Happy Canada Day!

Yikes, only one week left and I’m scrambling a little.  So to recap, I’m a guest participant in the One Room Challenge, where bloggers link up and share the challenge of completing their one room transformations in a mere six weeks. A big thank you to the creator and organizer of the ORC, Linda at Calling It Home and her partner, House Beautiful and of course, you for following us all along. If you haven’t already be sure to check out the 20 featured designers  and my fellow linkers  as they share their inspirations, challenges and next week, the final reveals!

For all my inspiration and how I got this far, you can read the previous weeks’ posts by clicking the links below.

Week 1

Week 2 

Week 3 

Week 4

Thankfully, I got quite a bit accomplished this week. The biggest job was getting the bookcase painted and wallpapered. Which I completed late last weekend and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. This is how it looked when I started.

I first painted it with Benjamin Moore’s Grey 2121-10, which matched the Ikea’s Alex drawer unit I’m using in the room, perfectly.

Then I used Hygge & West’s Quilt wallpaper in Cayenne for the back of the bookshelf.

And it now looks like this! It still needs to be styled but isn’t she pretty?

For the DIYers, here’s what I did:

1. removed the shelves;
2. lightly sanded the entire bookcase and shelves;
3. wiped it with a damp cloth to get the dust off, and then let it dry.
4. I used Benjamin Moore’s Advance paint for furniture and trim in a pearl finish and gave it two thin coats with a sponge roller. I did use a good quality brush for the corners. Let it dry well between coats and I gave it a good two days before I put anything on the shelves.
5. The wallpaper had to be pasted, which I prefer as it doesn’t get gluey water everywhere and that was the best scenario as the back of the shelf is just a thick cardboard. It was tricky to wallpaper as it wasn’t completely flat and it has creases in it. But I did the best I could, and I think it turned out really well.

I’m hoping the paint holds up okay, since I didn’t use a primer. Time will tell. The finish looks really good in person, so I’m crossing my fingers.

My fabric samples/remnants are all nicely hung up in the closet, so now I can actually see what I have. I really love this idea. The really big pieces that weren’t on a roll, have been placed in a large wicker basket I have.

Ikea’s Alex rolling drawers have been filled with wrapping paper, ribbon, sewing and craft accessories. I love that it’s on wheels so that it can be moved around the room as needed.

But my most favourite thing in the room is the drapery.

Honestly, I can’t believe how beautiful the fabric looks against the turquoise walls. To think, they started off as a Pottery Barn duvet cover. I spent some time taking it all apart and measuring twice or maybe three times 😉 It ended up working perfectly for the length I needed. I also had some black out lining from some old curtains that I sewed into the panels, to give them some weight. Black out wasn’t really needed for this room, but I love that it allows the panels to drape better.

I kept them really simple, as I was doing them myself, and just hemmed them, so they are really just a big rectangle. I already had the drapery rod and the rings so I just hung the panels from the rings, just at the edge of the window moulding, as I didn’t want them to block any light from coming into the room. And in my humble opinion, they totally make the room.

So here’s my list of what has been done and what still needs to be done:

• Paint room √
• Put together office chair √
• Assemble drawer unit √
• Pick up light fixture √
• Put up light fixture
• Spray paint interior of wall sconces √
• Put up wall sconces
• Paint bookcase grey √
• Wallpaper the back of the bookcase √
• Paint the bulletin board √
• Cover the bulletin board with fabric
• Source wall clock √
• Storage solution for fabric remnants √
• Put away all craft/sewing/wrapping accessories √
• Make drapery panels √
• Hang drapery panels √
• Accessorize room
• Hang art
• Have room photographed

I’m currently working on the bulletin board which is shaping up nicely. I did a blogging no no and forgot to take a before pic, but trust me this bulletin board frame was a dark brown when I started. I originally was going to paint it black to go with the Ikea Ranarp sconces but then I changed my mind and did it in the same grey as the Alex unit and bookcase.  The plan is to cover the cork with a chevron patterned fabric in turquoise and ivory and trim it out in a matching ribbon.

After this I need to finish with the organization solutions and of course, style the shelves, put up the light fixtures (I can’t wait to see that done), hang the art and do a little clean up before it’s photographed next week.

We’ve been a little sidetracked this week, as we are trying to keep our cottage safe from the flooding Ottawa River. With all the rain we’ve gotten and the ice/snow melt on the river, it’s been a challenging spring. Three out of four of our sub-pumps have failed so it’s been a lot of back and forth for my husband to check on things. Our beach is completely submerged and the water is almost at the top of our stone wall (which is about 4-5′ high). As it stands now, he’s got a new pump working and is hoping to get the basement dry before Friday’s next deluge. Another 50-70 mm of rain is expected in the next few days…argh…