by studiotullia | May 10, 2020 | ONE ROOM CHALLENGE, STYLE TIPS FOR DIY, SUZANNE'S DESIGN PROJECTS
My daughter, husband, and I have decided to participate in this year’s Spring 2020 ONE ROOM CHALLENGE.
I have done several of these over the years; the last one being my son’s room last Fall.
If you are not familiar with this event, you may participate if you are an interior designer/DIYer. You must also have a blog or business instagram account and be able to report on your progress weekly. The timeline is 5 weeks with the sixth week being the FINAL REVEAL.
Several featured designers are asked to participate by the host and creator, Linda Weinstein. Many sponsors participate in this event and they offer these designers products for the rooms.
The six-week timeline and required weekly blog posts create a structure for steady progress. Having to share your project with an audience requires accountability, which is also helpful . We all know how easy it is to leave DIY projects in limbo around the house.
One has to deliver on the FINAL REVEAL. It has to be worth the build up. Somehow it also gets others around the house on board.
My daughter is home along with her brother 24/7 so we could all use not only some structure, but a fun project. She is old enough to help Mama out and she has some strong opinions about where we are headed design wise.
Here all of the featured designers this Spring:
If you can’t get enough, you may want to follow along with the designer guest participants as well. So much inspiration can be found here and so little time (or maybe not?) with all of these designers and DIYers.
My daughter Charlotte has just turned 13 in April and is ready to change her room
Charlotte was quite a bit younger the first time we remodeled her room, but she participated in just about every aspect of the project then, too. It was 2015 and she had very different interests and color choices back then.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON CHARLOTTE
She has kept the same small room by choice over the years. She likes the coziness of it. Besides a new color palette and a refresh, she really needs adequate desk space, especially with all the online learning classes these days. Hip-hop, art and baking occupy a lot of her time. Charlotte is also into fashion and has a certain “street style” which involves distressed jeans, over-sized shirts, hoodies, hats and bandanas. She is not a follower. She usually lays out her outfits out the night before school and most of her allowance goes toward clothes.
THE QUEST FOR THE PERFECT LOFT BED
We have been shopping for a while for the right loft bed that would create more space in her tiny room. Some leftover plywood shelves given to us by a dear friend, just a week ago, provided the impetus for my husband to commit to the custom bed project. Thank you, IVAN!!!
My husband and I are often challenged when collaborating together but for the most part,I let him run with the bed design. So far, he and Charlotte have been side by side on this project. The two of them have been working on the bed pretty much all last weekend. They have cut out all the pieces which now need to be sanded, painted and eventually installed into the room. In the meantime, Charlotte and I will be getting a lot of the design details and color choices finalized this coming week.
I am a big believer in the law of attraction when it comes to design projects. For some mysterious reason, every time I embark on one of these ORC things just start to fall into place. I will demonstrate to you how this works over the next few weeks. For starters, I found a huge oval mirror that someone had left out on the curb just the other day. It is perfect for Charlotte’s one wall, that will help to visually enlarge her space. It looks like there were once lights behind it, so we are going to reinstall some lighting as well which should create some drama.
They are cutting all the wood for the bed.
Side pieces for the bed. My husband says “I’ve got this.”
My husband is all about safety and reinforcement when it comes to DIY projects. I am not loving the “F” corner pieces, as I would go for a simpler design, but I need to let that go…he’s getting it done and my daughter is learning great wood shop and engineering skills. Until, next week…
#STAYSAFE, #STAYHOME , #STAYCALM&DESIGNON
![ONE ROOM CHALLENGE 2016 -WEEK 6 of CHARLOTTE’S ROOM FINAL REVEAL!]()
by studiotullia | May 13, 2016 | DESIGN TRENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT, HOUSE TOUR: Traditional Spanish Style House near Pto. Vallarta, INTERIOR DESIGNERS THAT INSPIRE
Well, we managed to finish up just in time! Here are the results. We were lucky to have a bright sunny day for these last minute pictures, thanks to my amazing assistant, Amanda. Everything is smelling like roses and I am drinking a gin and tonic as I write this (it is after 5 pm West coast time, FYI).
