It's finally finished and I am still alive to share it! This was a total race to the finish, and I had my doubts I'd get it done in time. I now have a brand new painting/ sewing studio/ guest room and I am so happy.
This room had so many projects, and I kept adding projects and driving myself crazy.I mean who adds a faux burl cabinet IKEA hack less than a week before the reveal when you still have a boatload of sewing? Just me, and I feel like it has been years since I did a true DIY, so doing this many had me a bit mental.
Remember what this room used to look like? It was my son's old room and had become the junk room.
This was my original inspiration board:
I wanted a cozy space that I could use as my studio. My office on the first floor was busting at the seams with my fabric design business. There's samples everywhere and I have very little space to paint and create. My dining room had already been hijacked by sewing machines and my family was no loving my growing pains.
This room has great light. It faces Southeast, and the windows overlook the water so I decided to take it over and move half my office/ business upstairs. I still have my office downstairs as well, but that one is where I do my digitizing of designs, computer work and sew/store my samples. I will post some pictures of that office soon- its been undergoing a makeover as well. This has kind of been a 2 for 1.
I decided on a terracotta and soft blue color scheme, a little lilac crept in there too.I custom designed some fabrics for the room, since that is my day job after all. They can all be found in my Spoonflower shop here.The Tulip Stripe was originally going to be the wallpaper, but I quickly changed that up to grasscloth because I felt it would be too busy with the painted floor. I decided to use it as the draperies instead.
This room was going to be a workhorse and I had a ton of art supplies, fabrics and sewing machines to store so I took the closet and created a secondary work area. The closet was off center so I hid that by adding a curtain across the entire wall. Everything is organized and out of sight when need be. I call this office space 'Oz' since it's behind the curtain.
More storage was needed, so I transformed an old IKEA KALLAX bookcase into a faux burl cabinet...
This was what it looked like before paint and some doors I built were added:
I built 4 doors out of pine 1x2's that were 14.25" x 30" and connected pairs together to create 2 bifold doors. The Kallax cubbies don't space out evenly, so bifold were just easier.
I then faux painted the cabinet to look like Burl. My tutorial can be found on Instagram here
I attached the doors with simple brass cabinet hinges and used cabinet magnets to close the doors..
I added radio weave caning to the insides of the doors.
The DIY projects don't end there.There was also this makeover on my light fixture.
My original light only had two bulbs and the room was just too dark. I found a basic 6 bulb branch light here and transformed it into a brass tole inspired fixture covered in blossoms.
The How to Light Fixture Tutorial Video is on Instagram here.It is actually so much easier than I thought it would be. I found craft metal here that is a little lighter than the standard tin you'd find in Hobby Lobby. I was able to cut it with scissors.
Now for the other half of the room. The Guest part... I wanted to keep a twin bed in here as a daybed, just in case we needed extra space for visitors.
Remember this corner? With its screwy double eves?
I had such a challenge creating a canopy to hide that. I really wanted a fancier canopy, but the eve comes out so far I couldn't create one that would be balanced on both sides without it looking stupid. I had to go with a simple draped one.
The nook fit a twin perfectly, so it totally dictated how this room would layout.
The canopy is made from 5 yards of fabric with 3 hidden rod pockets.
The little dresser was actually mine as a child. I faux painted it about 7 years ago.
I reupholstered the headboard and dust skirt using my Andrew Stripe fabric.
I found the little bench and my desk at Estate Sales.
I love the desk in this room, but it might be getting swapped out with the desk in my other office. I'm realizing it's not as practical for painting as I had hoped. I have a deeper rectangular desk downstairs... I will let you know where everything ends up once I finish that room.
I am so thrilled to finally the room complete. I have never done a One Room Challenge, and I knew that giving myself a deadline is the only way to get it done. In my true 11th hour style! I am off to take a huge nap in that daybed and get back to my normal routine. I can't wait to create some new patterns in this space!
Please be sure to check out all the other amazing transformations by this season's participants. It is so inspiring to see the creativity and hard work!
