The ORC Guest Bedroom Makeover Is Now Complete

I’m so excited to share the beautiful garden retreat guest bedroom makeover for Week Six plus, guest bedroom One Room Challenge Fall 2020. Although I am happy this room is complete, it has not gone without a few glitches.

Waiting for the room’s refinished floor to cure for over a week has put us behind on installation. However, I am thankful for the extra time from One Room Challenge to complete the space. All in all, it was a two-day installation process for one bedroom.

Installation Dilemmas

The first item to be installed was the area rug. While unrolling the rug, it was revealed that there were some brown stains. The Safavieh Handmade Chatham Margretta Modern Wool Rug was the perfect shade of green and ivory from Overstock. Upon calling for a replacement, I was notified that we were four days over the return policy. However, they would replace the rug, which they did promptly and efficiently.

Dilemma two of this bedroom makeover began when attaching the headboard to the queen-size bed frame. We had to have our contractor drill out the heavy steel frame for the bolts of the headboard to fit through the slots in the frame, and was assembled with no problem. Thankful that the mattress and box spring also arrived for the room on install day. It was all going to start to come together nicely.

Not only did we have rug issues, my photographer, who was scheduled to take the bedroom makeover room shots, could not make our date with the Thanksgiving holiday and break. There was also no way to meet the final deadline and schedule another photographer. My apologies if the photos aren’t professional quality for Week 6. Also, by the time the final pillow was placed and the drapery steamed, we were losing daylight which was an already rainy and cloudy day. We have scheduled photography of this bedroom and five other rooms in the home for another time.

The Bedroom Makeover Installation Process

Once the rug was placed in the proper location, moving in of the rest of the furniture had begun. I thought placing the dresser, the chair, and the small tables would be easier before placing the box spring and mattress on the bed frame. This would make moving these pieces into the room easier without the bed being there. Once everything was in the proper place, the box spring and mattress were installed. The bed was dressed with sheets, a new duvet cover, and shams, all nicely pressed, and the bed was made. We then placed the lamps and some accessories before installing the custom window treatments and artwork.

Custom Window Treatments, Artwork, and Pillows

Now that everything was in place, the custom bench seat cushion made by Kathy Bush of Badger’s Island Sewing Company fit perfectly it was time to install the custom window treatments. The prior two weeks were days for sewing the custom window treatments myself. Owning my own workroom back in the day, I was very knowledgeable about making drapery. However, this was not on my agenda from the beginning of this project, as I use professional workrooms these days due to a lack of time in the design world. In the previous weeks of this ORC, you would notice that I was having issues whenever I found a drapery pattern. The pattern would be discontinued, or it would not make it in time for the completion of the bedroom deadline. This led me to sit down at my sewing machine and fabricate the drapery myself.

I had never made pencil pleat drapes before, only pinch pleat. I purchased the pencil pleat header tape, and it was a breeze to stitch onto the panels. Since they were stationary side panels, it would not be an issue. Not only did I fabricate the drapery myself, but I also made the accent pillows that were on the bed. Because the companion fabric to the bench seat cushion fabric was the whole inspiration for the room, the persimmon color looked perfect as a bolder pop which matched the found persimmon accent chair that lives in the corner of the room. It was finally time for artwork installation, which was the most exciting piece of this garden retreat guest bedroom project. What I like to call the “icing on the cake.”

Liz Roache And Her Fabulous Flowers

Working closely with Liz Roche, I knew I would want her Fabulous Flowers artwork in the space. It was just a matter of the color scheme selected. Because there were gray accents in the space and more predominant in the dresser and gray linen headboard, the art created had a light gray background for the Persimmon Flowers, pulling out the tiniest bit of green in the center of the flower. This green was also the base color of the side table lamps and the area rug. A white lattice design garden bench was also brought in for the side table next to the persimmon accent lamp. Making this space warm but still bright and vibrant. Fabulous Flowers was a big hit in the room and with the new owners of this piece.

Because the fern green color was also going to be an inspiration for the space, I located a set of fern prints that would brighten up the Benjamin Moore Lingerie wall color and would follow the lines of the camelback headboard over the bed. The fern prints from Prints Made Perfect were an excellent choice for the garden room theme and coordinated nicely with the fern throw pillow on the bed. I framed the prints in white to pull from the white nightstands on the sides of the bed and the dentil crown molding in the room.

A Special Thanks To Those Who Participated

I would like to thank the guest bedroom owners, Doug and Cheryl Howes, for allowing me to take control of their guest bedroom for the ORC and for their participation in painting the space. Doug and Cheryl put their best foot forward and took over the painting of this bedroom to meet the ORC deadline. I would also like to thank the following contributors to this magnificent guest bedroom makeover and working with the budget set for this room:

• Benjamin Moore

• Overstock

• Amazon

• RAW Furnishings

• Jake Councilman - Councilman Electric

• Rob Dudley - Woodland Hardwood Floors

• Goodwill Industries

Many thanks to Linda Weinstein, the creator of the One Room Challenge, once again, for creating this motivational design event and inspiring me to push myself to the limits of deadlines of design.

You can follow more of my ORC on Facebook and Instagram as well. I would also like to thank Better Homes & Gardens, the official media sponsor of the ORC.

See the final reveal of these 20 talented Featured Designers of the Fall 2020 ORC.

About Debbe Daley

Debbe Daley is New England’s leading interior design expert in the fields of design, decorating, and styling of interior spaces. She is a professional speaker, educator, influencer, and business coach in interior design. She also teaches creative interior design and change-of-career-minded individuals at her School of Interiors. These courses provide mentoring and hands-on training. Debbe is currently an installed Design Services member for the Boston Design Center. She also is an educator and instructor at Middlesex Community College in the field of interior design.

Contact Debbe at ddaley@daleydesigns.com or (978) 697-0288.