Furniture! Window treatments! New floors!! Can I just tell you how glad I am that Calling It Home gave everybody an extra week to get this One Room Challenge done? Lord have mercy. (Catch up with week 1 // week 2 // week 3 // week 4)  If the past few weeks have been a bit … slow on news, everything ramped up substantially this past week. SO MUCH TO SHARE!

FURNITURE ARRIVAL

First up, the gorgeous pieces from ME Home, and I literally did a happy dance while the delivery guys were doing their thang, getting that gorgeous banquette upstairs. And yes, they did make it up the stairs, unlike the other sofa which definitely did not.  Even the delivery guys were all “Dude. This stuff is so nice.”  I told them they could come back anytime and hang out. haha

The banquette and pair of stools are by CR Laine. Check out the LEGS on that thing. And the NAILHEAD! OMG OMG OMGO GOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

(Side note: I’m working on a separate post to show you so many of the beautiful things at ME Home. Their studio is chock full of the most beautiful pieces and I love how they use color in everything they do (right up my alley, girls!). Currently there’s the most divine sofa in there that’s the softest lavender shade. Super chic. Somebody please go buy it so I can live vicariously through you.)

Speaking of super chic, I can’t stop clapping my hands in delight over the banquette. IT IS SO GOOD. I cannot wait to get everything styled. Now that all the big pieces are in, the fun can begin!  I love how it perfectly fits right into that little nook.

WINDOW TREATMENTS ARE IN!

I’ve been excited to get the beautiful custom roman shades in from Grace Allen Design. Heather’s been in the window business for a long time, previously with her family’s shutters & shades business and eventually branching out to launch her own drapery company. She does beautiful work Heather and I had connected a few weeks back to go over fabric and trim options and she brought over tons of samples so we could match up with the other swatches I had for the rest of the furniture.  We looked through a few options and discussed what each room’s needs were, and then she sent over these renderings, which were exactly what I was envisioning. I loved the idea of integrating some trim to make them feel a little more unique. With custom shades, they should feel special!

It’s so helpful to see exactly what to expect with the finished product — we also discussed where we wanted to hang the shades. For Jude’s space, they are inside-mount, but for the living room, she suggested hanging them all the way to the top, and I’m so glad we did.

I felt like Roman shades were going to be the best bet for what we needed, especially in the windowseats. I’d previously done some readymade Pottery Barn Kids shades that I’d gotten off eBay (see them in this post), but the size wasn’t right and it drove me nuts. Plus we needed something that would be totally blacked out as that helps substantially with keeping the room’s temp right in the summer (it tends to get hot in there).

I was also so happy that she has a dedicated installer to handle getting them correctly mounted because when I asked her what one of the biggest mistakes people make w/ window treatments, she totally nailed it (no pun intended): “DIY install often results in improperly anchored hardware.  Over time the treatment starts to droop because the bracket isn’t secure enough into the wall.  Using the correct anchors and fasteners matters!  Incorrect bracket spacing also affects the integrity of the install and the overall look. Even if you don’t choose custom products, a professional installation can make all the difference in the finished look.”

I couldn’t agree more, especially as a self-proclaimed lazy DIYer. GUILTY AS CHARGED.

That trim is SO GOOD. Disregard the hot mess of pillows, frames, books and toys piling up in the windowseats to get everything up off the floor. ????

And Jude’s room is looking so much better. — I’m thrilled with how the different textures and patterns are coming together. It looks just like the rendering!

FLOORING SURPRISE

Then! In a surprise twist, our wood floors came in way earlier than anticipated. And on Monday morning I got a call at 8am that our floor installer would be there that very day, a whole week early. Cue my mad scramble to move furniture and prep Jude’s room, where he began first. This has been such a stressful week what with Jude’s birthday last weekend, the mad rush to clear everything out of the way, the subsequent MESS, then Halloween and candy-crazed kids. I’m ready to do nothing for a few days.  The installer is about 80% of the way done with it and said he’d be done either Friday or Monday depending on his schedule.

Jude’s floor is totally finished, which means I can now move on to the fun part —  decorating and styling the space. The last piece of his room will arrive on Friday – his desk – and then I need to get the electrician over to fix his overhead light fixture.

It always has to get worse before it gets better, doesn’t it? I’m trying not to stress about it the mess.  But it really does remind me that clutter = chaos for everybody in the house when it’s like this.

I can’t get over how good those floors look. We should’ve done this years ago. It’s like a whole new house and I feel like it looks so much nicer than that nasty carpet did. And unlike our downstairs floor, this stuff is glued directly to the under flooring (I’m sure there’s a technical term there somewhere, but I don’t know it). Since we’re on a concrete slab foundation downstairs, that flooring technically floats.

Here’s Nickels, bemoaning the loss of his favorite Pee Pee Carpet.  “Where’d it go? BUT WHERE SHALL I DEFECATE WHEN I’M MAD AT YOU?  . . . . Oh wait, there’s a new rug. Ok, whew.”

Don’t even think about it, dog.

Ok, that does it for week 5. It’s funny – things always turn out exactly the way they’re SUPPOSED to. Even the gaffs, like sofas not going up the stairs. It all turns out in the end, thankfully.

SPONSORED BY

The One Room Challenge comes together very quickly, but it wouldn’t be possible without some major help from these fantastic sponsors. Thanks for supporting these brands that I love!

Universal Furniture // Stroheim  // Serena & Lily // ME Home Collection // Highland Hardware // Grace Allen Design // Minted // Nourison

And thanks to Linda at Calling It Home for hosting and also to House Beautiful, the media sponsor.