This year I’ve decided to participate in the One Room Challenge for the first time. If you haven’t heard of the ORC, it’s a large online event where bloggers participate in making over one room of their home in the space of 5 weeks. Room makeovers are my very favourite thing ever – there’s nothing like seeing a whole space completely transformed in a short space of time!
At first I couldn’t decide which room to choose for this challenge. In the end I decided to go with my son’s nursery. Now… it’s been partially done for a while (baby boy is six months old now!! What?!) – but I’ve yet to share a single image of this space with you all, and goodness knows I could do with the push to get it completely finished. I was so busy working on a client’s home before I gave birth that everything else got put on the back burner. I got the nursery cleared out and habitable, and that was about it. Then number four arrived, and well… that was the end of sleep and spare time for a while. The past few months have been crazy-busy to say the least.
So rather than launch in on a whole new project, I’m going to use this opportunity to finally get this room wrapped up.
Here’s a look at what the room was like before:
Attractive, right? It was my husband’s music room, so we are talking a LOT of bulky music gear – speakers, sound desk, computer, music stands, piles of leads, keyboards, guitars, other random instruments, and of course, a Queen mattress leaning up against the wall, because this room also doubled as our guest room. #classy
The problem
Our first task was to figure out what the heck to do with all the music gear so we could clear out the room.
We are currently living in a small four-bedroom home, and with four kids now, we feel like we’re bursting at the seams. Our two older boys already share a room, and my 4-year-old daughter’s room also doubles as the playroom since this is a one living-area house. (Boy, do I miss the playroom from our last home!) … so all the toy storage has to fit in her bedroom. My office is in the dining room, and apart from that, there’s not a spare nook or cranny to be found.
The solution
To solve this problem, we ended up enclosing the garage (it used to be partially open to the elements on both sides) and adding a wall of open shelving for my husband’s music gear.
It’s actually turned out pretty well, because now when he has a gig, he can just load his gear straight into the car. He also keeps a guitar under our bed so he can easily grab it out to play it during the week, and his keyboard has moved into the boys’ room so they can use it for their piano practice. It’s a bit crammed in there (all the bedrooms are small) but it’s workable for now. The recording gear has been moved to a studio in town.
We sold the spare mattress, and now when we have visitors we do a kid-shuffle so guests can use one of the kid’s beds. It’s not ideal – we’d love some more space eventually! – but it’s working out fine so far.
A tale of two moodboards
So, with those space logistics out of the way, I got thinking about the room design. I wanted to create a funky, modern vibe for my little boy, using bold graphical patterns. The room itself doesn’t have much going for it, apart from high ceilings. It’s very small and drab, with white walls and brown carpets. It needed a “wow” factor. So, I decided to use wallpaper to create an accent wall behind the cot (or crib, for my U.S. readers).
I was torn between two gorgeous wallpapers, so while I was pregnant, I made a mood-board for each option.
OPTION ONE: Cloud wallpaper
Option One uses Aimee Wild “clouds” wallpaper. The room has a palette of grey and black, freshened up with crisp white and a shot of that gorgeous kelly green.
OPTION TWO: Pine tree wallpaper
The second wallpaper option, Deep in the Forest, contains burnt orange, grey and blue. Too much green would be a bit much in combination with those colours and the busier pattern, so I’ve toned down the colour scheme with solid grey curtains. Apart from that, everything else is the same.
Next week I’ll share which mood board I picked, and why. For now, though, I’m curious to know… which one is your favourite? I wonder if you can guess which one I picked?
Okay – I really LOVE both and can’t wait to see it come together!!!
Thanks so much, my friend! xo
How fun is that! Love your wallpaper choices too and I vote for Pine Trees!
Thanks Tim! 🙂
Oh oh oh!!! I love the pine trees and that adorable raccoon pillow.
I fell in love with it too! 🙂
Nice both options, but I prefer second as it feels warmer for little boy. X
Thank you for your feedback, Inese! xo
Both are cute but my fave is the pine trees!
I’m enjoying hearing everyone’s thoughts! Thanks Elaine! xo
Love both, but I prefer the pine trees because of the negative space. But then again, you haven’t mentioned what colour the other walls will be, only that this will be an accent wall behind the cot. If you are keeping the other walls white, I might be tempted by the clouds. Can’t wait to see the next installment!
The other walls are white! I’m looking forward to sharing which way I went. 🙂 xo
Oh isnt it funnt- all your other comments have said they like the pine trees better- but zi prefer the clouds!!!
I’ve had a couple of people tell me in person that they prefer the clouds! But the pine trees have definitely been more popular than I expected! 🙂 xo