One Room Challenge, Week Six: the reveal

The One Room Challenge is done!  Thank goodness.  Three weeks for a makeover is not exactly a leisurely pace.

As for the dilemma about where to hang the curtains, I decided to hang the curtains above the fan window.  I like how it looks, and it provides coverage from the late afternoon sun.

The main challenge for this room was to spend as little as possible, and reuse as much already-owned decor as possible.  I think I succeeded, for the most part.  I bought a 10x13 rug on Craigslist for $200. I spent $4 on yarn-bombing a cardboard steer, $35 on a pair of Ritva curtains, $34 on Anthro pillow shams that didn't show up on time, $20 on a lucite tray, and $18 on a quart of paint. Everything else I already owned. I will consider $311 a successful room makeover.

So I opened my new sewing machine and attempted to make pillows.  Hahahahaha.  It took me four days to make the first pillow, and I finished it last night, mere hours before the linking party.  I did it all wrong in pretty much every way.  I couldn't get the bobbin thread to catch, I tangled the bobbin when winding it, I accidentally sewed the envelope opening closed, I lined everything up backwards....it was quite the exercise in frustration.  I kept giving myself the same pep talk I give to my kids: "why do you think you will be awesome at something the first time you try? You have to practice! You do it over and over again and then you get good at it! Of course you will be terrible at it the first time!"

No wonder my kids roll their eyes at me.

I comforted myself with the thought that at least I had ordered a pair of Anthro pillow shams that would look good---I could just skip the homemade pillows and finish them at my leisure.  Then the Anthro package showed up, and the packaging that said "PAIR of standard shams" contained only ONE sham.

Thanks for nothing, Anthropologie.  Back to the sewing machine.

They are ok, as pillows go.  They could be worse.  They look like a pillow, so I will take that as a victory.  I had big plans for fancy-shmancy pillows, with ribbon trim and pompoms, but this exercise showed me that fancy-shmancy is currently far above my skill set.  Be impressed that I managed to finish the second pillow in under three hours instead of the four days it took to do the first one.

I'll be honest, the king bed could use a third Euro sham (and a second standard sham, should it ever arrive)....but I need a rest from pillow making.

It isn't perfect, but this Challenge got me a master bedroom that is 99% done only a few weeks after moving in to our new house, so I'm pretty happy.  Thanks to Linda for running this party, and allowing me to party-crash halfway through!

Sources:
Headboard: west elm king matelasse headboard, discontinued
nightstands: HomeGoods bombe chest, painted BM Hale Navy
painting over nightstand: thrift store
orange lamps: HomeGoods
cobalt lamps: craigslist
blue diamond duvet cover: Nate Berkus Parker duvet from Target, discontinued
curtains: Ritva curtains
longhorn: Cardboard Safari
carpet: craigslist
dressers: Malm
Darth Vader art: Dave Pollot etsy store
blue/orange standard pillow sham: Anthropologie Florence sham
floral Euro sham: Pottery Barn Bettina print, discontinued
round  mirror: craigslist (I think it is Ikea)

See Week Three, Four and Five, and see the other linking participants herehttp://www.callingithome.com/2015/05/one-room-challenge-linking-event-spring.html!  I can't wait to see everyone's finished rooms!