One Room Challenge - Fabric Focus and The Vintage Dresser

Apr 27

Hello everyone! It is week FOUR of the One Room Challenge and somehow I am still alive! This week has been a tough one! It was a week of progress, set backs, and changes! You'll remember this is where we started...with a lifeless and dated guest bedroom in my parents new home. Snooze fest! Well I have certainly given the space some life over the past 4 weeks! You can read week 2 and week 3 posts to get up to speed on where I am taking this room and how far it has come! Let's get started on where I am in week 4...

This room is becoming the space all about FABRIC! My fabric choices are bold, bright, and happy! The dark chinoiserie fabric I choose for the bedskirt and euro pillows are a large part of the design and make a huge impact in the room. It has really driven the rest of the design decisions. With a mostly all cream space, I felt the room could handle the bold fabric and decided on making the bedskirt and pillows POP! I think this beautiful fabric does just that! So I was excited to get the custom made items back from the seamstress this week! As soon as they hit the bed, I knew it was just right! I decided to keep the boldness train going and choose this gorgeous brown and cream lattice patterned fabric for coordinating pillows and the cushion for the chair! And why not have hot pink cording sewn around all the edges! I actually picked these finished beauties up today! I am loving the look!!

Isn't it all just wonderful!! I am a fabric and pillow nerd! I love it all...but this combo makes my heart skip a beat! The new cushion on the little rattan chair makes this vintage cutie I picked up for $59 a stand out in the space! I got to get to fixing the unraveling spots though...note to self: add that to the to-do list!

Now for the little dresser that could! You'll remember that the hunt for the perfect vintage dresser was a difficult one but then my luck turned and I stumbled across this one, it's matching headboard, side table, and arm chair all for...TWO HUNDRED dollars! What the what?! Yes please! So needless to say, this dresser was a steal!! The lines on this one are amazing! It was cute in the original yellow, but it wasn't in the best condition and I had my heart set on a turquoise dresser!

So I set out on painting the dresser myself! Sounds easy enough! I was going for a high gloss lacquer look in a specific Benjamin Moore color. I should have researched this more before starting but I got too anxious and figured I knew what I was doing! I have a small hand sprayer which can be found here! This would be the first time I was using it and I was excited to get started! I first took all the hardware off and took all the drawers out to start with the base. The top of the dresser had a piece of glass glued to it...cute guys. So I got my Dad to pry it off and used rubbing alcohol and a paint scraper to get the goo off! I cleaned the entire piece and setup my new sprayer for the first step... PRIMER!

My little hand sprayer is called a Critter and runs off an air compressor. I first found out about it from another design blog years ago and finally got one for Christmas this year! SO I decided to give this bad boy a try! I loaded the primer into the spray gun and sprayed away! It went on super easy and after 2 coats of primer in about 20 mins...I was stoked! This was too easy it scared me!

Next up came the final chosen turquoise color! I originally had selected Oceanic Teal by Benjamin Moore. But after much contemplation, finally landed on Spirit in the Sky by Benjamin Moore. It is just a tad more subtle than the original color and I like it so much better! So I loaded up the turquoise paint and got to spraying. Again, the sprayer did just fine and made it go super quick! The only down fall on this guy, is that the spray radius is small which makes getting perfectly even strokes difficult. This little hiccup caused me to go over the dresser a million times!! I question if there is something I am missing there and a better system I am unaware of. I am willing to give this little sprayer another try on something else, but for now it did the job good enough...for now. WELL, here comes the set back! The paint I selected was in a high gloss finish which I thought would translate well with spraying. But it simply did not. The finish product is not shiny at all. Bummer. I texted a good friend of mine who knows all too much about painting furniture and he made a suggestion that I will be trying out this weekend after the rain drys up here on the Gulf Coast! So needless to say the dresser is not done as planned!! I got my fingers crossed for next week and will hopefully give you a positive outcome!! Here's to a happy ending on that one!

More and more pretties keep arriving and finding their way into the room! It is slowly starting to come together! I changed my plan for the ottoman at the end of the bed and relocated the other turquoise bench! I decided on TWO gold metal x-legged turquoise stools. I think they make a better fit...heart eyes!! Here is a peek into how it is coming together!

Oh hello there fur assistant, Lucy! She wants to be a model so bad...I keep telling her the lifestyle isn't worth it. So there you have it!! Week 4 down...one more to go before the big REVEAL! Holy guacamole...not sure if I am ready for that! I hope y'all have been following along the featured designers from this event...here is week 4! Everyone's spaces are so beautiful and inspiring!! Be sure to check out the lovely Paige Minear's blog this week on how she is using our very own House Plus Love design planner to help her create her space! And for sure check out all the other guest participants for ALL the linking fun!

Mark Rippstein

Mark Rippstein is the co-founder of R+R Creative Co.

Before graduating from Santa Clara University with honors in Business Marketing, Mark developed a strong work ethic at his parent’s scientific research company. Starting there in his early teens, he jumped in wherever needed, from sweeping floors and counting inventory to soldering circuit boards and setting up trade show booths...he even launched their first web presence in 1996. After working for a couple dot com companies in Silicon Valley and a Dutch bank in Switzerland, Mark spent over 10 years at Google forming and overseeing diverse and dispersed teams and projects. It was through his travels during that time that his appreciation for travel management, especially for trusted and knowledgeable advisors, grew into something that led him to Casto Travel. As Casto’s Director of Marketing, Mark oversaw their online presence, making sure that those who have an experience with Casto, including those working at Casto, had a clear understanding of their values and services. By leading their marketing efforts, Mark was tasked with keeping everything on brand, accurate, and secure. His primary focus was on their websites and their social ties. Mark also provided oversight when it came to having a clear, consistent and positive brand message, particularly pertaining to customer satisfaction, lead generation, and recruiting.

Mark joined his wife, Carla, to build a different type of marketing consulting company. With R+R Creative Co, their objective is to bring clarity, sustainability, and accountability to their projects.

Throughout his years of working on the web, Mark has become an advocate for clarity, consistency, and security. He believes that we should all strive for excellence and going beyond expectations...especially when it comes to working with others.

Find out more at: linkedin.com/in/markrippstein

https://www.randrcreativeco.com