one room challenge: nicky's hygge bedroom (week 5)
So happy you’ve joined us for week 5 of the six week One Room Challenge (ORC) hosted by Linda of Calling It Home. If you are new to ORC, each spring and fall, design bloggers with a thirst for adventure (or perhaps a need for arbitrary deadlines) transform a room from start to finish in six short weeks and report weekly on their progress. It is a crazy and unbelievably fun challenge. You should totally do it in October. Until then, I’m glad you are here. Grab a seat and look around! Want to catch up on this project? Click back to week 1 and 2, week 3, and week 4.
It is week 5 of the One Room Challenge and things are actually coming along quite nicely thanks to lots of hard work from Nicky’s mom, Deb. We've ordered a rug, painted the ceiling blush (!!), added more shelving, and decided on an art plan for over Nicky's desk.
As a reminder, here is what Nicky's room looked like when we started this project...
It's looking a little more grown up, right?
Last week, we talked about moving Nicky’s bed into the corner to give her the cozy hang-out space she was after. That move opened up a ton of floor space. Over FaceTime during week 4, while Deb moved the bookshelf for the 20th time (oh, and did you notice there is a new bookshelf in the room? Ch-ch-ch-changes….), Nicky’s face lit up at the idea of creating a specific area in her room for doing make-up.
You may remember that Nicky loved this marquee mirror from RH Teen. Unfortunately, Nicky’s dream mirror would have killed the entire budget for this project. Did I not mention budget yet? We are doing this WHOLE transformation on a $1,000 budget. To some of you, that may sound like a lot of money. To others, it may sound impossible. Things add up fast, people. I can safely say that $1,000 for a room transformation is practically nothing in the design world. A wool rug alone will cost at least that much. If you’ve perused any of those 100 catalogs that you receive in the mail every month from a certain chain retailer who shall remain nameless, you know that even chain store furniture is not cheap. Throw pillows can set you back $50-$200 a piece. We start talking custom furniture or silk rugs and the big bucks go flying. Little secret? Design doesn’t have to be expensive, especially for kids who outgrow looks as fast as they do shoes. Invest in quality foundations – beds, dressers, rugs – that will grow with your child and you can refresh pretty easily on the cheap.
But let’s get back the mirrors. I found an alternative to Nicky’s prized marquee mirror for half the price (but still $500!) and another alternative for $60 (but too small). Pinterest is full of DIY marquee projects if you are so inclined. My big concern with the marquee mirror was that it might be a trend that Nicky will soon outgrow. Nicky’s original Pinterest picks for her room revealed that she is also extremely attracted to mini-white lights. A quick search for ideas gave us an inexpensive alternative to the marquee mirror: a fairy-light mirror (here’s another great example). The tiny white lights work much better with the hygge vibe we are creating in Nicky’s room rather than the more glam vibe of the original marquee mirror. (Oh, and while Nicky and Deb were pillow shopping at Target a couple of weeks ago - yes, we totally did the pillow shopping before the rest of the room and, yes, that is backwards but we like to shake things up a bit over here - they found this cute little number for Nicky's bookshelf. Marquee lights, check.)
With a simple mirror from Wayfair and inexpensive white lights from Target, Deb will be able to create Nicky’s own fairy-light mirror. We added an awesome cart for Nicky’s make-up (this cart can absolutely be used for other things as Nicky grows), a pouf that can move around the room, and a little art to the wall. A small fuzzy (machine washable!) rug will layer over our large area rug (can you even wait to see what we picked?). This will both define the vanity space and fulfill Nicky’s wish for a soft rug while still being practical in a room designed for a teen plus cat. You’ll get to see the whole thing next week in the final room reveal. Here’s a sneak peek of what it might look like in case you just can’t wait…
Sources: (1) Bobby pins, (2) make-up brushes, (3) fuzzy rug, (4) pouf, (5) mirror, (6) lights, (7) lacquer tray, (8) vase for make-up brushes, (9) rolling cart, (10) mini-drawers.
In this final week, we will be pulling together artwork and storage for Nicky’s belongings. We will also be hoping with fingers and toes crossed that everything arrives on time. While you wait for the final reveal of Nicky’s amazing room, pour yourself some coffee and check out these other fantastic ORC projects at Calling It Home!