One Room Challenge Week 4: Little Things
Welcome back to week 4 of my living room transformation with The One Room Challenge. If you haven’t been following along, I am taking 8 weeks to transform my living room into an eclectic, soulful and interesting space.
So far I have reupholstered my red sofa into a neutral pale grey. This was always going to be the largest part of my project so I am finding myself a little under accomplished this week compared to finishing such a large upholstery project last week.
Never the less, I continue!
As I mentioned in my introduction post, I want this space to feel warm, whimsical, and intriguing. For me, that means lots of unexpected handmade items. So this week I tackled a variety of handmade items to varied success. I’ll explain:
The Success: Shiny Little Things
Adding more texture and materials was important to me to have this room have more depth and personality. I have long coveted embossed metal ornaments, wall hanging, and mobiles and thought this might be the perfect time to try my hand at making something along those lines.
After a little trial and error, I think I have a few things I’m happy with. It took quite some time to track down the right materials, but now that I have them I’ve made a cheery little garland and a few mistletoe-esque leaf clumps. Though these are not exactly ground breaking objects, it means a lot to me to have something so sweet and joyful added to my home. I’m hoping I can expand these designs more soon, but at least the initial work has been completed.
The Success II: Sconce Shades
My original wall sconces had a basic white tapered shade on them. Neither ugly nor pretty, I was hoping this would be a good opportunity to add a handmade touch. I made a frame out of wire and then covered it in rice paper and adhered it with some homemade wheatpaste.
And just a quick side note: can wheat paste turn alcoholic??? Everything I read said to be mindful that it can mold after a few days and to not make a large batch. I’ve had mine for a few days and have kept it in a sealed jar on my counter. I figured I would pitch it once it smelled funny or had mold spots. However, last night as I was using it for my shades, it was looking very bubbly and starting to smell sour. Did I accidentally make a sourdough starter?? No idea. These are fun things I will research once my more pressing matters have been addressed. ANYWAY. The shades are by no means precise or perfect or even a different color from the original shades for that matter, but they do have a nice nobbly look to them that is bringing the eclectic quirk that I wanted.
The….Not Success: Ceiling Light
ALRIGHT, YOU CAUGHT ME. I DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING.
I’ve had a lot of fun throwing myself into different projects and materials for this room challenge. It’s been a lot of things outside my knowledge and comfort zone, and to my delight, several pursuits have panned out. HOWEVER. This one might have (temporarily) bested me.
I saw a beauitful light fixture online that was a cool $3,800. And like all people with basic handy skills, I assumed this was overpriced nonsense to trick less skilled people into buying very simple and easy to make items.
My new perspective: I am not going to spend $3,800 on a light fixture, but if you love that light and have the means, the price likely reflects years of honing skill, knowledge, and mastery that 5 hours with paper and wire in your kitchen simply cannot backfill.
All that to say, I tried to make my own version of this light that had a nice ridged/seed pod shape to it. My attempts to adhere the rice paper were very tricky, and I had to settle for a paper mache layered look.
It didn’t take too long for me to realize this was probably not going to be a very chic end product, but I did something I almost never do, and I made myself completely finish it anyway. I kept consoling myself that I have never done this before, so it was very unlikely that my first attempt would be perfectly executed. I figured that if I finish it completely then I can study what worked and didn’t work more affectively and build a plan from there.
My new plan is to experiment with pleating some starched fabric and build something out of that. (Read: Abandon the above attempts) These are definitely the willy-nilly art experiment weeks, so buckle up.
This upcoming week: I will finish the ceiling light, work on a new table lampshade, and get some purchases in like a rug, pillows, and other cozy details I don’t plan on making myself.
Wish me luck! This week was very silly!
-Aimee