Hi friends!
Last week I revealed our BIG PLANS to makeover our formal living room as guest participants in the One Room Challenge. Six weeks to turn our blank slate into something functional and fabulous…which is thrilling and terrifying at the same time.
So this past week was dedicated to selecting our paint color (no easy feat), finalizing our built in plans, purchasing fabric, and selecting the perfect crown molding.
So, the room currently looks like this:
Riiiiiight. Pretty much the same. You may notice some blue tape on the floors and that my friends is how we map out a space. More on that in a few…
Wall Color:
One of the most important decisions to make was the paint color. Paint can make or break a space and really set the tone for the room. I wanted to be absolutely sure I selected a color that would marry the various elements I had planned like the pink sofa, blue rug, glossy black chairs, and of course the metallic elements I would be adding throughout. I wanted the paint to really complement those elements and not compete. So, after careful consideration and hours pouring over my paint deck, I landed on Sherwin Williams Crushed Ice.
I actually had never considered this color before shockingly. But in my quest to find a grayish-beige I kept coming back to this color on the deck. I also love that it isn’t a super popular color…I even had a hard time finding photographic examples. What I did manage to round up was gorgeous so I was even more certain I had made the right decision.
It’s the perfect shade. I can not WAIT to see this on the walls!
Built In Bookcase:
So this is really the shining star of the room…what I’m most nervous and excited about! I knew from the minute I walked through the house I wanted a built in look in this room. Now, we all know how expensive this can be. A custom built in can be in the thousands and that’s just not something we were willing to spend. So, after countless hours and cups of coffee and a few brainstorming sessions with the husband we decided on a system that would be cost effective and fit within our dimensions.
A mixture of the Ikea Billy bookcase combined with a custom built frame and soffit would completely fill our 12 x10 foot wall with a fraction of the cost.
This is where our painters tape came in so handy!
The husband and I took the measurements of this Billy Bookcase and this Billy Bookcase to map out our total bookcase width and depth.
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By doing this we were able to see exactly how many bookcases we needed of each size to create the built ins. We also realized in doing this that our 10 ft ceilings would totally dwarf the whole system if we didn’t create a base about 30in tall because these bookcases are only about 6.5 feet tall. Womp. Womp. This not only creates more work for us but also makes it difficult for me to visualize so I’m putting total faith in my husband on this one. (Don’t let me down babe…just kidding…kind of).
Here’s how it looks all taped out:
This room is actually deceptively small, so the 11 inch depth of the shelves will fit perfectly with the window ledge.
Once we had the bookcase taped out it was important to measure out the area rug and I’m SO glad we did! The original rug I had selected was a foot too wide and would not have fit so this method saved my sanity and money. Both obvious wins.
Next we taped out where our new sofa was going to go as well as our accent chairs. This really helped us visually map out the space as well as the logistics of walking around furniture and through to the dining room.
We have used this tape method before when we purchased our sectional and it was such a lifesaver. I highly recommend it!
We hit up the Detroit Ikea since we were near there for a hockey game and bought all our bookshelf fixins. Truth be told, I’m also an IKEA pro. I can be in and out of there in no time and I know exactly where everything is. If you’re ever been to Ikea you know this is a big deal.
Here we are all loaded up!
Fabric Selection:
So I purchased a few Craiglist chairs for this space over the last few weeks and they are slowly but surely getting the makeover they deserve.
Now when it comes to upholstering I’m clueless. I can recover benches and use no sew methods to make curtains but that’s my limit. So I did what any girl what do…I hired out my mom!
Of course we she couldn’t even big to get started until I settled on a fabric…which felt as monumental as the paint color selection. After searching and searching I had finally settled on a fabric that I loved from Minted. But sadly at $32/yd this was going to be an expensive project. Hey, I saved so much money by scoring those chairs for a combined $60 but did I want to spend my savings on fabric? No way. So on a whim I searched the curtain selection at Target to see if any of their cotton/linen curtains had something to offer. And boy did I hit the jackpot!
I’m going to guess that 4 (54×84) panels would be about 11 yards so that’s roughly $5/yd right there. HUGE savings! Sure it’s not an exact match but close enough in my book!
Fabric was just delivered today so now we are ready to make some cushions! And by we of course I mean my mom.
Crown Molding:
I mean who doesn’t love crown molding. There’s just something about it that’s so special…the perfect accessory to a room. It can instantly transform a room from ‘meh’ to ‘wow’ with a little bit of skill and some power tools. But what do I know..the husband is installing this! I’m 5’2 and these are 10ft ceilings…nuff said. I was in charge, however, of pricing and selecting our molding which may be just as important as installing it.
After measuring out our space I knew we needed 50 feet to accommodate our room and to leave extra for errors. I also knew that I wanted to get real wood for both cost and decorative purposes. And the chunkier and taller the molding the better!
I decided to go to a molding outlet local to my hometown because we had success in finding an inexpensive chair rail there before. This was a mecca for all things wood. Chair rails, base boards, crown, trim you name it they had it. So on a crisp Saturday while the rest of the world was picking apples and pumpkins my parents and I went wood picking. I narrowed down my selection to 2 options…one oak trim and the other pine but decided to go with the pine because it was taller and more decorative.
Measuring at 4.5 in tall this is sure to be the wow the factor on these ceilings! And the price was right at $1.20/sq ft. So 50 feet later and I had myself some crown molding!
See. I’m little.
Now to try my hand at using a paint sprayer and not drive my husband crazy by getting paint everywhere. Hmmm….
So stay tuned! By next week we will have paint on the walls and the start of our built ins!
Thanks again to all Linda from Calling It Home for hosting and my amazing sponsors! Also, be sure to check out all the other guest participants because there are some amazing room transformations going on. You can find them all here.
Anyone else use the painters tape method? Any experience with SW “crushed ice”?
I’d love to hear your feedback!
It's looking great! Oh, and can I hire out your mom for an upholstery project too? I've suddenly added that project to my DIY list for the ORC and am terrified of it! Eek!
Oh I love that color!! AndI can't wait to see those built ins. Teach me your IKEA waysssss!! It's going to be gorgeous when it's finished!!!
Love your new paint color! It looks so pretty in the pictures. What a great deal on the curtains. They look so similar to the fabric you picked out. I love when that happens! Excited to see it all come together!
I love your grey walls. We actually just painted our master bedroom with a similar shade (possibly a little darker). The crown moldings are going to come out so nice!
Bet the space will be wonderful! We have a couple of the IKEA Billy bookcases but no built ins. They are pretty tall and usually require some kind of brace to keep them from tilting. But I love looking at homes with built-ins. The paint color is a nice shade, too!!
The tape idea is smart, Colette! I'll have to try that in the future 🙂 Love the paint color you chose, excited to see it on the walls.
I don't know why the tape method has never occurred to me! I usually just pull out a piece of graph paper and draw it to scale, haha. But I love the paint color you chose. We were looking for a grey/beige color when we finished our basement and came across SW Worldly Grey. It looks really similar to the SW Crushed Ice you chose. I'm excited to see it on the walls!