FINAL REVEAL:
Below is a painting of our backyard fig tree that Charlotte and her friend Alex painted together last year. I floated it in one of IKEA’s shadow box frames.
As you can see we have a little woodland theme going on with the deers and bunny rabbit. I know the rose floral shade on the sconce and bed linens from IKEA are a departure from the neon splatter, but it was such a lovely pattern we bent the matchy matchy rules. Perhaps bold colors or solid colored linens would have worked better, but we wanted to make these work. They’re cozy and a little English or something. The framed deer art is hand cross stitched by a very patient Oregonian: a vintage find that was in perfect condition. The antique bed is an heirloom from my grandparents that my Mother stripped and refinished years ago.
The large splatter pillow was a trial run before the curtains and the hand drawn critter pillow Charlotte drew awhile back as a prototype for a school auction project. The cross pillow was from STUDIO TULLIA inventory and we liked it in the room.
You can see a little bit of the furry stool we created by covering an IKEA stool. It is the perfect little occasional stool for this tiny room and adds some much needed glamour.
I want to show you a close up of the white bunny painting by Oregonian artist ELIZABETH SEE because she is so talented.
We have come quite a ways in just a couple weeks. Here are a few before shots:
Getting that pink the right color took some work. Between BENJAMIN MOORE PAINT and METRO PAINT we got it done.
The IKEA curtains were perhaps the funnest part of this project and they really set the tone for the room.
This IKEA PS 2014 ceiling pendant is very cool in its design. The pull factor really is fun at night and gives you a diverse range of visual effects. Her twin brother Arthur is a little jealous when it comes to the light. Thank God they have lego building experience as they put this thing together all by themselves. Whereas that project might have put me right over the edge.
This is her bookshelf which I have staged for this shoot. The camellias ,roses and hydrangeas are from our garden. The amethyst cut crystal vase was her great grandmother’s and the other vase is a hand painted vintage vase as well. The flower etched globe light is from IKEA. And we all know that’s an AMERICAN DOLL in a wheelchair. The one thing in the catalog Arthur liked because it had wheels.
HARRY POTTER books without their covers aren’t so bad looking next to the collection of NANCY DREW books.
All of the pillows in this feature have been provided by my primary sponsor ~ STUDIO TULLIA! Vintage ones (like the cool beaded rose pillow above) as well as other vintage oddities are available through TULLIA MARKETPLACE, which is not fully off the ground, but should be by this Summer.
Here are a few more pictures of the flowers up close because they are just so pretty. The vase is by who else…IKEA. The little painting is by Charlotte.
A FEW MORE NOTES…
We decided last minute to switch out her side table form TARGET and it needed to be white. The finish was antique gold and it just fell flat in the corner. We almost painted the gold framed mirror, too, but decided it added some bling and was ok as is.
This room was a quite a challenge because in all honesty this room is a dog. The room is tiny, the ceiling is slanted, the windows and trim work are funky, and many more issues I don’t need to bore you with.
The good news is that this is the room she wants to be in and is a very happy girl. She could not fall asleep last night she was so excited. I hated to wake her up this morning. This room is her safe haven, compared to the larger guest room where she was temporarily staying during this project.
Sweet Dreams, my Sweet Charlotte.
I am excited to grab a cup of coffee tomorrow morning and indulge myself in the many final reveals as part of the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE, thanks to CALLING IT HOME.
This was a great challenge for me and 6 weeks was just about right. I am excited to do another room in the Fall.
Here is the link to twenty very talented designer bloggers’ final reveals HERE
And if that’s not enough, there are over 1,000 Guest Participant Final Reveals to view HERE:
Thanks so much for following along!
