One Room Challenge- Week 2

It’s moving week! It’s actually closing day on our Fayetteville home today. Tomorrow (at 3am) we’ll head out towards our new home, and our new lives in Frankfort. I’m so ready!

So where are we headed? What are we going to tackle?

If you’ll recall this is our new living room, and our One Room Challenge. My plan is to work with a lot of our existing “stuff”, but create something new, and fresh, and global in this space.

I have this memory of when I was a little girl. It feels very dreamlike. We went to visit my Great-Uncle in New York or New Jersey. Somewhere up North I know, but he lived in this house in the country. This dreamy stone house- Like some small Manor you’d see in the English countryside.

My Great-Uncle was a botanist in Africa for most of his working life, although my father swears up and down that was a cover and he was really a spy. Regardless of whatever his profession was he lived an incredibly colorful life full of adventure, and his home was full of curiosities, and mementoes of his life.

I remember big game trophies, zebra skin rugs, and I have a memory of a tiger skin rug that I buried my hands in in awe. His home was dark, but not scary. Intimate. It smelled like leather, and books, and pipe tobacco. There is something about this place and memory that has always stuck with me.

I remember his conservatory on the back of his house full of orchids and African Violets, which is perhaps where my orchid obsession came from.

I’ve had conversations with my mother about Uncle Warren’s house, and she is always astounded by the details I can recall. It’s funny how some memories imprint on you so deeply. That memory of my Great-Uncle’s home is my jumping off point for this space. Here are some of the rooms that have that same feel to me.

I want this room to feel cozy, and intimate but also like a multi-cultural celebration of art and beauty. I’m incredibly excited for this space to come together.

XO,

-Victoria

One Room Challenge- Week 1

I’m going to try to complete the One Room Challenge this year. To be fair, I always complete my ORC rooms, I just REALLY suck at blogging, and sharing them. That’s going to change this year. I’m going to be a new and improved version of myself.

Maybe.

We’ll see.

I’m an absolutely crazy person for signing up for this ORC for a few reasons.

#1- We are moving across the country (in a global pandemic) two weeks AFTER the One Room Challenge begins.

#2- Technically, I’ve never seen the room I’m planning on tackling (in person at least), and won’t see it until October 16. This is absolute insanity. Buying a house without seeing it in person is MADNESS, but that’s what we’re doing. It’s fine. Everything is fine.

Here’s the rub. We’re moving into a house built approximately 140 years ago. It needs work. We are super excited to love her back to life again. There are things that need to be addressed immediately. A new furnace is one. Prepping, priming, and painting the exterior is another. Gutting and renovating the kitchen is also one.

None of those are the things I’m focusing on for the One Room Challenge. Instead, I’ve decided we’ll tackle the Living Room. With the holiday season rapidly approaching, I want to ensure we will have a space to gather as a family that is both functional for our needs as a family, and beautiful. I want to create a space we can gather away from the chaos of the renovation that feels warm, cozy, and intimate.

Without further ado, the Living Room Ladies and Gentleman.

She has ten foot ceilings, original seven foot tall windows, original floors and trim, an original coal fireplace (non-functioning), and all the charm you could ever want. I’m brimming with ideas and possibility for this incredible space.

I hope you’ll join me through this process. It’s going to be so good!

XO,

-Victoria

One Room Challenge- Week 1

It’s that time of the year again. The One Room Challenge is officially upon us, and frankly I’m thrilled to be participating. This time I plan on tackling our front room. Our front room is essentially a multi-purpose room. It houses our office, our piano, doubles as a secondary sitting room when I’m trying to have an adult conversation with friends, and my child refuses to shut off the Xbox in the living room and let me do just that. This room serves a lot of different purposes for such a small space.

While the room is technically “fine” I don’t really love it. The thing is- we don’t have a massive home. Our house is just over 1400 square feet, and I truly believe when you live in a small home it’s even more important to make every square inch count. I want every room in our home to be a gem. I want all of our spaces to beckon you in, to inspire, to make you curious about the story behind it. All that to say, I want this room to shine, so I’m going to do what I need to in order to fall in love with this space.

This room is awkward. It’s approximately 7’x20’. It is the room you walk into when you come in our front door. Originally, this was the front porch of the house, but was enclosed in the 80s. On one side of the door is the piano, and a couple of chairs where I sneak away from my husband and son when I have a girlfriend over for a glass (or two) of wine.

On the other side of the door is the office side. Nothing fancy, but over the years it’s just become a paper graveyard, and needs to be reworked.

As I said, the room is technically “fine” and a far cry from the state of it when we bought the house. (Do you want to see that? Brace yourself!)

I told you it was bad. They tried to say this was a third bedroom, which spoiler alert- It’s not! That being said, since we don’t have a guest bedroom, we have always talked about putting a daybed in here. This room is flooded with natural light, and is the best room to grab a book and hang out, and watch the rain fall, or snow in the winter, and I’ve been dreaming of a daybed here for YEARS. Having that would also mean we could have a place (not in our living room) to house any overnight guests.

I’ve got big plans for this space, and all I can say is I have visions of emerald green in our future. Stay tuned next week for all the design plans!

XO!

-Victoria