ORC Week 2: The Plan, the Paint, & the PROBLEMS!!!!

Hello! If you caught my One Room Challenge week 1, I’m going to be turning a 19th century blacksmith shop into a design studio for Home Glow Design (you can read here if you missed it).

Last week, I was trying to decide between 2 design schemes, each of which I dearly love for completely different reasons. After much *soul-searching* (I mean, come on, I’m not trying to decide whom to marry), I chose this one:

 

The Ultimate She-Shed: The Plan

 

I’ve decided to call it my “Cowgirls Wear Sundresses on Sundays” scheme.

I know that a lot of you wanted the blue and green scheme, but I chose this one for the following reasons:

1. BOTH the Handsome Husband and I love that stunning Longbourn fabric so much that we want it for our master bedroom, which is slated to be a part of a major renovation next year. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that there’s a nice masculine balance.
2. I wanted to create a space that was largely neutral but showed a creative depth for clients to see.
3. That KICK*** chandelier!!!!

 

 

Honestly, when I found this baby, it was a done deal for me.

I’m going to focus on Paint and Problems today, and I’ll get to other design elements in later weeks. But first…

Drumroll please…

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We Have HEAT!!!!

Ok, this is the never ending winter. It snowed yesterday (April 10), and it stuck!!! This didn’t stop my kids from riding their bikes in the back field, however. They want spring as badly as I do at this point.

The problem is that you can’t paint (or mud, or do any of that) without a room being a certain temperature. So we had to finish 2 things first: windows and a heating unit.

You may not have been able to tell from my original pic of the outside of the blacksmith shop, but two of the 150+ year old windows (not the storms, just the interior windows) had been ripped out by my late, anxiety-ridden rescue dog. (Don’t worry, Joan — it was Dora, not Nanny!)

Long story short — our dog, Dora, had to be kept in a crate because she would go into panic attics if left alone in the house. She busted out of 2 metal crates, with much damage to herself. So we thought the shop — with a comfy futon and more space and windows — would be great. Wrong. She knawed out the mullions of 2 windows and we came home to her hurt again (thankfully, not badly), and glass everywhere. We never fixed the windows because the storms were intact, the place was freezing in the winter anyway, and we didn’t feel like spending the cash on what basically had become a storage shed.

Our master-of-all-trades (especially when it comes to antique houses) Brian Barrett created new windows, complete with antique wavy glass.

 

Then we had a Rinnai EX17 propane gas heater installed.

Yes, it is beige. And no, I won’t be doing any fancy, shmancy cover for it. Hoping my desk will mostly block it from view. It’s propped up right now to make room for the seagrass carpet coming in. Brian will then slide in an oak wood pedestal support, because the heater can’t directly lay on carpeting for fire hazard reasons.

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The Paint

First, the colors. While the blush fabric really has more ivory than white in it, I’m also planning on using a number of white IKEA storage units in this space, and I don’t want them to stick out like sore thumbs against the walls. I think Benjamin Moore’s classic White Dove OC-17 , which somehow manages to have a tinge of gray and a slight warmth, will bridge both of those elements nicely.

For the trim, I’ll be using Benjamin Moore’s Advance formulation. I love the Advance because it is a waterborne alkyd that hardens like an oil-based paint. Advance can be a little tricky to work with, though. If you are considering Advance, don’t mind those brush strokes or play with them too much! The paint will level out as it dries.

Good to note — Advance is great for covering up pine knots like I have in the ladder, which will be getting a coat of white paint as well, and the big front board on the edge of the loft.

For that v-groove ceiling, I was debating between Smoke & Mirrors CSP-105 and Quicksand CSP-200.

Both are from the Color Stories collection. I love Color Stories for the following 2 reasons:

1. Color Stories is a full-spectrum line — there are no black or gray colorants, resulting in better color consistency in different lighting situations.
2. Depth of color — Color Stories colors typically use 5-7 pigments in each color, whereas most traditional paint colors use 2-3 pigments.

Quicksand definitely has a red undertone, which may turn some people off to it when they only look at the paint chip. However I tell clients, you can’t determine the best color for a room by whether you like it when it is directly compared to other paint colors (like the Smoke & Mirrors).  Who cares if a color has a red undertone and you like the color with the green undertone better??? You must consider how it works with the whole scheme.

When not next to a gray with a green undertone, Quicksand looks less red. To me, it looks really minky and velvety.

You can read more about the challenges of undertones in grays here.

Sadly, Moore hasn’t put Color Stories into the Advance formulation yet, so we will be using Aura for the ceiling. To take care of the knots, Brian swears by Zinnser Cover Stain and BIN Primer. I think, together with the darker color, the knots should be under control.

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The Problems… problems… and more PROBLEMS!

With any decorating, and especially any renovation job, unforeseen obstacles almost always creep up. Backorders, discontinued items, damaged deliveries, etc. I just always assure clients that we will be their advocate and handle each problem as it arises.

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But because of this super short 6 week deadline, I’m stressing the bejeezuz about getting this done.

Oh wait, it’s actually 5 weeks between post #1 and the reveal.

But really, you only get 4 weeks because I have to allow for photography on May 3.

And then the kids have APRIL VACATION (and so does Brian, my GC)….

So it’s really only 3 weeks. AHHH!

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I put a rush order on the custom upholstered desk chair and am praying that it will come in time.

But my fabric vendor sent the contrast fabric to the wrong address, even though I paid for expedited shipping. My vendor sent out a new supply, but now my upholsterer has one week less to complete the chair and for shipping — and they only had 5 weeks to begin with. Ahhhhh!

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Then there wasn’t enough stock of the seagrass carpet pattern I had originally chosen — this herringbone pattern — and my vendor wasn’t getting more in until the first week of May.

The first week of May is NOT helpful in this ORC scenario. But luckily my second choice was in stock. So out they shipped it.

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Then the seagrass carpet arrived 10 days before install…

…with a huge gash going through at least 2 layers!

Thanks, freight company.

I’ve put in a new order, and my vendor has filed a claim with the freight carrier. But will the new shipment come in time? Who knows? But now my window for having the carpet acclimate to the shop conditions is definitely gone.

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There also wasn’t quite enough of the fabric I wanted for those window treatments (read more about the feminine style of Roman shade I’ve chosen here) in the same dye lot. Now, for a client, we would wait the extra 3 weeks for my vendor to get another order in.

But I don’t have another 3 weeks.

As this is for myself, I’m more willing to take the risk. So I had Pindler send me a pic of the 2 dye lots.

I think that, because 3 windows are under a lower ceiling and 2 are in the open, double height foyer, the itty bitty difference in color will be balanced by lighting conditions. So I gave it a go. Fingers crossed.

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In the coming week, we’ll install the cork wall, get the lighting up, and maybe even install window treatments!

 

Please head back to the One Room Challenge and check out the featured bloggers and other guest participants. Then come back on Saturday for my regular weekly blog post! I’m sure to have some eye candy and inspiration for you.

In the meantime, hoping and praying about the carpet and the chair!

-Amy

 

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