One Room Challenge Week 4: Finally, Progress! Sort Of.

It’s week 4 of the One Room Challenge and I’m breathing a little easier because, finally, some visible progress has been made! With one teeny, tiny setback…

Speaking of, if you found me via the One Room Challenge link-up, welcome! I’m Brianna, blogger extraordinaire at Bloom in the Black. I write all about home design made simple. I love sharing how-tos, inspiration, and advice on creating a dream home that works for real life.

I’ll admit I was getting a little nervous last week when things looked exactly the same as on day 1. I was still waffling on the desk color and I hated every wallpaper option I tried behind it. Things were looking bleak, people. But I laid out an action plan and got to work.

Before we get to the good stuff, I want you to be aware that I sometimes use affiliate links in my posts. I may receive a small commission if you choose to purchase through those links but it is never at any additional cost to you and I only recommend products I would use in my own home. Thanks for supporting Bloom in the Black!

First, Let’s Move Some Furniture and Hang the Mural!

I got my butt in gear and physically started moving things. The desk configuration wasn’t changing, so I pulled that into place to see how it looked IRL. Not too shabby!

This also freed up the mural wall just in time for its arrival. Guys, it’s so pretty! I’d show you but a.) I want to save it as a surprise for the big week 6 reveal and b.) I ran into, uh, technical difficulties…

I had my mural made through Society6 (who I love and used for my art for the Fall 2018 ORC). Their murals are repositionable so typically, if you screw up you can pull the paper off the wall and try again. I followed a really great tutorial by John and Sherry over at Young House Love and they also encourage repositioning until you have the paper set correctly.

The good news is that Society6 has awesome customer service and they are sending me a replacement. Yay! The bad news is this means hanging it all over again *cue tiny violin*

Next, Figure Out That Desk Wall…

I’m fortunate to have mad Photoshop skillz so I’ve mocked up, and re-mocked up, that freaking desk wall endlessly. My initial plans called for a super graphic black + white patterned wallpaper behind that single beautiful piece of art. But everything I tried looked… wrong. No matter how stunning the paper, how subtle, how bold.

Nothing was working because a pattern felt way too extra in the same room as a huge mural. Yet leaving the wall whitish looked completely blah. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I finally realized that I was trying way too hard to be different. I was breaking one of my guiding principles!

Find your formula, then stick with it.

In a nutshell, your home design formula is the base for everything. It’s the colors, textures, materials, and style you repeat throughout your entire home. With that formula as the base, you can layer the new, the trendy, the seasonal, and it will still feel like you.

I had forsaken my formula and I was paying for it.

I’ll share more about how to find your formula in a future post. What that meant for me, for this project, was that I needed an aggressive dose of black:

Black accent wall. Nailed it. (Will nail it?)

Finally, a Desk Color Decision

Now that the wall situation has been resolved, I can put a pin in the desk color decision. Natural top, black legs. Done.

The black legs will repeat the wall color, the accents in my mural, and the pop of black from my modern chandelier. The natural top ties in my incredible desk light and a fun accent that is half formed in my brain and I will share next week…

Thanks to my incredible sponsors: WhiteWall, RevealHome, and Allocacoc. They have generously provided a few of the items that will truly bring this space to life.

That’s all for this week, folks. Be sure to head over to the ORC link-up to check out all the other amazing participants, check in every Thursday for progress updates, and get excited for the big reveal on May 9!