ONE ROOM CHALLENGE : REVEAL

After six weeks and four days, I have astonishingly wrapped up the renovation on our fourth bedroom for The One Room Challenge! I was met with a lot of challenges not only with the short six-week timeline, but with Covid related delays in shipping and trying to minimize my going out to source items. Any designer can tell you, no room is ever REALLY complete, because while this room may be everything I designed, it’s styling, parts and pieces will be ever evolving. But in the meantime I’m going to cut my losses and sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor because not only did this space turn out to be everything I hoped for, but we now have one more space to love and enjoy in our home and that’s to be celebrated!

If you recall from my initial blog post before starting this whole process you’ll remember that this space while currently an extra room for guests now, is in all actuality a one day nursery.

My general design style and home tend to lean a bit more minimal comfort so doing something more ‘thematic’ and bit bolder, was a challenge. Where do I draw the line in regards to color and pattern so it doesn’t feel too kitschy or juvenile, and how do I play with scale and shape so this blank box of a room feels completely utilized with or without a crib; so here is my deep dive into the finished design

WELCOME TO THE FOURTH BEDROOM

BEFORE

AFTER

GRAPHIC PANEL WALL

I have a deep love for triptychs. This design theme rings true in a lot of aspects in our home, and this room was no exception! Truthfully this was the space I wanted to go big or go home with in using this design theme. This graphic focal wall would not only carry the ‘modern jungle Asian’ theme through, but act as the ‘wow’ factor upon entry.

These custom graphic wall panels stand at a towering 3’wide x 6’ tall and are custom framed using painted molding pieces. The framing not only grounds the beautiful trompe l'oeil style graphic, but because I decided against trim around the room, this gives that same feel without having to quite literally do so.

The graphic I chose has that hand sketched old school story book look, but it was important to me to keep it monochromatic. This refrains from it being too busy, and while I love that it has a lot of movement, it doesn’t directly detract from the rest of the space.

THE ‘DAYBED’

Choosing the right daybed took some time, okay, a lot of time. There are just SO many options and I unintentionally just gravitated towards the ones that were WAY over my budget (this happens more often than I like to admit). But it was important to not only choose one that stylistically worked, but one we loved. The idea was if one day we had a baby, this would be the ‘I’m going to just pass out here because it’s comfy and convenient’ daybed. So, after mulling over options, we decided the most economical approach would be to just buy a simple twin sized bed frame and invest in a GOOD mattress.

The logic was guests will use this bed now, we will then use this bed down the road ourselves, and eventually the kid will outgrow a crib, and can transition to using it. We settled on a simple black metal bed frame that was less than $100 and purchased a twin Nectar mattress. The only modification we made was sawing down the legs of the bedframe so it sat lower to the ground like a daybed. And by styling it so that the long end of the twin bed seemed like the ‘headboard’, It looks like a daybed while in all actuality being your run of the mill twin bed just pushed up against the wall.

TEXTILES

This is where I knew color and pattern would heavily come into play and I wanted to be thoughtful in my approach. I started with these custom cotton white and beige antelope printed Euro shams that would add a subtle animal print to the bed without being too overtly ‘animal printed’. I then offset it with a heavier cotton woven off-white sham, and then lastly for that pop of color an evergreen velvet lumbar pillow with marigold tassels. I love throw blankets especially at the end of my beds and because the pillows are more neutral, I wanted to speak to the accent color in the room and compliment it’s beautiful purple/brown/gray hue with a medium weight fluffy terra cotta colored throw. All of these textiles sit atop a black and white quilt that encompasses a somewhat ‘boho’ feel but still feels modern in its stitching and edging.

This collection of textiles in a hierarchal placement add the perfect amount of textural interest and color that doesn’t compete with the adjacent graphic panels or accent ‘chair rail’ color on the wall. It also still speaks to the theme without feeling too on the nose. The only literal jungle print in the space would be the gray and white faux zebra cowhide on the floor! It brings a lot of character to the space and placing it on a diagonal helps break up just how long and rectangular this space really is.

