ORC – Spring Weeks 2 & 3

Weeks 2 & 3

Continuing on with the budget bathroom update that I wish I had done sooner — next on the list was painting and a new vanity mirror.

I tried a light grey first for the walls that was a lighter shade of what we have in our bedroom but it didn’t look right so I ended up going for white.

Getting the right shade of white can be tricky.

At first, I intended to use leftover white paint (Benjamin Moore Simply White) but it was too yellow and looked dingy in the bathroom.

Next, I tested out some plain white, straight out of the can, untinted white that I use for baseboards and doors. I was hesitant about how it would look but this article from Houzz about 10 Beautiful White and Wood Bathrooms helped me finalize my decision to paint the walls white without thinking it would look too clinical.

This white instantly brightened the room and made it look cleaner too. Paint is such an easy and inexpensive way to update a space.

To keep things simple I painted the doors and baseboards the same white as the wall.

Next was removing the large mirror above the vanity. This was something that I had wanted to do for awhile but was very hesitant about taking the mirror off. It actually was quite easy to remove and replacing it with a round mirror instantly updated the look of the bathroom – why didn’t I do this 4 years ago??

 

 

That’s it so far, a huge change on a very small budget and something that could easily be done on a weekend. To see the progress other people have made follow along on the One Room Challenge site.

 

 

 

Spring 2019 – ORC

Fall 2017 -ORC

Side Note: Notice the Difference

between the current

ORC and the last one?

Advertisement

ORC – Spring 2019 Week 1

 

 

It’s the One Room Challenge again, a chance for interior designers and bloggers to transform a room in 6 weeks. What I like about this event is how it motivating and inspiring to tackle a project along with everyone else – plus having the deadline helps get it done.

 

The last time I did a project in our house was Fall 2017 when I did a board & batten nursery/boys’ room.

 

This time I am doing a small project and something that is long overdue — our master bathroom. Since it’s been almost 5 years since we’ve lived here and we’re not planning a renovation I want to improve what we have by doing a few small projects so that we can enjoy this space.

      The plan:

• Replace the Mirror
• Replace the Vanity Light
• Paint the Walls
• Clean the bathroom
• Create a focal area with the illusion of floating shelves in the closet
• Add shiplap to the walls
• Replace the closet door with a barn door 

 

This is how our vanity originally looked and it stayed this way for 3 years until I painted and changed the hardware. There is a post about the process here.

For minimal effort and materials, this made a huge improvement and gave me the hope that I could improve this bathroom without a renovation.

 

To see what the other designers and bloggers are planning here is the link to Week 1:

 

ORC – Week 7 Reveal

The One Room Challenge is now done and it’s time to see the finished spaces for all participants. There were a lot of changes in our home during these past 7 weeks, especially with the addition of our newest family member who was born 3 weeks ago.

Completing this room by myself while being very pregnant and then with a newborn had its challenges. I was able to install the Metrie trim but I  didn’t have enough time to paint the bunk beds — I may have been a bit unrealistic about what I could complete during this time!

The foundation of the room is finished with the new trim, casings, baseboards and new light fixture. With the board and batten on the walls, the ceiling seems higher and these formerly blank white walls have interest even though one side of the room is currently bare.

Remember how this wall looked before when it was just plain white and had narrow baseboards? See the difference now? 

This is the side where the bunk beds will go. In the meantime, here is a clear view of the new, Wide Baseboards and Solid Pine Lattice that I used for the board and batten. It was a new challenge to change the baseboards and I’m so glad I did because it gives the whole room a more updated look.

What I learned from installing wide baseboards is that you need a large blade on your mitre saw in order to properly cut them. That’s just something to keep in mind when choosing a saw if you like the wider moulding profiles.

The board and batten worked well with the awkward angles of this room.

For artwork, I used this painting that was done by my husband and just happened to be the right colour scheme for the room. While mum was visiting in October she made this flannel crib sheet.

Here is my 3-week old son testing out the new space and of course our dog, Cali is right there beside him.

Thank you to Metrie for helping to make this vision a reality! I love when a sketch or an idea comes to fruition.

Even though many elements in the room stayed the same (curtains, curtain rod, crib) with a new foundation the whole room looks new.

