09 May One Room Challenge Spring 2019 Week 6 – BIG REVEAL of Bold Blue & White Bedroom!

 

WOW! I can’t believe it’s really here! WEEK 6 of the One Room Challenge and the BIG REVEAL for Guest Participant’s is today! I proudly present to you my BOLD BLUE & WHITE BEDROOM!

With no professional background in interior designer or decorating (at Deborah Main Designs, I solely specialize in luxury decorative pillows) it’s hard for me to actually comprehend that I created this entire room. If the mess of boxes in our home is any indication, then I really did it!!!

 

But in no way did I do it alone. I had a huge team of supporters, helpers, cheerleaders and sponsors. Thank you all so very much for your kind comments and encouragement along the way! I want to give a special thank you to my dear friend and Jack-of-all-trades Kim Schlinke who, if not for her, I would not have such a beautiful room. She taught me to how to hang wallpaper and to paint our new chest of drawers with chalk paint and black wax. Plus she sewed the entire window seat area and kept me calm through all the fabric challenges we faced. How she put up with me (especially when I was freaking out that the royal blue paint was TOO blue) I do not know.  That’s what friends are for, right? Thank you Kim!!

I am greatly relieved the challenge has ended and that my vision actually worked. I learned so much about myself and my own design aesthetics, and really enjoyed the ORC community. I’ve met some wonderful DIY-ers through this challenge and the camaraderie has been fantastic. I’m pinching myself that I get to wake up to this pretty room every morning and look across at my cozy window seat filled with “floral on floral” shades, just how I wanted it.

I also want to thank everyone at One Room Challenge and the media partner Better Homes & Gardens. If not for this challenge, I would never have been able to test out my decorating chops, learn how to mix patterns, hang wallpaper, paint furniture, or have a beautiful bedroom. It’s been an honor to be a Guest Participant, thank you!

 

If you’ve been following along, or are new to the blog, I applied to be one of 300 + Guest Participants to the Spring 2019 One Room Challenge. To see the nitty gritty details you can catch up here:

WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | WEEK 3 | WEEK 4 | WEEK 5 |

l was inspired by friend interior designer Linda Holt’s gorgeous bedroom in the 2018 One Room Challenge, our new pretty powder blue wall color of our bedroom we painted last summer (Benjamin Moore’s Sweet Bluette, but with Behr paint), and Madcap Cottages book Prints Charming.

Truthfully, I was selfishly motivated because I was not happy living in a cramped ugly corner in a temporary space. Like many of you who love art and design, I feel design is incredibly important to our daily happiness.

Like a flower needs water, I need to be surrounded by beautiful design and art in order to survive, and I bet you do too!

This Challenge was also a major experiment for me as a pillow designer to see if I was capable of mixing patterns. The Madcap gents are master mixers, but could I learn how to do it too?  Color and texture are always my inspiration and starting point, but while I specialize in handcrafting luxury pillows by layering the two, rarely do I mix patterns. Since I’m celebrating 15 years in business (woohoo!!), I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and learn how to mix patterns. So I took the plunge!

Also, I wanted to bring some classic elements I grew up with, and was surrounded by, through my grandmother’s fashion and design sense, into our new bedroom that was filled with heavy antique Mahogany family-heirloom furniture. Three pieces anchored the room, my mother’s 4-post bed, antique desk. and my Great Aunt Adelaide Main’s unique corner bookcase.

My vision was to create a cozy “floral on floral” cocoon effect in the small window seat area.

But as you saw in WEEK 4, luckily I had remembered I had won on Instagram one roll of Kimberly Lewis midnight blue Beverley wallpaper, and she sponsored another roll!

Would it match? Was it still possible with such a bold geometric pattern to create my vision of floral on floral? I worried a lot that the room was too small (its only 11′ x 14′) and my vision wouldn’t work.

I love this wallpaper! It matches perfectly with the Sweet Bluette paint color. I was determined to figure out a way to execute my vision incorporating the beautiful blues in this lovely graphic pattern. Thus my initial dainty floral on floral vision immediately turned into the BOLD BLUE BEDROOM, and honestly,  I am SO glad it did!! Because this room is much more “me” and my style, than a delicate bedroom.

