ORC – Jest Cafe – Wk 2 – Kids’ Room

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Here we go…One Room Challenge – Week 2

As a fun summary, here are the positives of participating so far:

  • I have connected with a lot of bloggers out there
  • Traffic jump to my site
  • My kids’ room is looking better
  • I still have 4 weeks to go… which gives me some sanity
  • Víctor is so excited about the upgrade! He talks about it with everybody that will listen: the cashier at the grocery store, the attendant at Home Depot, neighbors, etc., etc.

Here are the negatives of participating so far:

  • My husband is a week away from divorcing me
  • I haven’t read a book to my children in 2 weeks
  • I walk around the house hysterically planning color schemes
  • I wake up thinking about this at night
  • I need to find a rug TODAY to make sure it arrives before the end of this challenge!!!!!!! Any recommendations? (Elise, I decided to go with a rug instead of leather… but thanks for the advice!)

Progress this last week:

  1. Painted walls
  2. Installed wallpaper (which was pretty much a nightmare… says my husband)

Here is what I did, in pictures with explanatory graphics that I learned how to do 2 days ago:
jestcafe.com---ORC-week-2-18jestcafe.com---orc-week-20Before starting any project, here are the basic steps you need to follow:jestcafe.com---ORC-week-2-14jestcafe.com---ORC-week-2-15jestcafe.com--ORC-wk2-30Cute, ha?

Now, back to work:jestcafe.com---ORC-week-2-17

The first thing I did for this week was to paint walls. Because the wallpaper is so dark, I wanted to paint the ceiling and one wall true white. I chose to paint with Decorator’s White from Benjamin Moore that is SO white it also works as a primer. Best decision ever! It looks beautiful.

jestcafe.com---ORC-week-2-13See the difference?jestcafe.com---ORC-week-2-12

After doing that, I painted the opposite wall in a blue that matched the wallpaper blue color. Why? 1) Wallpaper is too expensive so I didn’t want to cover three walls with it; and, 2) the wallpaper I chose has a busy design so I wanted to give the room a little bit of breathing by having a darker, moody wall painted to match the wallpaper color without being too busy.

I went to match the color to Cox Paint. They were so nice and put a lot of effort into finding the right color… and they did! I love how the blue looks.

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For painting the ceiling and tall walls, you need a long stick to put the roller in. At the beginning, I was trying to use a stool… bad idea. A longer stick was much more useful. Also, for a darker wall, you need two coats of paint no matter what.

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For the white wall I didn’t need two coats of paint. I even tried doing another coat in some places of the wall to see if it made a difference but it didn’t. One coat was enough. I was very worried about being able to paint a true white wall by myself after reading this post that Emily Henderson wrote in her blog a couple of years ago, but because the wall was off-white already, getting the true white to shine was easy and it only required one coat. Score!

Next up, the wallpaper. I will write a post on how to install wallpaper later this month, but, in the mid-time, take my word for it… it is very, VERY hard!. I tried to do it myself but couldn’t because I am not the handiest person in the world. Lucky me, my husband is, so he took over and did most of the work installing this paper. I became his minion by applying paste, singing songs, and cheerleading along the way.

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Hygge & West gave me a nice discount on the Underwater World –Blue wallpaper that I have been wanting for this space for a while. I LOVE the copper details, crazy drawings and dark navy color for a moody look. Everybody that has been in our place since we installed it has commented on how cool the wallpaper looks. I am very, very happy with the decision. Here are some photos for your enjoyment:

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If you like what you see, would you consider following me on Instagram for the latest updates? Here is my account.

Next week: Furniture painting and building. See you then!

And, here is the link to the Week 1 post that has more before pictures and plans for the space, in case you haven’t seen them.

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Let Us Connect:
24 replies
  1. amanda says:

    The wallpaper looks amazing! My son has a little closet in his room that we use as a reading nook. Seeing your post is motivation to get it done.
    I don’t envy you having to repaint that door. I have three doors to paint in my room(s) and they take forever!

    Reply
  2. Laura Ingalls Gunn says:

    Mila I adore the direction that your room is headed towards! You did SO much better than I did in my room this week.

    I would love for you to share this post at Thoughts of Home on Thursday. I think our readers would really enjoy it!

    Good luck in the upcoming week!

    Reply
    • Mila says:

      that is funny! I read your post. You will get more done next week, I am sure. I would love to share my post, too! Just tell me how to do it! Thank you so much!

      Reply
  3. Elise Xavier says:

    I am flipping out – this looks SO good already. Blew me away! Perfect colours and perfect idea with the wall paper not going on all fours. I like the accent wall idea way better.

    PS; That shot of your kiddo is absolutely adorable <3.

    Reply
  4. jessica says:

    I really like the blue…and the wallpaper….and the yellow door—I know you do not like it, but it pops against that blue. I cannot wait to see what you bring this upcoming week.

    Reply
    • Mila says:

      I like the yellow door but I want to go with a darker/orange yellow. Also, I have decided to go with your idea of the floating shelves… thanks!

      Reply
  5. Sarah Sofia Knepp says:

    Mila, I just LOVE your design plan from week 1 and this accent wall is STUNNING! Just between the fresh paint and wallpaper you’ve transformed this space! I love Ikea, especially for inexpensive furniture that’s kid friendly. This will be an amazing kids room and can’t wait to see it completed! Let’s do this! XOXO, Sarah

    Reply
    • Mila says:

      I really appreciate the encouragement. I don’t like to spend a lot of money in kids’ furniture, and I really like the storage I bought from IKEA, specially because I could paint it

      Reply

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