ORC Week 3: Paint samples + a pint-size boss

OK friends. Progress is happening, I swear! It’s just slow and steady. Here are a few things that’ve happened in the last week:

1) I picked out paint samples, using my wallpaper sample as my guide (which has been living in my purse for weeks and is a bit worse for wear, so pls ignore). We’ll be painting the bookshelves to match the background in the wallpaper—an ivory with a yellowish undertone—and then painting the trim a contrasting golden yellow. In general, when selecting paint to coordinate with wallpaper, I tend to look for the color in the wallpaper I want to highlight the most, and then buy a few options to see how it will look in place, in person. There’s really no other way to know. I also generally walk over to the window so I can see the paint strips in natural light (why do paint stores have the worst light?!). Remember the green in this hue will be highlighted in the carpet, and I’m planning to throw in a few accent colors along the way (rust? cobalt blue? dusty pink? TBD).

2) The wallpaper arrived! This makes the whole thing feel like it’s really really happening, and I think it’s more gorgeous in person.

3) The carpet has been selected! BUT I just received the quote and it’s higher than we were planning. So now do we opt for something cheaper from Home Depot or just stick with our local store? We’re getting another quote tomorrow and hopefully a decision can be made asap.

4) I’ve already messed up! Namely, by ordering pink covers for the recessed lights that are the wrong size. We might need to convert the recessed lights to very narrow flushmounts. I’d love the look of something small and sweet that won’t hit people on the head. So TBD on that.

5) Last but perhaps most importantly, we’ve been building! Specifically, triangles to support the arched bookshelves. It’s been very much a family process, mostly because the children are always around and might as well get involved. But honestly, I think our oldest will remember building this room with her parents. She’s been remarkably helpful and is legitimately good at detail-oriented tasks. She numbered the boards for us, compared widths of boards to make sure everything looked even and, weighed in anywhere she saw a mistake. She’s always been good at that one. Ha!

Below is our cardboard prototype of the arches, which will be built onto the front of each set of bookshelves. These arches will look pretty, sure, but really they’ll help us hide an area that’s always messy. By next week we hope to have the arches built and in place so we can get started on the costume closet.