One Room Challenge: Week 3 (Adding Interest)

I knew I wanted to do something special in Eleanor’s room. Wallpaper? She wasn’t interested. How about molding? E was neutral and I was fully enamored with the idea, so yes. Absolutely! I love bedrooms with raised paneling, and it would fit well here architecturally. The first floor of any home is usually the most grand, where you might find taller baseboards, finer finishes, and details like paneling or crown molding. Our Victorian has raised paneling in the entryway, beams and crown in the dining room, picture rail in most bedrooms, and beadboard details throughout. Paneling or molding details in the bedroom of an otherwise unadorned house could be incongruous, but here it would fit.

Eleanor’s room has a noticeable slope to it though. That’s that old house charm for you. The floor slants, the ceiling slants, and I doubt you’ll find a true right angle anywhere. I wanted to do this so badly I tried to convince myself that I could cheat it by splitting the difference between level and what appears to the eye to be level, fudging some of the lines to turn rectangles into parallelograms and trapezoids. To a clear-headed person, this sounds like a terrible idea, right? I was dazzled by my brilliant design vision and it took me a while to admit that this probably isn’t the best space for rigid geometry.

So no wallpaper. No molding. A canopy bed, or a bed tucked into some sort of fort-like nook with beautiful fabric draping the sides was already ruled out when we instead decided to go from a twin-sized bed to a double. A larger canopy bed would still fit technically, but the scale would have been completely wrong. We’ll be adding color and pattern, of course, but I still wanted to do something beyond paint, add a bed, and hang curtains. Plus it’s the One Room Challenge; I wanted an actual challenge!

Well, I could make the bed. And do something interesting with the windows.

This is a phenomenal idea, yes? Never mind that I am far more comfortable with a saw than a sewing machine. I can do this. Except that my cursory knowledge of how to make a headboard was probably gleaned from formative years watching Trading Spaces. Plywood + foam + batting + fabric = headboard. Easy peasy. Except that I want to made a wingback headboard and it turns out it’s way more complicated than that? So OK, plan B is a simple rectangle with channel tufting. Still difficult, but easier. I’m not sure which option will win, but wish me luck.

Wait, we didn’t even get to the windows yet. Get lost, curtains! I’m doing lambrequins. On windows that you can tell just by looking at them have settled with the house and gone out of square. Do I need to change course here as well and go with a valance instead? Eh. Either way, I’ll be doing shades underneath that I plan on making myself. Do I know how? You bet I don’t! Will I figure it out? Oh, for sure! I’m making great decisions with a looming deadline. (If I could renovate old houses and learn how to do all kinds of hard things in the process, surely I can do this. Fingers crossed.)

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My One Room Challenge Posts

Follow along from the beginning!
• Week 1: My Daughter’s Room • Week 2: The Design Plan

And check out my previous One Room Challenges!
• Spring ’16: Our Bedroom and Den • Fall ’16: Front and Back Entry, Stairs, and Hallways • Fall ’17: My Home Office