Week 2 One Room Challenge: Baby Blues and Billy Baldwin
My son’s ticking stripes may have influenced the direction here!
Week 2 of this One Room Challenge seemed to fly by and I was feeling like I didn’t make enough progress. I am going to give myself some credit though— the bench has been picked up and delivered to Weedpatch Studio where it will be painted, the long bench cushion has been sent out to the upholsterers, along with its fabric (an oversized blue and white gingham that my mother in law had given me and I’ve been wanting to use on a project), measured the room and made an initial floor plan, and the most fun part- a trip to Terrain for some botanical inspiration. My sister joined me for the trip as she is quite the houseplant guru. She will be advising me on what plants will work best in the conservatory. While we were there walking through the aisles of gorgeous and lush plants, I realized what a novice I am when it comes to plants, and how this element of decor was adding a level of complication that I hadn’t anticipated. Fabrics, wallpapers, color, and art are more my thing… houseplants, not so much!
From our trip to Terrain. This room will definitely feature some topiaries!
One additional element of the room that I know I will incorporate but hadn’t mentioned last week is that I intend to frame and hang an antique American flag above the bench, on the schist stone wall. When you have spent your entire adult life (15 years!) working at Ralph Lauren, an American flag just feels right in about any space. I ended up playing a lot with fabric schemes alongside the flag so that I can land on the throw pillows that will accompany the gingham cushion and also look coordinated with the flag. In my original concept board which I published last week, I loved how some of the rooms that inspired me had a multicolored chintz which served as great pinwheel piece. I had a handful of my favorite florals which could have worked, including the pretty Schumacher chintz below, but in the back of my head I kept thinking about this blue and white Billy Baldwin garden room.
I liked this but something was reading TOO RL Country circa late 80s.
I think about this Billy Baldwin room A LOT.
I was working on some of the schemes while also keeping an eye on the baby and his little blue and white ticking stripe pants seemed like such a great coordinating pattern with the gingham. I tossed together a Sister Parish Ticking stripe and Titania floral and it felt so right. The mix still captures my love for pattern on pattern, but feels more chic. And so, we’re making a quarter turn on the inspiration. I’m ordering a few more blue swatches this week and am committed to land on fabric selections and bench color when they arrive- fingers crossed by Friday. I am also going to pull together my product board and start ordering. I am excited that I have found two options for a wicker urn and pedestal that will add texture, height, and personality to the room. Sadly though, I know that the planters I want from Bloomist are out of stock. I’m going to take a risk and hold out on buying other options for a few weeks to see if they come back into stock. Confession: I also may try to incorporate wallpaper! Its an addiction for sure, but now that I have been thinking about it, I want to make it work. I need to check back in with the budget (ugh), and see if I can swing it but I’m definitely going to try! So goals for the week are: hand off antique American flag to a framer, land on pillow fabric (+order), select paint color for bench, and make my product list (+ order). A stretch goal is to start learning SketchUp. I have been using Homestyler software for my floorplans, but a friend of mine recommended I try Sketchup. I have a lot to do, so I may not get to that this week— but I can certainly try! Wish me luck. Oh, and Happy Easter as well. We had such a lovely day at home, here’s a shot of my tablescape. I’m so grateful Spring has sprung and I was able to gather daffodils and hyacinths from the property for our family luncheon. See you next week! XOMO
I dressed my son in matching gingham but I won’t embarass him by posting that photo here.
The Herend golf bunnies were our wedding toppers so they will always be my favorite! The Beatrix Potter figurine is musical and belonged to my siblings and me.
PS: Don’t forget to check out the other #ORC participants posts this week! So much fun! www.oneroomchallenge.com/orc-blog