To see how all of the other 200 + rooms turned out click on the ORC logo below.

ORC – Week 6

The shared nursery/bedroom is coming together and luckily the One Room Challenge has been extended by one week so that should be enough time to finish installing all of the Metrie trim.

I’m using the garage as my workshop and borrowing my friend Kate’s mitre saw to cut the pieces there. Then, I bring the cut trim up to the bedroom to double check measurements and install it using basic hand tools like I did in my previous moulding tutorial.

I have a sketchbook where I planned the trim and I also use it to keep track of the lengths I need to cut.Removing and replacing window and door casings is new for me and so far it’s going well. Above is how the window looked after I ripped off the old casing. I pried it off with a screwdriver and then pulled out the nails with a hammer. Where there was a build-up of paint from before, I used a chisel to carefully create a smooth surface.

Here is the new Pretty Simple Casing up around the window. Combined with the 5 1/4″ wide Pretty Simple Baseboards,  the room is already looking better.

This side of the room has two doors that I’m still working to remove the old casings from. In the meantime, I have started putting the Solid Pine Lattice up on the top edge of the room.

Once the lattice was up around the top and the baseboards were in, putting up the vertical lattice went quickly.

While I was working in the room these two were napping in the hallway …

That’s it for this week. My sister is here visiting for a few more days which will help me get the rest of this finished in time for the final reveal at the end of next week.

 

To see how all of the other rooms are coming together, click on the link below.

ORC – Week 4

It’s week 4 of the One Room Challenge and our baby was born this morning! Even though this room isn’t perfectly finished it doesn’t matter because we have a bassinet in our room to use for the first couple of months anyway.

 

Another announcement is that I am partnering with Metrie to change these plain white walls into ones with more substance thanks to board and batten moulding. Below is the rest of my mood board for the room.
After adding moulding in other rooms of the house, I have seen the sense of character it adds and envisioned it here as well. Since this room is an irregular shaped kids room that will be packed with furniture, the board and batten painted white will add some subtle dimension to the walls.

Image Via: Rethink Design Studio

This image from Rethink Design Studio is the inspiration and I intend to do a similar style. I like how they used the lattice along the top edge instead of crown moulding. After installing moulding on our staircase this should be a simple job.

This is the rough idea of what I’m planning. After doing some sketching and spending time in the room measuring different spacing, I prefer the look the board and batten being wider.

 

That’s it for this week…time to get back to that baby! More updates from the other participants can be found below.

 

Fall ORC – Week 3

Lighting

Lighting has been the biggest change in this room so far. I finally replaced the builder basic light with a statement one. Since the rest of the room is going to be mainly white and yellow I wanted to create a focal point with the light fixture. My plan was to use this bucket style pendant light and adjust the length to the shortest I could possibly make it.

This is what the light looked like with the original long cord and below are photos of it in the room after it had been shortened.

Since this was the only change made to the room since last week, here’s a view of the light from all different angles.

A reminder of what the room looked like before.

This weekend we’re planning to buy a secondhand bunk bed. I’ve been searching for one for months without luck so hopefully this one works out! If not, we aren’t in a huge rush which helps when you’re looking for a specific secondhand piece.

 

Progress in other rooms from the One Room Challenge can be seen here in One Room Challenge Week 3.

Fall ORC – Week 2

It’s Week 2 of the Fall One Room Challenge and just over 1 week away from the new baby’s due date.

Here’s a look at the plan I have for this shared nursery/bedroom – a neutral base with white walls, furniture & bedding; a statement light fixture and colourful accents that can be changed up over time.

Initially, I had planned to colour block the walls with navy on the bottom of the wall to contrast with the white furniture. When my husband saw how dark the navy was, he was completely opposed to this plan so I ended up painting the walls solid white instead. I still think that the navy would have looked good because this is a bright, South facing room but I like the white too.

The furniture and curtains in this room are the original pieces that I used in our very first nursery from our Montreal home. This rocking chair was among the first furniture we bought and I below is the original photo of it from October 2012.

At that time I was expecting our first child and was keen to paint everything with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, that’s where my love of DIY home improvement began. The white paint from 5 years ago has stood up very well as you can see in the photo below. The mirror resting in the photo below is the same one that we have in our powder room.