THE WINDOW SEAT

My first home growing up in Torrance, California had this window seat on the second floor that overlooked the cul-de-sac and our driveway. When we had family parties my sister and I would sit there to see who was approaching our home just so we could yell down to our parents about who was about the ring the doorbell. This brought us so much joy as kids and it was one of our favorite things in this home, other than the built-in desk in my sister’s room (she got to call dibs on it because she was older). So, during the walkthrough of this home before we purchased it, I remember seeing this symmetrical niche and thinking, ‘this would be such a fun window seat area!’ And that’s exactly how I designed this.

This niche has a special ‘cave like’ quality to it, between the large almost floor to ceiling window, it’s tucked away depth, and the view into the forest in the backyard just makes for an almost Zen-like feel. And if I were a kid it would be where I would read a book, sketch, or write - it’s just a nice, cozy, quiet corner.

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I’ve always loved the shape of Milo Baughman’s waterfall benches and ottomans. The fluidity of the pieces where seams and innerworkings are all encapsulated within the upholstery makes it feel less furniture like and more so sculptural. While this is what I envisioned for my niche, my wallet said otherwise. Thankfully the whole waterfall edging look and feel are very ‘in’ at the moment, so I found something that was slightly comparable, had storage, and fit almost perfectly into this niche with the exception of two to three inches!

It was necessary that I added a window treatment, so I went with a slate colored blackout velvet-like drape to give the corner some drama, the SOFTEST neutral colored faux rabbit fur throw pillows, and dimmable sconces that can act as ambient light in the space aside from the overhead chandelier.

I’ve sat and had coffee in the corner ever since this bench came in, and it’s by far my favorite spot in this room, if not house.

 THE SEMI-CUSTOM BI-FOLD DOORS

In my opinion these doors are the pièce de résistance of the room. Aside from swapping out the shag brown carpet, the moment these were finished and hung back up, they made the space. Every closet door in our home are embossed hollow core doors, and we’ve slowly made our rounds painting them and adding new hardware which makes a world of difference without having to pay for brand new doors.

I wanted to once again layer in some level of architectural detailing into the fourth bedroom, so we attached molding pieces, painted over everything white and added new hardware. Finding the right hardware, especially on a door that already looked so good was quite the challenge. I needed something that didn’t detract from the design, complimented the existing hardware in the room, didn’t feel like that much of a departure from the overall look and feel, and were in stock! These pulls from CB2 fit the bill, and had the right gold finish. Wasn’t too gold or bronze, had a bit of a patinaed look, and it complimented the black horn perfectly.

I did draft up to scale a few molding iterations until I got the rhythm I wanted just right, but I couldn’t be happier with how the final product turned out.

THE SIDEBOARD

This is the most transitional piece in the room and the first purchase of the space. I needed something narrow considering the room isn’t very wide. I needed something I could easily access the top of because this would be our one day changing station, and I’m short. I then needed something that had ample hidden storage, none of this bin nonsense. So purchasing a sideboard made the most sense in terms of depth and height because they generally go in dining areas as buffets or in living rooms as extra storage making them less bulky.

I loved the functionality of this one because the doors don’t swing open, they glide on a track side to side making it easier for me to access the interior without doors intruding into he space, and the drawers while exposed, are not an eyesore whatsoever, are once again easily accessible, and as a bonus have soft close hinges! The design of the overall piece is incredibly sturdy, and between the more tapered mid-century legs and slatted sliding doors, it’ll be a workhorse piece that won’t feel dated in the years the come.

I kept the styling of the table top at a minimum since there was so much to look at in such a small space that in this instance, less is more. A seasonal swap out of greenery or branches in my white matte fluted vase, an elephant from India from a dear friend, and my favorite photo of my parents in their early twenties (and yes, my dad does look like Bruce Lee).

FINAL THOUGHTS

Down the road I’m hoping to build out the interior of the closets and eventually source something vintage for over the sideboard table. The layout once we do add a crib was already thought through during the beginning planning phases, and will fit in seamlessly, having a direct line of sight from our master bedroom down the hall!  

I designed this room with the intent that a child would one day inhabit it, but in all honesty, I designed it for my husband and I. I wanted to walk into the space and while somewhat thematic still have it encompass an air of maturity. A gender-neutral space that was designed with intent, thoughtful details, and wasn’t too far of a departure from the design style within our home.

A transitional future nursery in six weeks was my challenge, and I believe it was a job well done!