Hey friends! It’s week two of the One Room Challenge, and today I’m sharing the color and pattern story for our library/media room and attached patio! Basically, this post is really a behind-the-scenes peek at what my typical design process looks like. I always love when creatives share the why behind their design choices, so I hope you enjoy coming along on this journey with me today as I share how my brain works when designing a space!
What is the One Room Challenge?!
The ORC is an online interior design event, organized by Linda Weinstein, where 20 Featured Designers and hundreds of other Guest Participants transform a room of their choice in just 8 weeks. With Better Homes & Gardens as the media sponsor, this biannual challenge is always brimming with design inspiration. Not only does this event inspire and motivate, but it also creates a supportive creative community.  I’m always blown away by the spaces created each season, so it’s an absolute honor to be counted as a Featured Designer this fall!
Always Starts With an Inspiration Piece
For me, it almost always starts with an inspiration piece. It could be a beautiful piece of art, a wallpaper or fabric pattern I’ve fallen in love with, or as in the case of our library, an area rug. Paint colors are typically my last selection, but in our library, it was actually my first choice. I’ve always wanted a blue library, so I chose a classic shade of blue – Hunley by Duron for Sherwin Williams. This is why I felt like this vintage Karastan rug was meant for me to find. The blue in this rug could not be a better match to the paint color!
And so, while I chose the paint color first, this second-hand beauty of a rug is my inspiration piece for the design of both our library and the attached patio area.
Inspiration Leads to Main Players
What I want a room to feel like is always at the top of my mind when I’m creating a color and pattern story. So, once I’ve got my inspiration piece I think about the overall vibe I want to create in a space. And deciding on what I want to spotlight, or what I call “casting the main players”, is the next step in my design process.
In here, I want the room to feel cozy and layered, grand and timeless, elegant yet comfortable, sophisticated but not too precious. And because I’m all about a fifth wall feature, to drive home the vibe I’m after, the ceiling is getting papered!
I ordered a bunch of swatches because when it comes to wallpapering a ceiling, the way a room receives light is everything!
With metallic papers and grasscloths, you really can’t truly appreciate the color or the texture through an online picture.
And as you can see, grasscloth reads very differently on a wall than on a ceiling. I LOVED the color and texture of this navy grasscloth, but on the ceiling, it read more black than blue and seemed to lose a bit of its texture.
But the metallic paper totally won me over, which is funny because it was actually my last choice when I ordered the samples on Calico Corner’s website. This is exactly why I think it’s so important to gather as many options as possible! What you end up loving once you physically see it in your space might surprise you!
I think this metallic paper is truly going to shine in here, and it’s going to add a lovely, warm, vintage vibe to the room. Plus this paper is also going to highlight the other main player or showstopper I have planned for the space, the light fixture that I’m planning to bring in to replace this fan! I can’t wait to show you!
Supporting Roles
Once I’ve got my main players, aka showstoppers, nailed down, then I move on to supporting roles. And more often than not, fabrics play a supporting role in my spaces. Almost always I want my upholstered pieces, curtain panels, and pillows to complement rather than steal the show. Everybody can’t be the star, you know? 😉
For the library, the bookshelves are truly the main event, and the ceiling and light fixture are going to share in the spotlight a bit, so the fabrics in the space really need to be a little more subtle.
For curtain panels, I’m going with this neutral that is kind of a cross between an antelope and snakeskin print, and I love that it reads like a solid yet adds interest and texture to the space.
But I just had to use this gorgeous pattern in the room as well, so I’m going to have a few pillow covers made out of this fabric.
However, as you can see in the above photo, the blue in the fabric is just a tad too turquoise, which isn’t an issue at all, because I’m working with Spoonflower!
And using a Spoonflower color map makes it easy to work with the individual fabric designer to customize the colors.
So I was able to get the pattern below modified with a shade of blue that better suits the space, and this Spoonflower fabric designer, Amy Vail, even named my version of this pattern after me. 🙂 So you’ll be seeing pillows in Carmel’s Heriz Fans in both the library and attached porch (because they also offer outdoor fabrics!).
Putting all of that together, here’s a look at the color & pattern story for the library/media room. And the attached patio will be an extension of this with the addition of a bold black and white pattern that I’ll hopefully be able to share more about next week!
Sources & Sponsors
Sofas – Restoration Hardware
Rug – Vintage Karastan
Wallpaper (sponsored) by Calico Corner’s – Rupel by Fabricut in Mineral
Curtains & Pillows (sponsored) by Spoonflower – Curtain Fabric – Red Pattern – Tiger Print
Leopard Ottoman (sponsored) by Minted for West Elm
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Now go check out what all of the other Featured Designers are sharing this week!
Albie Knows| At Home with Savvy | Beth Diana Smith | Eclectic Twist| Erika Ward InteriorsFrom House to Home| G. Lebron Interiors | Goldalamode | Home Made by Carmona| Impeccable NestJeweled Interiors| Joyful Designs Studio| Joy Street Design | Our Fifth House| Peony & HoneyPinch Plate Party | Rebecca Propes | Reem’s Design | Saudah Saleem Interiors | Whitney J Decor
I absolutely love how you’re walking us through the process. can’t wait to see your ceiling with the antiqued mirror tile on your dry bar 🙂 what a cool room to hang out in; I love your style!!