Goodbye mountain mural nursery wall…

Here’s the plain white room which isn’t too exciting right now. After painting the room I realized that I need to make the doors and trim a brighter white so that there is some slight contrast between them and the walls. By the way, these black door handles are actually shiny brass hiding beneath spray paint. It has been three years since I spray painted these and they’re holding up well here because we don’t use these door handles very often.

 

Week 2 from all of the other participants is linked up through Calling it Home.

Fall One Room Challenge – Week 1

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared any new projects on my blog. Now that The One Room Challenge Fall Edition is here I’m joining in to create a shared bedroom for my son and his baby brother who is due this month.

This photo is from exactly 3 years ago when I painted a simple mountain mural for my 1-year-old. It was a quick and easy project (see the post here) that I still like but, that 1-year-old is now almost 4 years old and with a baby coming I know it’s easier to redecorate now rather than later.

Before I show my plan for this room I’m sharing photos of the whole space as it currently is. The crib has worked very well as a toddler bed but soon we will need it back to use as a crib.

The desk worked as a change table & dresser before and now it’s still used as a dresser. The rocking chair was one of my first chalk painting projects.

 

This little installation I created with some secondhand mirrors as well as canvases and painted them with paint samples.

This is the view of the room from the hallway that I completed with Metrie Moulding last fall. The gallery wall is made of wood secondhand frames that I painted white and distressed.

The pineapple quilt was made by my mum who will soon be opening an etsy shop with baby quilts.

That’s it for this week. All of the other people participating have shared their plans for The One Room Challenge and it looks like a few nurseries are being created as well as many other rooms.

How to Build a Cedar Planter & Privacy Screen

How to Make this Cedar Planter & Lattice

Here’s a brief photo guide showing how I made these cedar planters and lattice. The construction was quite straight-forward, especially making the boxes.

The cedar boards were cut to my measurements at Home Depot so when I brought the pieces home they were ready to assemble. The outer boards are cedar decking and the inside supports are spruce 2″x2″s. First, I assembled the front and back sides before adding on the ends. These were so large that I could fit inside the planters as I put them together.
I chose to stain the boxes and lattice pieces for a modern look. This is an opaque stain and it took two coats to get even coverage. The lattice is made of pine 2″x 2″s and 2″x3″s for the outer frame. Using these gave me the flexibility to choose my own spacing for the lattice grid plus they could fit in my car when a 4’x8′ sheet of premade lattice wouldn’t be able to. 
Once the boxes were positioned, I attached two panels to connect the planters and create the illusion of a box around the dogwood shrub that is already planted.
After Staining the pieces for the lattice I began to assemble them right beside the planters so that I wouldn’t have to walk very far carrying the screen once it was built. I predrilled holes and used deck screws to attach the pieces.

To make it more manageable to install I made one large screen first, attached it to the fence in a few spots and then filled in the sides with the smaller portions. My friend gave me a hand lifting the large screen into place and holding it and the rest I was able to do alone.

To line up the side portion of the lattice, I made a basic frame and then added the horizontal pieces to match up with the existing grid.

Once the planter boxes were in place and the lattice was complete I lined the boxes with landscaping fabric and then filled them with soil. I packed these boxes with kale this year and have put some spring bulbs in as well. Once winter comes, I plan to fill the planters with boughs and branches – these are perfect for multi-season use.

To look back on more photos from the progress and plans for this project below are links to previous posts.

ORC Week 1 – Inspiration

ORC Weeks 2 & 3

ORC Week 5

ORC Week 6

Final Reveal

ORC – Final Reveal – Part 2

Here is the final reveal of the planter box and lattice that I built for the One Room Challenge.

In the boxes I planted several types of kale since I know that they grow well in this spot and will provide us with steady greens into September. There are also 4 clematis plants to grow up the lattice and vinca vines to spill down the front of the boxes.

Here’s a reminder of what the fence looked like before. 

Now is the part that I love, watching the vines fill up the lattice and having a constant supply of leafy greens for the next few months.

The Before & After of this project is also on Apartment Therapy.

More photos of what this area looked like before I started and inspiration can be found here:

Week One – One Room Challenge

Photo Instructions on How to Build This: