One Room Challenge: Week Five -- Twas the Week Before Reveal

And all through the house, not a project was finished... it was time to get soused. The rest of that ditty can take a hike, except for the bit about martinis dancing through my head. That is how the poem goes, right? So friends, we find ourselves near the end of the One Room Challenge (catch up on earlier posts HERE). Let me say that six weeks is quite the grueling schedule to decorate, shoot, post, and completely redesign a room. But in all honesty, it's good to have deadlines... without them I might have lived in a Triple XXX peach dinette forever. Or at least until my husband threatened divorce. I'm pretty sure that was on the horizon, so a huge thank you to Linda of Calling it Home for organizing this challenge!

This past week was fraught with obstacles like kid sickness, parent sickness, and mental sickness. 'Tis the season for sharing, you know. Let it be known that I battled a veritable river of bodily fluids to bring you updates. Because I care.

erin williamson orc

I am kind of being a tease here because a fair amount of choices have been made, but they are still top secret hush hush. Anticipation is the best part of... well, everything. Except for martinis. Anyway, I do have a table but I'm still working out seating and this represents just a tiny fraction of the options I have stocked in the garage. My husband is thrilled about this.

Thonet chairs and stools on top of stools on top of stools, oh my. I am having a lot of conflicting thoughts about seating right now. Some strange perversion of the mind has taken hold and is forcing a philosophical rigor upon the situation wherein I only like chairs that speak to the chairness of chairs. You know, like Plato and stuff. Somehow no cantilevered, nor panton, nor frankly any kind of not-plain CHAIR will do. This is a weird turn of events because I normally love all of those things -- just not for this space at this time. I may have to do a bench or stools to get around this self imposed hurdle.

erin williamson orc

Oh hey, did you notice that I got new blinds? Someone is probably going to say they look like the old blinds, but that is incorrect.

erin-williamson-orc-2

The old blinds were this shiny orange monolith too heavy to be drawn up and down on a whim. So I got myself to Lowes and had some stick blinds custom cut, et voila!

erin williamson orc

I think they look light, fluffy and neutral. Plus they hide my ugly window clips. I like them a lot.

I also got a new fancy door knob from Rejuvenation for the ugly arched panel door I hope to replace someday. It's a bit like gilding a stinkbug, but there is is.

erin williamson orc

Sexy black porcelain and unlacquered brass, yum. I'm going to let it get all dirty and patinated so it hides jelly smeared fingerprints. And then when I get a new door this baby is coming with... No one gets left behind! Except for ugly doors and blinds.

erin williamson orc

I have also been steadily accruing a huge amount of thrifted accessories for my table setting. I've never really put together a big girl holiday table before, so that is high on my to do list. This year, retinas will be seared and eyes will be generally blinded by all manner of scintillating wares. I have enough gold, crystal, and glossy porcelain to make Kate Spade cry uncle into her polka dotted napkins.

erin williamson orc

Hello $5 gold Florentine flatware! Rope-a-dope, people. I'm in it to win it.

Now if only I could figure out what to do for seating, decide on my ding dang art already, and nail down the overarching direction of styling and mood...

Maybe I'm just in it to finish it. Wish me luck.

As always, please do visit my lovely co-challengees to see how they are faring this week.

one room challenge

 

Irregular Sectionals

Whatup Thursday!  I'm here for my SECOND longish post this week and will be waiting patiently at the end for my big, fat prize.  I get something grand for posting more than 2 pictures and typing, like, 5 funny sentences, right? I know Erin already seduced you sectionally, but I just found a bunch of irregularly  shaped sectionals in my interiors folder so that's what you're getting today.  You can't have too much of a good thing, right?

Guess what?!  I don't know where this is from.  That's what happens when I pull things at random from my inspiration folder.  BUT I heard your cries for documentation on Tuesday so I'll be more careful from here on out.  Today is my last day (probably) of laziness.

