ORC Week 6: Being Flexible
It’s week 6 of the One Room Challenge which means we only have TWO MORE WEEK until reveal day - insert scary movie music. Don’t let anyone that has participated in the ORC tell you it’s a cake walk and everything goes smoothly. Rarely does anything in designing a planned a room go smoothly. Remember my first ORC as a Guest Participant and all the issues I had with my home office? If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can check it out here.
If you are just joining me, The One Room Challenge™, currently in its nineteenth season, is a widely anticipated biannual event every April(this year June) and October. Each round, twenty design influencers are selected to take the challenge, as Featured Designers, and transform a space. Every Wednesday, the designers document their process while sharing their sources and professional advice over six weekly posts. I’m Ariene shop owner and principal of Dressing Rooms Interiors Studio. I own a vintage boutique selling furniture, lighting, art and decor. You can check up on my previous weeks below.
If you’ve been following my kitchen woes, you know things haven’t gone as planned. The painting job wasn’t done right at first and took twice as long than expected. I also realized after checking the paint can (always remember to do that) they used the wrong finish. Instead of gloss they used satin, I was originally going to do a matte finish on the cabinets but satin wasn’t on the table. Both stools arrived fully assembled but one didn’t have any screws to attach the seat to the base, so we had to find matching screws to attach it. I was sent the wrong color outlets for the kitchen, grey instead of white. Most recently I unrolled the rug for my eat-in kitchen only to discover it was the wrong rug and the one I ordered back in March, was now out of stock - of course!
To error is human and so we must learn to be flexible, and no one knows this better than a interior designer. Designers are problem solvers, so yes I found screws to attach the seat to the base. I returned the grey outlets and requested the white ones I ordered. The rug, well I had to select another. Luckily Highpoint Furniture Market was this week so I was able to meet with my rep and come up with a different solution that was in stock. And honestly, I like the new rug much better. I would show you, but I want to make sure it arrives and that stock levels were showing correctly.
So many things did go right - my benches arrived early from my upholsterer, I had just enough fabric for my custom roman shade, the kitchen runner arrived and looked even better in person. The dining table that I was worried about putting together because it’s so heavy, was assembled without a hitch. There are countless other things that went smoothly making the hiccups easier to swallow - my cup stays half full.
So what’s next? I am awaiting my drapery panels to arrive, fingers crossed it’s sooner than later. The finish line is closing in on us all, check on the other 19 featured designers and creatives progress:
At Home With Ashley | Banyan Bridges | Bari J. Ackerman | Brit Arnesen
Brownstone Boys| Cass Makes Home | Dominique Gebru | Gray Space Interiors| Haneen's Haven
Home Ec. | Nile Johnson Design | Pennies for a fortune | Prepford Wife | Rachel Moriarty Interiors
Sachi Lord | Susan Hill Interior Design | This Is Simplicite | Tiffany DeLangie | Victoria Lee Jones