ORC Final Reveal
It’s reveal day and I can’t tell you how good it feels to be done! If you’ve been following along week by week you know the design challenges I’ve had to over come to complete this room. If you don’t let’s revisit them quickly:
My banquette arrived earlier than expected but the fabric pattern was laid incorrectly;
We had to search 6 different Lowes stores in 2 different cities to find enough molding to complete the picture molding;
I ordered 4 pillows for the banquette and only 3 arrived (I never mentioned this one);
One of the snaps broke on my newly upholstered cushion and my upholsterer couldn’t find anyone with these kinds of snaps (didn’t mention this one either);
My area rug arrived torn.
Yes, this is a significant list of fails that had me defeated at each turn, but you know what? They’ve all been corrected and they make for a helluva story!
But before we jump into the reveal, let’s look back at some of the iterations of my home office over the years. They were all functional and worked for me at the time, but I still never felt they aesthetically flowed with the rest of the house.
This home office redesign is my Essence Magazine present to myself. If you follow me on social media you know that being in Essence Magazine was a dream of mine for years. To be featured in the Sept/Oct issue in a 2 page spread was a dream realized. I also dreamed of one day finding my grandmother’s chrome dinette set - and I did!!!
After my uncle passed last summer, my cousin called to tell me my grandmother’s furniture was still in the house. You see, her chrome set is sentimental to me. She always sat at that table. Everyone that visited her sat at that table and chatted about everything from politics to town gossip. We had Christmas dinner at that table for decades. I always asked to clean it for her, I was her little helper. I have a photo of me as baby next to that chrome set. So when I found it was still in the house, I closed the shop and my husband and I jumped in the truck and drove 10 hours to Uniontown, PA.
The set was in terrible condition. I honestly didn’t even want to even touch the cushions they were so dirty. My grandmother keep the set in pristine condition and even had the cushions recovered when I was in junior high school. But by uncle has gotten sick and couldn’t care for the home anymore. Had I not arrived to claim the set, it would have been taken to the dump. You see, when my mother was living she told me my uncle had redesign my grandmother’s house and got rid of her furniture. So all this time I imagined it was donated to a local charity. What I didn’t know is that he kept the chrome set. The funny thing is I had the chance to purchase the same set, but couldn’t - it wasn’t my grandmother’s. I talked to my husband about one day driving to Uniontown and looking through local thrift store in hopes of finding it. Since my grandmother and mother have passed (20 grandmother, 14 years mom) these pieces keep me connected to them both with such great memories.
Okay enough of the sentimental stuff, let’s see the room.
The black and white Vintage Dalmatian Oil Painting was a great find.
I needed a large painting behind the banquette and this one adds just the right amount of tension.
I draped some scrap fabric over my IKEA bookcase to hide my office supplies. I didn’t want this room to look like an office.
The vintage screen is used to hide my metal filling cabinet in the corner.
Animals motifs can be seen throughout the office.
The vintage Chinese dim sum cart holds all my office supplies like pens, stapler, paper clips, scissors and sticky notes.
In addition to color and texture, these Turkish velvet pillows add back support while working at the table.
The red in the banquette is picked up in the front door color.
Originally I didn’t know what I was going to do my grandmother’s lamps, but they found a home.
I love how the shield and the custom lamp shade play off each other.
These custom lamps shades really tie all the colors in the room together.
Thank you to One Room Challenge and our media sponsor Better Homes & Garden for continuing the challenge through the pandemic. It has been a great distraction and pushed me to produced a beautiful space that makes me happy to work from home. When The Iconic Home launched last week, and it wasn’t lost on me that I was able to sit at my grandmother’s table in a room I designed, watching a virtual guest room I designed in partnership with Architectural Digest - mind blown!
Sources are listed below. For anything vintage, I tried to find comparable pieces in the marketplace.
Banquette / Mid Century Tulip Chrome Dining Set (Vintage) / Area Rug / Dalmatian Painting (Vintage) / Throw Pillows / Table Lamps (Vintage) / Lamp Shades (Custom) / Screen (Vintage) / Paint Color / Grasscloth Stand / Chinese Dim Sum Brass Cooker (Vintage) / Convex Tortoise Shell Mirror (vintage) / Maasai Hide Shield (Vintage) / Chinoiserie Tang Horse (Vintage)
Make sure to follow the featured designers of the ORC listed below: Albie Knows | Ana Claudia Design | At Home With Joseph | Barbour Spangle Design | Dwell by Cheryl | Eneia White Interiors | Gray Space Interiors | Haneen's Haven | Hommeboys | Interiors by Design | Jana Donohoe Designs | Laura Hodges Studio | Lauren Nicole Designs | Nicole White Designs | Nikole Starr Interiors | Nile Johnson Interior Design | Prudence Home + Design | Thou Swell | Traders Haven Design | Whitney J Decor