Thanks, Elizabeth, for hooking me up with the source of this photo!!  Looks like it's from m. design

My fantasy sofa.

I was really torn on whether or not to show you this sofa from The Selby (huh, huh, look at that, I know where it's from), it's not really irregular, but I figured there was enough curve and groovy pattern that we could let it fly.

This round beauty belongs to fellow blogger ModFruGal and was featured on our blog when she gave us her drool-worthy home tour.

Ok, where's my prize?

Sofas Of Our Lives (SOOL)

Like sands through the hourglass, bitches! It wasn't easy, but I have finally finally finally taken some new pictures of my house so you can watch the drama unfold. Now, this is primarily a tale of conflicting couches, but stay tuned for side plots involving angled walls, terrible tv and stereo equipment, annoying door situations, and the obligatory regrets, excuses and fantasies.

Exposition:

Today's episode is set in a quirky 60s ranch house with issues -- like a crazy angled rock fireplace, a weird recess in the back wall, a wall-way, and a ridiculous door that opens into the room. Click le pic for a larger image.

The Players:

Hailing from Ethan Allen via craigslist, navy blue chesterfield sofa is petite yet all enveloping, soft yet remarkably supportive. Sexy as though she may be, the vagaries of time have not been kind to her (in other words, my cat scratched the crap out of her backside), and she's feeling abused, neglected, beaten down. Let's just say her name is Krystle.

Lean, powerful, and expensive, tan couch set hails from Elite Leather via ebay. 100% aniline, he don't mess around with frou frou binders or chemicals, preferring instead to flash his scars and wrinkles like the badges of patinaed wisdom they are. He may be a tough, no nonsense kind of a guy, but he also knows how to make sweet sweet love to your body. We will call him Blake.

The Interloper:

Blake and Krystle have always had an uneasy relationship. Who ever thought that navy and tan could be happy in a black and gray world, anyway? But through years of proximity (and counseling with a similarly hued rug), they've learned to make it work. Until she came along.

Could this skinny slut be anyone other than Alexis, the cougar of couches? 70s rosewood casing with (not so) virgin wool upholstery, Alexis is compact and calculating. Even though I knew Blake and Krystle -- while not an eternal match -- were at least reasonably happy together, I let Alexis sing her sweet siren craigslist song to me. Basically, she said, "I'm cheap! I'm easy! And I'm sexy as hell!"

And she was. All of these things. But she scraps like a hyena with both Blake and Krystle, plus she's a rock hard bitch. So to the office she went. Well, at least the office is looking better.

The story should probably end here, with a tenuous but palpable equilibrium. But there is always conflict brewing on the backburner...

Side Plots:

Technology, with its innumerable wires and hideous shiny blackness, is the bane of my existence. Also, my inability to replace those chairs with small cabinets housing the speakers is driving me to distraction. This is an endless source of real life conflict between me and The Hunny, who is seemingly bound by a testosterone oath not to crapoflage his ugly stereo equipment.

Then there is the door of hell that prevents sofa seating against this wall -- the wall that faces the tv. Good planning!

This is the best furniture configuration yet. We have tried every possible permutation, and here it is. I should be happy. There are starving children in China. Not happy. Never happy. Want new couch. Want new house with no weird floorplan issues. Want to stop wanting things. So, SOOL lovers -- tell me what's next. What happens in the next episode of the drama? Do Blake and Krystle get broken up or do they kiss and make up? Does Alexis the sexy 70s set get sold to a dealer for a buttload of cash? Do I reconfigure the seating yet again??? Nevermind, I am way too damn tired for that.

Do I buy this sofa off craigslist for 50% of the retail price, thereby turning my living room into a satellite of Karly's house, since she has the exact same couch? I am 99.9% sure this is a bad idea for many many many reasons, but I like to hold craigslist bargains in my mind like a pebble and rub them constantly.

As if you didn't already know that the real drama was me.