Before I reveal all the beautiful AFTER photos my photographer and sponsor, Gregg Cestaro, took of my room (compared to my BEFORE shots), I’d like to thank all of you for your continued support during this Challenge and the 16 small and large business owners that sponsored my room. I’ve included some of their businesses logos below, but please see the complete list of sponsors in the middle of this post featuring both angles of the full room.

In addition, three other local small businesses jumped in with support to sponsor styling me for the photo shoot, Spring Frost Boutique for all the designer fashion and accessories, make up by Kandy Glass, and hair by Ariel Maher, both of Colour + Beauty Lounge. To see an entire community, and small businesses as far away as Canada, rally ’round to support my room has been so humbling. I am truly grateful!

Many thanks to all of the generous sponsors for your support, as I could not have done this bedroom transformation without you!

 

 

 

 

 

Now, on to the BIG REVEAL! Welcome to The Pillow Goddess BOLD BLUE & WHITE BEDROOM!!  Actually, it’s my husband David’s and my bedroom, so I give many thanks to my husband David for supporting my efforts.

Now let me take you on a tour and tell you about some of the decisions I made to solve six issues I identified in WEEK 1 of the 6-week One Room Challenge – my squashed corner, David’s messy area,  the non-functioning antique bureau, antique sitting chair, antique bookcase, and the curtains and bedding.

The bed and window seat wall were definitely the primary focus of this bedroom project. Transforming them would knock out 3 major issues, so that was my top priority to transform. Having Kimberly Lewis sponsor the wallpaper and and Peacock Alley the luxury bedding, really got me rolling with my vision.

But for awhile there I was on pins and needles because I wasn’t sure what the bedding would be. The whole room hinged on what Brad Cleveland, Director of Design Studios at Peacock Alley, would select for the duvet cover.  Brad knows how much I love vintage, so I was absolutely thrilled when he selected this vintage floral blue and white pattern from Peacock Alley’s Archives.  It couldn’t coordinate more perfectly with the wallpaper!

Here I am (below) getting the gorgeous floral duvet ready for the photo shoot and you can see how spot on the blues are with the wallpaper.  I couldn’t be happier with these two elements that not only anchored the room but gave me the solid foundation of blue and white I needed to design with confidence. My BOLD BLUE & WHITE BEDROOM was on it’s way!

 

As you can see below in the AFTER image, all the color and pattern from the wallpaper, floral window seat shades, and the duvet, mixed beautifully. I think so, and I hope you do too.

BEFORE window seat wall and bed: 

AFTER window seat wall and bed: 

 

 

Next up was to deal with my cramped corner, David’s messy area, and the non-functioning bureau.  You can see the big decision, to get rid of a family heirloom and endless search for the perfect chest to serve as both a bureau and nightstand, I had to make on that in WEEK 4. 

I am so very, very pleased with not only finding the perfect size chest of drawers, but in learning how to chalk paint and wax them from my friend Kim Schlinke.  Then to crown them with solid brass knobs from sponsor Alexander Marchant just really was the perfect finishing touch to up the elegance factor!

BEFORE of my corner:

AFTER of my corner:  Look at all that extra space I gained!!

 

BEFORE David’s area:

AFTER David’s area:

CHEST OF DRAWERS: Sponsored in part by Furniture in the Raw.  BRASS KNOBS: Sponsored by Alexander Marchant. ART: Painting sponsored by Roi James.  BEDDING: Sponsored by Peacock Alley. DECORATIVE PILLOWS: Custom by Deborah Main Designs. LAMPS: Home Goods RUG: Amazon. OTHER ACCESSORIES: Brass tray sponsored by Sparrow Interiors & Gifts. MIRRORS: Target.

NOTE: I ditched the blue mirrors from Target for these beautiful tall silver mirrors my dear friend Sandy found (below) at Home Depot. They arrived about 5 minutes before the photo shoot ended…no joke! No time to hang them yet, but thankfully Gregg made the time to get them in the full shot of the bedroom.

