stair a solid color instead of just each riser. It will be easier and the tops won’t be white at least. The paint that is on the stairs now is matte which was a bad choice because they’re really hard to get the dirt off of. I’m going to go with a semi-gloss or high gloss so that they’re easier to clean.

The light fixture definitely needs to be changed and I found one from Target that I love that doesn’t break the bank. All the products from the Project 62 line are amazing. It’s hard not to want everything! The bench I picked out is from Umbra but I’m not sold on it. I love the style but I think I could find something that’s more affordable so I’m going to keep my eyes peeled at HomeGoods. I could also get this one from IKEA for $39.99 and paint half of it white so that it looks like the Umbra bench or I really like this one as well. Both are great and a fraction of the price.

Same thing goes for the macrame plant hangers. I LOVE the ones from Anthro but if I need 3 or 4 at $58 the price adds up pretty quickly. I was thinking of doing this simple DIY one or I’ve found a ton of affordable options on Etsy. Head to my Hallway Refresh Pinterest board to see them all. Way too many to link to!

Here are the budget and order list. I can knock a few hundred dollars off if I decide to DIY the bench for $39.99 or buy the other one for $69.99. I can also make my own plant hangers or get affordable options from Etsy to save an additional $100 or so. That would bring my budget down $350 or more. Originally I only wanted to spend $5oo on this project and currently, I’m over budget so I think I may go with these two ideas. Doing this would knock off about $483 which means I’d come in under my budget!! Maybe I can get a piece of art framed for the top up the stairs with my savings? Stay tuned to find out! All items in the design plan linked below.

Rug // Plant Hanger // Ceiling Light // Wallpaper // Hooks // Bench // Paint

 

One Room Challenge | Introducing the Hallway Refresh

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One Room Challenge | Hallway Refresh Inspiration One Room Challenge | Hallway Refresh Inspiration

Hey Everyone! Most of you know that I took part in the One Room Challenge this past Spring in collaboration with Michelle Gage to design my living room. It was such a huge success and participating kept me motivated to finish the room within the six week timeframe. I’m happy to be doing the challenge again as a guest participant and to help speed along the process of me finishing the house. We’re in pretty good shape over here. I’ve been working on the kitchen and bedroom simultaneously and all they need to be completed is some final styling, wallpaper and art. I thought for the One Room Challenge this Fall I would focus on a part of the house that is much neglected. I’m happy to introduce you to the #HallwayRefresh.

Let’s take a look at the before photos!

For this project my main concern is the staircase. I would love to repaint it and make it more colorful. The skylight at the top of the stairs lets some really nice light in, but the bottom of the stairs in the hallway is pretty much the darkest place in the house.

My goal in the hallway is to create an accent wall that will brighten up the space. I would like to add wallpaper and an area to hang coats and keep things organized. This area gives me the most anxiety because it is always such a mess!

Here’s to another successful design challenge. I hope you will follow my progress for the next six weeks. You can check out my Pinterest board to see more inspiration and I will be using the hashtag #HallwayRefresh over on Instagram.

One Room Challenge: Progress and Perspective

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Happy week four of the One Room Challenge everyone! For those of you that have been following along on this non cocktail related journey, thank you! I promise there will be cocktails flowing on the big reveal day! Thus far all the progress for this project has been shared over on Michelle’s page but this week I’m very excited to be sharing my perspective and what the ORC has been like for me.

A few months ago I remember writing a blog post and mentioning how desperately I needed a change at home. When we lost bids on quite a few houses, we decided that maybe renting for another year or so and finding a new place was the way to go. And that’s exactly what we did! I found an amazing apartment right before we left for Palm Springs and actually signed my lease while I was still there. It was a scary decision to leave my apartment of nearly a decade for a new one but I am SO glad I did. Especially because it led me to working with Michelle Gage on my new livingroom.

I had been such a fan of Michelle over on Instagram and when she contacted me about the One Room Challenge, I pretty much fell off my chair with excitement. I shared my vision for the room with her and she seemed even more excited to make this room a reality. The crazy part about this is that all the design has been done via email and on Pinterest for the most part. I was a little skeptical about how e-design worked but now that I have done it I can understand why most designers are doing this method more and more and I would honestly do it again. The internet is a wonderful place guys.

I measured the room, made a floorplan and we contributed to a Pinterest board. The hardest part about this for me was worrying if my vision for the room was going to come through in the design but I feel as though Michelle has really listened to me every step of the way, which is really important to me. She is an absolute dream to work with and is so good at what she does, I couldn’t be happier with the way things are going.

In the past, I feel like I impulsively bought things over time and never had a room that was 100% cohesive. Planning it all out ahead, having a clear mood board to refer to and then placing items on order has defintely made me feel confident on how the room is all going to turn out. As items arrive, every day I get even more excited for the final outcome and I can’t wait to see how Michelle will style the final room.

In the meantime, I’ve been unpacking old treasures and putting props we ordered on the existing shelving. This is totally unstyled but all the pops of color already put a smile on my face!

I can’t wait to go plant shopping this weekend!

I’m really happy that we wound up using an existing rug because it looks great with the couch. I was a little bummed about the first bar cart falling through but in the end I got the one that I really wanted.

Almost everything for the room has arrived. The only things I am waiting on are some framed art, wallpaper, and the barcart should be here Friday. I can not believe I own this barcart or this pink couch. I’m here to tell you that dreams do come true!