One Room Challenge Week Three
I'm sure you can guess by the photos above that the bedroom set (some or all) is staying. As much as I would've loved a new bed, I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of these special pieces (if you missed that story, find it here). But it didn't come without a lot, A LOT, of work.
Ideally, I would have rather the set been professionally stripped and restained but 1) we were in the middle of a quarantine, and 2) I didn't want to spend that much money so I opted to paint it all. This required considerable time and effort on my part. The surfaces were all deglossed, sanded, filled with Bondo (more on that in a minute), sanded again, filled again, sanded again...well, you get the picture.
Once I decided to paint the bedroom set I knew I would be using Fine Paints of Europe Hollandlac in high gloss - a favorite option. The decision then was between white and
light blue. I landed on Lulworth Blue from Farrow & Ball, mixed by FPoE. When using Hollandlac, I prefer to fill imperfections with Bondo. In this case though, I do wish I would have used a grain filling product. Oak is not the ideal candidate for high gloss lacquer paint, and I knew that going in, but I had used it on another piece and actually liked the almost faux bois look it gave. This furniture, however, was heavily grained and could have done with a bit of grain filler.
In all, the furniture process took about a week. During that time I also started another major element to the project, the wall moulding. My goal here was to add traditional
character while also keeping it fresh - there's no chair rail and no crown moulding, which I felt would take it too traditional. To keep from overwhelming the room the moulding is painted the same color and finish as the wall, Benjamin Moore's China White, mixed by Sherwin-Williams in Cashmere, my go-to finish. I've used this adaptable warm white in several spaces - it's a great subtle counterpoint to white trim and plays well in both north and south facing rooms.
Baseboards, door and window trim also got a fresh a coat of paint in Decorator's White OC-149 by Benjamin Moore mixed by Fine Paints of Europe Hollandlac in Satin, chosen for its durability. You can see in this photo the subtle, but elegant contrast, between the Decorator's White trim and the China White wall and moulding. The paint is still wet in this photo, but the old formulation of Fine Paints of Europe Hollandlac Satin does have more of a sheen than most satin finishes, which is used here.
Fine tuning of fabric selections also came into play during this time as accent fabrics from Thibaut and Waverly were selected and started to arrive.
In all, I'm very pleased with how this is coming together. There were some delays with receiving product - weeks of delays - due to COVID-19, and some design changes along the way, which you'll discover in the reveal.
Be sure to follow my One Room Challenge journey until the Big Reveal! And check out the other participants here!
The One Room Challenge is sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens.
Comments