Best,
Suzanne
by studiotullia | May 5, 2016 | DESIGN TRENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT, HOUSE TOUR: Traditional Spanish Style House near Pto. Vallarta
Well, we are coming into WEEK 5 with one week left to go. It has not been glamorous: its been about painting and electrical, but it is almost done!
My husband spent half a day last weekend putting in the electrical for the ceiling pendant in Charlotte’s room and while he was at it he upgraded our smoke alarms upstairs which felt good to check off the list.
As you can see, we got the walls painted and just have the trim left to paint. It took a little work to get the lilac and pink right. I think they are not too intense and balance each other out pretty well.
We still need to add trim to this one wall. Don’t ask me why it’s not there. That is how this house rolls and has for several decades.
Hope Hubbie can find the plates for the switches and outlets. I got the curtains hemmed and just need the hardware installed. Oh honey…
Yesterday we assessed where we are with ART, PILLOWS and BED LINENS.
She got this in MEXICO:
There is never a shortage of pillows around here. The splattered one was made up using leftover fabric from Charlotte’s curtain project.
We might paint the frame on this mirror. Haven’t decided yet.
We have this large vintage cross stitch piece that I found at a rummage sale that Charlotte loves. 
It sort of ties in with the bed which is an antique from my grandparents.
And, here is another lovely Mexican textile to add to the mix.
To check in on the ORC Featured Designers, go HERE
And, to see the ORC Guest Participants, go HERE
So, there’s a lot to do still, but we are going to pull this thing together by next week. Until then….have a great rest of the week.
– Suzanne
by studiotullia | Apr 28, 2016 | BENEFITS & GREAT CAUSES, DESIGN TRENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT, HOUSE TOUR: Traditional Spanish Style House near Pto. Vallarta
Things are getting real here, folks, with only a couple weeks left. Our goal is to have electrical, painting, curtain installation and most of the furnishings in place by next week. That will leave the last week for bed linens, art, styling and the photo shoot.
Check out the GUEST PARTICIPANTS HERE
And check out the FEATURED DESIGNERS HERE
There are some wonderful projects going on so take a peek.
SPLATTERED CURTAINS
If you recall, we have been discussing Charlotte’s curtains and I had some serious concerns about the outcome…
Well we decided to dive in one recent afternoon. Starting with the three neon paints dyes (with glitter) I made her do a few practice runs, trying different brushes and splatter techniques.
We put a tarp down in the back yard and laid the two cotton curtain panels on it.
We got out the neon dye colors:
And, here she is giving it a whirl.
Lots of mixing going on…
After a few practice runs on scrap fabric, and before we even started on the curtains we had to run back to COLLAGE, our local crafts store to get more paint! 
By the time we got back with SEVERAL more fabric dye colors, it was starting to get dark!
The paints and splattered textiles were even beginning to glow. We had to hustle as I was not setting all this up again. I didn’t want her to over do it anyway.
She was able to get it all done before it was too dark and we were really happy with the results:
I am also making a euro sham for her bed out of a couple of the scrap pieces. All in all it took about two hours.
UPHOLSTERED STOOL
We needed to find some sort of small chair or stool for her room and I came across this one while shopping at FABRIC DEPOT. I picked it up to look underneath and drum roll please… it was from IKEA!
So back to IKEA I went and got this for $35.
I had some leftover white fur from my pillow line on ETSY so I am using that to cover the stool.
Here’s the fur we used although it is more white – Arctic Fox white. We are going to decide later if we want to paint the legs or leave them black.
Here it is…what do you think? This puppy could use a little trim/combing, but not too shabby:
TEXTILES & PENDLETON:
I was shopping at Pendleton Woolen Mills and came across this interesting turquoise plaid that I thought might be a colorful blanket. So I am keeping that in mind at $60/yard.
Here is one of the PINK CROSS pillows available at STUDIO TULLIA on ETSY that we are planning to use on her bed.
And I am just starting to think about art, although she already has quite a bit of her own to work with. I just think these are lovely.
