One Room Challenge Fall 2022 ~ Week 4

Written By Tim Lam

Welcome to week 4 of One Room Challenge! Can you believe we are actually 1/2 way through the 8 weeks challenge? After all the messiness from the popcorn ceiling removal and rewire + installation of 3 different sources of lighting solutions in the living room last week, we are finally ready to dress the walls.

week 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

image via Lisa Staton Design

If you have seen some of my previous One Room Challenge makeovers (office / living room / bedroom), you’d know I love grasscloth wallpaper. Grasscloth wallpaper can make a room feels extra special, even if it’s in light neutral colors. It adds textures, shimmer, and an effortlessly elegant touch. If you are looking for an instant embellishment on your walls, grasscloth is my top pick.

Just like selecting paint colors, it’s important to try out samples in the room + at different time of the day to see how the wallpapers “change” in natural light. For this project, I am very excited to work with York Wallcoverings to give the foyer an instant glamourization. Here are my four finalists (clockwise):

I tried the samples out at two different locations in the foyer, and could you guess which one is the winner?

Yes we landed on the plain sisals in cream from the Candice Olson collection. I love the warmth, the subtle sheen, the tight weave texture, and the variations of neutrals it gives the room, especially when it is the first room to greet the guests + the perfect spot to set the tone for the rest of the house.

I wish you could feel my excitement when the papers went on the walls. It was such an instant gratification, and it totally changed the personality of the room. Oh yeah, I am loving the three harmonious shades on neutrals transitioning from walls to trim work to doors.

Now that the wallpaper is under control, let’s turn our attention to paints. Collaborating with Benjamin Moore on the project, I selected the Aura interior paint collection for many reasons including:

  • Proprietary Color Lock® technology ensuring long-lasting color and no color rub-off

  • Unparalleled color depth and richness with smooth, uniform color

  • Ultimate performance in hide for fewer coats

  • Resists scuffing and burnishing

  • Seamless touch-ups

For ceiling, we went with the eggshell, satin on most of other areas. With the stubborn mustard yellow wrapped all around the living room, along with patches of wall repairment, we started the paint journey with a top-quality, high-hiding, all purpose primer.

The primer provided a great coverage after just one coat + a solid foundation for the final wall color (OC130 - Cloud White). We also painted the hallway adjacent to the living room: a much-needed refresh after being untouched for over 30 years!

Though it looks like I just picked “white” for all the surfaces, each of them has different undertones and complements one another. As you can see, Silver Satin OC-26 on the lower part of the wall reads as a beautiful warm grey when pairing next to Steam AF-15. Here is the breakdown of my “white” applications:

Foyer:

Living room:

Hallway:

We also managed to finish off the fireplace by adding this beautiful picket tile in white polished marble.

On this tile story, I actually picked up 12 sheets of these white marble tiles at ReStore months ago not knowing what I would use them for. I believe they were $3 a sheet, meaning I could dress up my fantastic fireplace for $36 (material cost)! Well of course we were one sheet shy and since we only discovered that until we got to the top row, we had to find an extra sheet fast. Quick thinking led me to this version very similar in size, thickness, and color.

Variation is the name of the game with natural stone, especially when these are from two different batches from different sources. As you can see, the top row looks greyer than the rest of the tiles. If we had discovered the issue earlier, we could have “scattered” the greyer pieces throughout for more “random” look.

Knowing my guy would kill me if I asked him to take it all down and redo it after a long day, I took a leap of faith to proceed with grouting.

Once the grout was set and tiles were cleaned up, the color variation seems less noticeable. Lucky me!

Oh yeah painting the front door this sophisticated blue (Mistral CC-842) also brought me joy. What a difference from its previous charcoal grey and just wait until you see my new door hardware!

That’s it for week 4 of ORC Fall 2022! Be sure to check out my fellow participants on their mid-point progress!

Tim Lam
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One Room Challenge Fall 2022 ~ Week 5
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One Room Challenge Fall 2022 ~ Week 3