One Room Challenge: Week 2 of my Living Room Transformation

I can’t help it, in my heart, I am a PINK girl!  I have a husband and two boys – so, pink isn’t really the color of choice in our house.  In general, I’m okay with that.  But, for 18 years I’ve done my best to steer away from using large quantities of pink in the house.  Until now.  This Living Room transformation has changed all that – PINK – will rule in my re-decorated Living Room!

This was my first hands-on week for the ORC.  I was out of town last week, but made sure to have most of my key design elements in place before I left.   I’ve been playing with the furniture arrangement (which desperately needed to be re-arranged) to make the most of my large, but narrow Living Room.  So, my transformation will include more seating (my guests will thank me).  I’ll draw up a floor plan for next week for everyone to see.

This week, I sent all of my upholstery to my workroom.  So, in essence – my space is kind of empty.  Which, TA-DA! – is a perfect opportunity to paint a space!  So – this week, I nailed down my paint color options.  I was looking for a white paint that has a hint of pink in it.  I didn’t realize how difficult that task was going to be!  I must’ve looked in every paint deck I owned – Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, Pratt & Lambert, Pittsburgh Paints and Farrow & Ball.

I got samples of several that seemed like the right tone (albeit, they weren’t as white as I would’ve hoped).

Essentially, I landed on Farrow & Ball’s “Middleton Pink”.  I got the sample, painted a large swatch of it and taped it to my wall and looked at it (ad naseum) for about a week.  Knowing that I was running out of time, I didn’t think too hard, got a tinted primer (Exaltation #7001-21 from the Valspar collection at Lowe’s) in a color that I thought best matched the Middleton Pink and started priming my walls.  (Side note:  I was at a baseball practice and didn’t have my “Middleton Pink” sample with me – had to chance it!)

Valspar’s “Exaltation” primer coat looked so good, I opted to use it for a second coat!  But, UH-OH!  I didn’t like how the pink suddenly turned into lilac when the sun went down.  So, I quickly changed my direction and selected a very pretty off-white paint color called “Naivete” from Valspar’s collection at Lowe’s.  And, guess what?  I LOVE it!

The trim is a greenish/beige white color and really clashes with the pink.  So, since painting trim is my least favorite thing to do.  I’m going to hire someone to do that for me.  He’s coming tomorrow to give me a quote.  Hopefully, he can start soon!

ART.  I’ll be painting a large contemporary piece of art (basically, splashes of pretty colors that reflect my fabrics/trims) to go over my loveseat.  I happened to be at Michael’s yesterday and saw a fantastic deal – 60% off all canvases.  

So I bought my 48×60 canvas (originally priced at $100) for $43.00!  The only problem was – that I didn’t think about how it would fit in my car!

No matter!  I finally got it in there, phew!

So – that’s it for this week.  Not too much is happening at the moment, but I’m sure there will be lots more to tell you next week.

If you have a chance – hop over to the One Room Challenge site HERE and read the Featured Designers blogs to see what they are up to!   And click HERE

to read what the Guest Participants (like myself) are up to!

Please be sure to comment below and I’ll see you next week! – Barclay