And lastly, think it would be fun to paint her door this rose quartz when we get to the hallway outside her room.
Wishing everyone a great few last days of the week.
And, thanks for reading!
Best,
Suzanne
![ONE ROOM CHALLENGE 2016 -WEEK 6 of CHARLOTTE’S ROOM FINAL REVEAL!]()
by studiotullia | Apr 22, 2016 | DESIGN TRENDS, HOUSE TOUR: Traditional Spanish Style House near Pto. Vallarta
I put a little collage together of all of our IKEA purchases for Week 3. See previous blog post for greater details about our shopping adventure HERE.
Grab a cup of coffee and follow along with all the amazing projects going:
ORC Featured Designers
as well as the: ORC GUEST PARTICIPANTS
See you next week!
Suzanne
by studiotullia | Apr 21, 2016 | DESIGN TRENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT, HOUSE TOUR: Traditional Spanish Style House near Pto. Vallarta
We decided to get some shopping done for the essentials of the room: lighting, hardware and curtains. I wasn’t sure how much input to let Charlotte have, but for the most part she picked some essentials I couldn’t find too much fault with. I just had to keep reminding her that the room is small so we couldn’t go too loud or crazy.
So here’s what we accomplished in less than two hours at IKEA:
LIGHTING:
She picked this floral etched glass KNUBBIG globe, which is a pretty accent light for the bookshelf. It has a subtle cherry blossom motif which is in keeping with our theme.
We finally decided on this chandelier by DAVID WAHL. I am curious to see how it looks installed. We chose the turquoise inside rather than the orange.
I like that you can easily pull on the cords to control the amount of light into the room.
Then we chose this RODD sconce that we paired with the EMMIE BLOM shade which has a nice floral pattern:
They had it on display and we liked it. We are from the City of Roses afterall.
Next we moved onto…
HARDWARE & CURTAINS:
This is the look we were after with the grommets. We chose the MERETE cotton curtains which are a nice weight cotton.
We also wanted sheers so we picked the LILL lace curtains:
We went with the VASENTLIG ball finials and double curtain rods:
Pretty basic choices, but I feel good that we got those items taken care of. It gives my husband some time to install the pendant and sconces as well as the curtains rods.
We are still painting the walls and hoping to have that done soon. And, Charlotte plans to splatter the curtains…oh boy.
I loved this chair but it is too big.
We also considered this one at VINTAGE VINTAGE on Division St, but again too big.
Would you look at all the carts at IKEA! We were leaving as they were closing up.
Well, thanks for reading and we will see you next week!
Best,
Suzanne
by studiotullia | Apr 15, 2016 | BENEFITS & GREAT CAUSES, DESIGN TRENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT, HOUSE TOUR: Traditional Spanish Style House near Pto. Vallarta
Well , here we are at week two of the ORC. Old houses always require more prep than you think. My husband and I agreed to not spend a month on the ceiling like we did in our bedroom. Still, there were some cracks on the ceiling and a few holes in the walls that had to be addressed. My husband got that done and the floor prepped for painting.
PAINT
Charlotte has chosen lilac walls and light cherry blossom pink for the ceilings with white trim. This is where we are headed:
First Light #2102-70 by Benjamin Moore
and, Spring Iris #1402 also by Benjamin Moore
We started with METRO PAINT, which is a local paint supplier in Portland. There paints are all recycled and very affordable. My father in law (who is a contractor) uses their paint all the time and recommended I give it a try. I love their MOUNTAIN SNOW – which I used for my HOME OFFICE.
So, we bought a gallon of CARNATION (for like $12!) and we have been methodically adding MOUNTAIN SNOW to try to get close to light pink we might like.
FYI, Metro Paint has a limited palette of colors, but in reality if you have the time and gumption, you can mix and match and come up with some pretty nice colors. They haev lots of examples and formulas in their store. It can make painting a house almost affordable.
Charlotte with CARNATION, untouched. Too pink as is as you can see.
