One Room Challenge: Week Five

Photography By Orlando Soria, Brooke Spreckman, and Bethany Nauert

Dear Construction Diary,

With one week to go in the One Room Challenge, I’ve still got lots to do. Luckily, the interior walls are all painted and all we have left is the fun part. FURNITURE. At one point in my life I really wanted to start a line of furniture and call it FUN-ITURE. But Then I realized that was stupid and someone probably did it already. Anyway, I love choosing colors and doing construction-oriented design stuff, but my true love is plopping furniture into a space and finally making it feel cozy and welcoming.

One of the challenges of designing the interior of a tiny treehouse designed for small children is that you end up feeling like a giant no matter what. So when I had to go upstairs to paint the railing, I crunched up into the teeniest, tiniest ball to try and fit up there. It was all worth it though. LOOK HOW CUTE THE YELLOW (Benjamin Moore Bright Yellow) AND MINT (Benjamin Moore Caribbean Breeze) RAILING IS!

The ceilings were painted white and the beams went a chocolate brown. I’m normally not into this color of brown because I grew up in a house/cabin this color and I always hated it. BUT! I like that it brings in a little bit of a 70s camp vibe so I’m gonna make it work.

Naturally, painting required a TON of concentration. That tree is standing be hind me, totally judging me, being like “YOU MISSED A SPOT!” Shut up, Tree.

I wanted this room to feel like the happy childhood I never had but always wanted, so I also painted the formerly dark brown door a light pink (Benjamin Moore Misted Rose). Which makes it look so much more cute and fun in there. And the staircase was all “I WANNA BE YELLOW.” So I made her yellow. And now she’s like “I OWE YOU MY LIFE.”

We stained the walls with this beautiful Monocoat Oil Finish (in Silver Gray) and it looks SO amazing. The kids are super into it and are demanding that we not paint it or do anything to cover it up too much because they LOVE looking at it. The yellow color we used everywhere is Benjamin Moore Bright Yellow and it’s so happy and bright it’s almost neon.

We snagged these cute outdoor chairs from CB2. We’re trying to make all the furnishings we use as weather-friendly as possible, considering this room can get a little leaky (the gap between the tree and the house isn’t fully sealed because the tree needs to be able to move a bit in the wind and the structure has it’s own foundation).

We also sourced a lot from Nate Berkus’ Target line, which is so good it’s maddening. Sidenote: I’m an ambassador for Legends of La Cienega, which is happening this week, and I keep seeing Nate Berkus and all my other design heroes running around being besties with each other and being totally glamorous, laughing while holding cocktails and thinking about their success.

The floors look terrible here but that’s just because they’re filthy from us running in and out playing with furniture and paint. We’re getting a little plaid rug to make it a little more homey, but it’s going to be one of those plastic outdoor ones so it doesn’t get filled with spiders that jump into the kids’ mouths when they scream about how many spiders there are in the rug.

We have a lot of accessories to buy, some art to hang, and a lot of small touches to put on this space before it’s ready for its final reveal. So tune in next week to see if I pulled it off or if I failed completely and should be forced to live outside forever, in a rug full of spiders.

Love,
Orlando

CHECK OUT THE OTHER ONE ROOM CHALLENGE PARTICIPANTS!

• Claire Brody • The Curated House • Design Manifest • Driven by Decor • Honey We’re Home• Hunted Interior • The Makerista • Making it Lovely • My Sweet Savannah • Pencil and Paper Co.• The Pink Clutch • Savvy Home • Simplified Bee • Sketch 42 • Jill Sorensen • Orlando Soria• Thou Swell • The Vault Files • Waiting on Martha • The Zhush • Media Partner House Beautiful• TM by CIH