So you can see all the sponsors in one place, I’ve included them all below for both of these fantastic images by photographer Gregg Cestaro. Gregg and I have worked together for about 10 years and it was so generous of him to sponsor this photo shoot. He has such a level of commitment to the quality of his craft, that he called me the next day and asked if he could come back and reshoot the full room because he wanted to get the proportions exactly right. Thank you so much Gregg!!!

BOLD BLUE & WHITE BEDROOM, Spring 2019 One Room Challenge. Photography by Gregg Cestaro.

 

HERE’S A COMPLETE LIST OF SPONSORS AND OTHER HOME DECOR SOURCES:

BEDDING:  Sponsored by Peacock Alley. WALLPAPER: Sponsored by Kimberly Lewis ART: Modern painting sponsored by artist Roi James; antique Chinese embroidery, Edward Hopper print and cross-stitch my own. CHEST OF DRAWERS: Sponsored in part by Furniture in the Raw.  BRASS KNOBS: Sponsored by Alexander Marchant. WINDOW SEAT, SHADES AND VALANCE:  Sponsored and made by Kim Schlinke. Fabric from Fabric.com.  WINDOW SEAT CEILING:  Peel & Stick wallpaper by UniQstiQ. CHAIR: Sponsored in part by Accent Upholstery. Crewel fabric from Calico Corner.  WHITE VASES: Fenton hobnail white milk glass vases sponsored by Ebay collector Augusta Collectibles. BED TRAY & ACCESSORIES: Sponsored by Sparrow Interiors & Gifts. DESK LAMPSHADES: Fabric shades custom made by sponsor Lampshade Lady; Limoges lamps my mothers. DESK ACCESSORIES: Sponsored by Paper Place. SILVER DRESSING TABLE SET: My Great Aunt Adelaide Main, polished by sponsor Michele’s Jewelry & Silver. MIRRORS: Antique Florentine mirror sponsored by Sparrow Interiors & Gifts. Rectangle pair of mirrors from Home Depot.  SMALL CLOCK: Sponsored by Breed & Company. DECORATIVE PILLOWS: Custom by Deborah Main Designs. One fabric sponsored by Etsy shop owner Belle Grive Supplies from Canada. CRYSTAL LAMPS: Home Goods and Amazon.  RUGS: Amazon. SMALL BLUE & WHITE GINGER JAR: Sponsored by friend Sandy Alvarez.

BEFORE corner bookcase and chair:

AFTER corner bookcase and chair: 

CHAIR: Sponsored in part by local small business, Accent Upholstery. FABRIC: Calico Corner Kashmir crewel fabric. WALLPAPER: Sponsored by Kimberly Lewis VASE: Vintage Fenton Milk Glass vase sponsored by collector Augusta Collectibles. LAMP: Crystal YJ Lamp ordered at last minute on Amazon. Gold Clear Glass Box:  Sponsored by Sparrow Interiors & Gifts. Framed Print: My own Edward Hopper print. Other Accessories: My own crystal frame and other accessories bought at Pier 1 and Home Goods.

If I have forgotten a sponsor, please forgive me as there were so many of you and so many different decor items for my room, that I almost lost track. Not kidding!!

Now, welcome to my boudoir, the BOLD BLUE & WHITE BEDROOM and please enjoy the rest of the tour and the fun photos with designer fashion styling by Spring Frost Boutique, Kandy Glass and Ariel Maher.

 

ANTIQUE DESK:  Desk accessories sponsored by Austin’s Paper Place. Custom fabric lampshades sponsored by the Lampshade Lady in Vermont. Mirror sponsored by Austin’s Sparrow Interiors & Gifts.

 

 

WINDOW SEAT AREA: Wallpaper sponsored by Kimberly Lewis. Shades, valance and window seat sewn and sponsored by Kim Schlinke. Pillows by Deborah Main with designer samples from Stockton Hicks & Laffey and vintage fabric sponsored by Etsy shop owner Belle Grive Supplies from Canada. Other fabrics from Fabric.com.