After painting the entire ceiling with a lightened pink, it is still too pink. So, we’ll add more white. I think we are close though.
SLIGHT TANGENT
The lilac bush is blooming outside of our house – I used the flowers to decorate the twins’ birthday cake this week. A little much for Arthur. Oops. Charlotte and I tinted the icing lilac. I guess we are in a custom color mixing mood. The lighter part of the lilac petals are such a perfect color.
I came across this cherry tree in bloom the other day and had to share this. There really is nothing like Portland in the Spring.
There were 3-4 inches of pink petals on the ground!
LIGHTING
So, I am also thinking about lighting. She needs a pendant light and a bedside lamp. Or ultimately a sconce by her bed. I am a big fan as they leave your bedside table free and provide nice light. Here are a few possibilities:
With a gold sconce from Visual Comfort:
Here’s a sconce from IKEA:
A new pendant light from IKEA:
It does cool things at night:
Is this vintage glass pendant light stunning or what?
I even like this Chinese paper lantern for $12:
CURTAINS
And here are some basic white curtains with grommets for a modern look. Grommet curtains are super easy to use. And these curtains will be used daily.
I am leaning toward sheers behind the curtains rather than shades. The windows are sort of odd and need to be replaced ultimately so the sheers should offer some coverage for now.
Charlotte has some ideas of her own about the curtains. She wants to splatter them in a ROTHKO-ish way. I have my concerns, but nevertheless, we bought the paint at COLLAGE in Portland:
I’ve been looking at Pinterest for ideas:
So, we will cross that bridge soon enough.
Well, I better stop for now. Thanks for joining.
Follow along with the ORC Featured Designers
and
Follow along with the Other ORC Guest Participants
Thanks for reading!
Have a great Friday and weekend!
Best,
Suzanne
by studiotullia | Apr 6, 2016 | BENEFITS & GREAT CAUSES, DESIGN TRENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT
I am going to take the challenge (as I often encourage my kids to do) and participate in THE ONE ROOM Challenge organized by CALLING IT HOME as a ORC Guest Participant.
My 6 week project will be my daughter Charlotte’s room. Here are a couple inspiration palettes we came up with. Soft pinks and lavenders, with neutrals and maybe a few punches of color like green or yellow so its not so pinky sweet. The cherry tree in our front yard and the whole neighborhood in fact is blooming gloriously. That has been our primary inspiration as far as finding the right pink and lavender for the walls and ceiling.
She is nine so she still plays with dolls…maybe for another year or two…
Just to give you a little background on the room and my daughter…she and her twin brother have moved out of their shared nursery which is now my HOME OFFICE and moved upstairs into their OWN ROOMS. Charlotte’s room is really small. It could be a walk in closet; it’s that small. There is another room that’s a decent size available but she has chosen this one for the coziness factor.
Here is a quick floor plan of the room. The dimensions are 9’5″ X 7′ 3″ .
As you can see there is room for a bed, a dresser, a small accent chair and a side table. That’s it. The ceiling height is 7’10” at the highest point but 6″10″ where the roof line intersects with the window frame.
Here is a before shot of the room. This is what you see when you walk in. Two windows. There is a little more to the room on the left wall where the bed will go and that’s it. There are also issues with the double-paned windows as you can see.
So, here is a list of what we are hoping to accomplish:
- Patch old plaster and paint room.
- Select lighting for the room; a ceiling fixture and small lamp for bedside table.
- Design and fabricate Window Treatments
- Slipcover existing side chair we own
- New bedding – cover, shams, accent pillows
- Select and hang art
- Either re-carpet or find a throw rug.
- Address double pane window fogginess issues.
Think this is do-able? I guess we are going to find out.
So follow along with the twenty designers and design bloggers who will each be sharing room makeovers from start to finish over the next six weeks. And there are many more guest participants, like me,who will link to the CALLING IT HOME website.
See you next week!
Best,
Suzanne
