I’ve been making slow changes to our front room over the past 6 months. I sold our secondhand tufted Victorian-style couch [the Victorian’s were not known for comfort. This couch really just served as comfort for the cats. I never sat in it] and was soon on the lookout for a replacement sofa or set of armchairs.
I searched secondhand websites [Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace] for a month or two and anything I suggested, Robert vetoed. Hunting secondhand online can be hit or miss, and I was finding a lot of misses. I then turned to mainstream big box stores for an armchair [or two].
When I found the REVO velvet swivel armchairs by Structube I was in love. I loved the modern shape, the velvet and that mossy olive colour. I showed Robert, he equally loved them and before I knew it we had two in our virtual shopping carts. This was late January 2022. It took them 4 months to arrive [which I know is not bad at all when it comes to pandemic online orders]. I tore open the boxes when they arrived, but my excitement fell short; what was olive-mossy green online was in reality a much colder winter green set of chairs.
Womp, womp. It was not what we [I] was hoping for at all. Why didn’t you check the fabric in-store or order a sample online?, I hear you say. Well, I ordered the chairs during the peak of the Omicron wave, and Structube don’t sell swatches of their fabric. It was a risk I was willing to take, and as it turns out, was too risky for me. I put the chairs in place and thought about it for a few days, but knew deep down I couldn’t keep them. The colour was too cold. I went through the return procedure and packed them up to be collected.
I’m back to square one, but I’m not upset about that. I’d have been more upset forcing myself to like them. I do know that thanks to having them in our front room, even if for a few days, I realized I want bigger, comfier chairs. Think 90’s huge, overstuffed, patterned armchairs. You’ve Got Mail levels of comfort, emotionally and physically.
A few weeks ago I added a new piece to our plate wall and it’s so perfect. I’ve been following Margaret, Wolf Dottir, for ages on Instagram and I’ve been wanting one of her pieces to add to our plate wall for just as long. Recently we sent a few messages back and forth as I loved her The Great Mother plate [which was out of stock at the time], so I asked if she had any other plates she would be willing to print her Great Mother artwork on [yes, Margaret is a talented artist as well plate technician (is that even a term? Well she is)] another plate. A week later I had my hands on this custom piece and it has perfectly bridged our plate wall to a second dining room wall.
I’ll include below an updated legend of the other plates included on our wall, as they’ve moved around a bit since I last blogged about our wall.
It is here! At long last! It’s reveal day for this year’s One Room Challenge and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve had a busy few weeks outside of completing the ORC, so I’ve not had as much time as I’d like to complete it. So instead of beating myself up [like I do with most things], I’ve decided to style and photograph our home office as it currently is, and as time goes by and I finish my to-do list, I’ll update this post. My past self would be very surprised with how chill I am right now.
Enough about that. And more about my home office makeover!
A huge part of my ORC this year was paint related, with the most drama being when I accidentally ordered the wrong paint finish and had to, in total, paint the walls 7 times 🙃 That was fun. I spent a lot of time trying to level the ceiling [which worked out in the end] and it feels like not enough time making our home office pretty. But it’s a work in progress and no room stays the same, so I’m looking forward to adding further detail to this room over time.
Anyone remember that secondhand tufted office chair I picked up secondhand two years ago? *crickets* Well I dug it out of the basement, painted the leather in Fusion Mineral Paint‘s shade of Coal Black, sanded down the wood and refinished it. It looks SO MUCH BETTER. It goes really well with our other painted chair, which I still get questions about to this day, our painted tufted leather armchair which is happily at home in the corner of our office now.
Our custom built office desk – now that was a labour of love. I’m SO HAPPY with how it turned out. My Week Seven blog post was all about how I Frankenstein-ed our desk using IKEA kitchen counter tops and pieces from our old dining room table. I also made a reel about it on Instagram, which you can check out here!
I can’t publish this post without mentioning the wasp ‘art’ I made. When I repaired the wall under the window in Week Two, I had found a massive [very old] wasps next in the brickwork. I was able to salvage pieces of it, which I knew I wanted to frame in some way once the room was properly finished. I had bought this trio of frames from Value Village years ago and never used them. When I was rummaging through my decor stash to decorate our office, I found it and knew it would be perfect. I simply glued the nest pieces to some black velvet. I don’t know how long it will last like this, but I love it for now.
Speaking of window repairs, here is what our home office looked like at the beginning of this year’s ORC …
Click here to see all the before photos of our home office. It wasn’t in bad shape, but it also wasn’t good.
ORC SPRING 2022 SOURCE LIST: WALLS: – Sico paint in ‘Army Green’ in flat / matte finish DESK: – EKBACKEN kitchen counter tops [one large, one small] from IKEA – Legs and apron taken from our old dining room table ACCESSORIES: – Black tufted armchair, secondhand, painted with Fusion Mineral Paint in ‘Coal Black’ – Tufted office desk chair, secondhand from Kijiji [updated blog post coming soon!] – SANELA dark grey curtains from IKEA – Vanilla Sugar candle from Wick Witch – Picture frames, all thrifted [sorry] – Silhouette paintings, painted by myself More will be added to this list as I continue to update our home office!
You can check all the Week Eight / final reveals by all the Guest Participants here! I cannot wait to scroll through the finished projects this week and see all the transformations. It is my goal during each one of Zelda’s naps this week to view each update. So much effort goes into these projects and I always love to see what everyone has challenged themselves to design.
I’ve completed all but 3 or 4 items off my to-do list. The main things I didn’t get around to going is: replacing the banister at the top of the servants stairs, painting the servants stairs, update the main light in our home office [bye boob light], and then sourcing small decor items like a pillow for the chair and printing the digital artwork I bought.
ORC SPRING 2022 TO-DO LIST: – Skim coat / patch ceiling – Skim coat / patch walls – Paint ceiling – Paint walls – Replace / upgrade banister at top of servants stairs – Update and reinstall handrails – Repaint stairs [not super necessary, but I might as well] – Install desk system – Update secondhand tufted office chair – Source chandelier / remove the boob light – Source storage cabinet[s] for office items – Possibly source and hang curtains [not sure though for either window] – Decorate / hang artwork / overkill the space
Thank you to everyone who had supported and encouraged me during this year’s ORC! It’s been a great project, and I truly cannot wait to use our office now. Until next time.