 

DETAIL OF WINDOW TREATMENT: Shades and valance made and sponsored by Kim Schlinke.  Vintage Fenton hobnail vases sponsored by Ebay collector.  Floral peel & stick ceiling wallpaper I proudly did completely by myself at 1:00 a.m. the night before the photo shoot!

 

 

ANTIQUE CHAIR & CORNER BOOKCASE: Antique chair upholstered by sponsor Accent Upholstery. Pillow by Deborah Main handcrafted from designer fabric with 1960’s trim.  Framed antique Chinese embroidery, David and Deborah’s art collection.

 

4 STEPS TO STYLING THE ANTIQUE BED: I wanted to give the bed a real layered look with many different types of textiles for the pillows to complement the gorgeous vintage floral Peacock Alley bedding. I also wanted to pick up the intense royal blue in Kimberly Lewis wallpaper pattern. The luxury bedding is sponsored by Peacock Alley. Pillows custom made by Deborah Main using silk brocade in a peacock pattern hand selected in Suzhou, China, vintage royal blue velvet with 1960’s trim and pompoms and vintage French trim and brooch on the centerpiece pillow.

Below, I demonstrate how I layered the pillows to achieve the desired result.

 

1ST LAYER: Pillow shams, coverlet and duvet cover by sponsor Peacock Alley.

 

2ND LAYER: Next I layer in a pair of modern, 24 x 24″ silk brocade pillows (all 90/10 feather and down) in a brilliant peacock blue feather pattern, backed with royal blue faux suede.

 

3RD LAYER: To pull that strong royal blue color out of Kimberly Lewis wallpaper, I added a pair of 16 x 20″ Deborah Main pillows made with a royal blue vintage velvet and trimmed with 1960’s blue and white cotton trim and white pompoms. The velvet is SO rich and luscious that it makes the bed really pop and the blue and white trim echoes the theme of the bedroom. I backed this pair with a sheer silk with tiny embroidered blue flowers on it.

 

4TH LAYER: For the finishing touch I placed one of Deborah Main statement artisan luxury pillows, Le Bleu, in the middle.  Handcrafted with silk brocade, this one-of-a-kind pillow is almost a study in blues.  It features an array of vintage French trim, even the same vintage blue and silver gray pompoms on the window seat shade valances. I backed it with a rich blue mohair.

 

FINAL RESULT: A gorgeous, inviting full-size antique bed with layers of pillows that complement the rest of the room. I specifically did not make any more pillows for the window seat so that in the evening, I had a place to rest all these wonderful pillows from the bed. I love it and hope you do too!

 

It’s amazing to me that my room turned out the way it did. I wasn’t always sure it would.  It seemed to happen so quickly, but it also takes a lot of hard work and collaboration to pull together a room in just 6 weeks.  Some of the pieces, like the tall silver pair of mirrors from Home Depot were found just a few days ago (Thank you Sandy!) and arrived the day of the photo shoot. But that seems par for the course.

It has been such an honor to be a Guest Participant in the One Room Challenge. I hope you will peruse the website and get inspired by the 20 Featured Designers and 200 + other Guest Participants. I know I will! I love this room transformation so much that I’ve already entertained guests in my blue and white bedroom!!

I hope you’ve enjoyed following my journey on this exciting One Room Challenge ride. Let me know what you think of the transformation and I hope it has inspired you to makeover a room of your own! I’ll be sharing more images and stories about my BOLD BLUE & WHITE BEDROOM over the next few weeks on social media.

Please follow me on Instagram where I’ll talk further about my inspiration and wonderful sponsors who helped make this bedroom possible and share some behind the scenes images and decor details. It’s been such great fun, a real challenge, and a wonderful learning experience. Enjoy a few fun outtakes at the end of this post.  Thank you for all of your support! XO PG

NOTE: All AFTER professional images are by Gregg Cestaro; BEFORE raw images and opinions are my own.