Week 1
ORC Fall 2023 is here!! 🔥
I can’t believe the time flew by so fast from the last spring challenge I participated in. It was really so much fun to watch all my design peers makeover their spaces! I got to connect with sooo many amazing new designers so I’m looking forward to doing that again and supporting my community. ✌
This year it was a goal for me to finally bring some much-needed color into our gray and vanilla large apartment. I always tell my clients they need to ditch the vanilla so now it’s time for me to take my own advice! I took a few months early in the year to work on the living room, office, dining room, workout area, kitchen... I know my eyes are getting crossed too!!🤣
But it was all worth it to check my to-do list off and finally be surrounded by colorful inspiration in my home. I remember hearing about people participating in the ORC and I forgot it totally had slipped my mind and I thought that would have been a perfect way to document the progress of the rooms. So I participated last time and chose my bathroom because that's one of the remaining untouched rooms and the process is very interesting. Even though the bathroom is a small space that oftentimes gets overlooked I wanted to jam in a lot of fun and personality through color and accessories. 🎊
I took my creativity and pushed it to the next level which I didn’t even know was possible! I now have a pretty rock and roll edgy bathroom that is colorful, vibrant, and fun place that now goes with the rest of the home. One thing I really do love about ORC is the motivation of okay let's redo a room, document it, share amongst our peers in a supportive and encouraging way, and get some social media ideas to showcase so it's a win win! 🦄
Check out my previously completed ORC SPRING 2023 project!
So what am I working on next? I've been looking forward to the fall ORC because this will truly be the last room for me to complete, MY BEDROOM!😆
It was easier to focus on the main room since they all flow into another with more of an open concept layout and especially for the home tour I wanted the videographer and photographers to be able to move fluidly through all the main rooms in the house. Which made the bedroom my safe Haven and place to veg out watch Netflix relax and leave all of the painting glue smells and Amazon boxes away from this zone. This is how my bedroom looks currently.
But it is time to finish my bedroom and I have some really exciting ideas. Thanks to the e-design challenge I hosted back in 2021, it was a birthday bedroom challenge. We would usually get anywhere between 8 to 20 participants for my #edesignsisters group that I organized and we would do bi-weekly challenges because we also were wondering what should we be posting on social media and more importantly to me how can we all come together, have some fun with this, and also reshare like and comment on each other's work with positive and encouraging support. So this was another reason to do the ORC since this is such a bigger experience with the same principles. 👾
For my birthday bedroom challenge we had over 77 e-designers and interior designers participate and it was an amazing and inspiring one for the books. As you guys might know Foster Decor is all about edgy interiors thinking outside the box and being bold with color. So even though many of my interior design and edesign peers have more of a neutral design style this was the perfect opportunity to have some fun so so many wanted to join in the celebration so they could take a break from the regular design work or design style and punch it up with something colorful and fun and honor of my birthday which was a huge moment for me and warmed my heart that so many people wanted to do this with and for me. Here are some examples 🤘
I think because of my supportive and social nature I have networking with the community, cheerleading my peers, and giving back through design challenges and mentoring. I guess it's no surprise that the community really wanted to participate. We had some gorgeous bedroom designs inspired and created for foster decor and I will share some of them in between these and some of the ideas I have cooking in my brain. I'll create a mood board to put all my ideas together to lead the design on this new bedroom refresh journey.
But I know how things can go after refreshing most the rooms in my apartment and the last ORC sometimes you can have a plan and things go wrong or you have to make pivots or changes so we will see how close we get to the original idea but having gone through it before it's part of the process to have those happy accidents or major nightmare moments but I will share all the progress for this amazing bedroom makeover for the fall orc 2023 challenge.
This design below I was able to draw a lot of inspiration from! I love the feel of it so this might be on direction that I'm going, but I've learned with the ORC that sometimes what you start with is not what you end with.
I have two directions in mind for my bedroom that I haven’t decided on yet. One idea is to have the style match the rest of the house which is very bold and colorful Tokyo City style but it's pretty dark and might be a little heavy. My second concept would be something lighter brighter softer more Serene and anime or Manga inspired with a vaporwave look.
Head over to my Instagram or Facebook to help me decide which style I should go with! Comment on the most recent post which style you want to see more with #ORC!
Week 2
Phew we made it to week 2!😅
It was really important to organize all my crazy thoughts into some mood boards because I just was all over the place and it was so overwhelming. 😩
I really like doing the orc cuz it's a love-hate relationship. It really forces me to finally design room outside of my client work for myself. But I think most designers will agree that designing for yourself can also be the most challenging so this is definitely a very tough experience that has taken me a lot longer than usual.
With other client work my ideas feel so organic and free-flowing and there's so much I can just whip out pretty quickly and then when it comes to my own stuff I'm second-guessing and changing my mind and thinking of something else and having doubt and it's a little infuriating but I'm taking it one design at a time and so it was really helpful to create two different moods. 💜
So mood A is the light Oasis and I found with my dining room refresh that I just did 8 to 10 ft tall curtains are crazy expensive (200-300) and finding wall tapestries off Amazon are insanely and affordable (20-40). 🤑
You can get so much coverage from an inexpensive piece of fabric that can cover so much real estate and make a big statement so I took this as the first step in exploring this item that can set the town for the whole design.
I found a light Japanese wall tapestry and when thinking of what I wanted this room to represent since I have a partner, my fiancé and I share this room and it's important that he has a bit of a say so I knew that we both love Tokyo and Japan so it seemed like a great idea to inject this into the space. 🎌
So Mood A the light Oasis would have light wood, light fabrics, light bedding more of a softer Serene palette but still some fun touches of animal print or tiger pillows or my little bit of whimsy and humor like The pug pillow idea. So none of these items are set in stone it's just a general way for me to look at some of the inspo and furniture together and collect all my thoughts.
Mood B the dark Haven is a bit more my jam. More of my apartment matches this dark and sexy look which I love because it feels a little bit more sophisticated. I'm actually pretty excited about this and probably what I'm leaning towards. 🕶
But same premise that I found the same Japanese wall tapestry in the light and dark tone so really help to set the theme for the space that will have a more regal dark and edgy vibe which really is the core of foster decor.
I really love finding different statues or bus from flea markets and painting them some wild colors so I know any furniture that I get won't stay white or black as this is just the initial ideas. But I do see in the next phase narrowing down things into a concept design to start purchasing some new furniture as it's time to give this bedroom and update. ⚒
I wanted to play the with my light option as sometimes you really want to escape to a bedroom and have that as a Serene Oasis away from maybe the rest of the chaos from the home... But at the end of the day I find it hard to see me going to light and bright. I'm super excited that in participating in the fall orc I can challenge myself to finally get my bedroom makeover done and do something a bit wild, fun, and sophisticated.
Neither of these mood boards are the final so stay tuned next week for the concept design where I narrow things down and start ordering my furniture!
This is also not the most fun part is the measuring! I've done a lot of it but it's always a pain and with how crowded and messy my room is I was measuring the space tripping and stepping on clothes, books, magazines I felt like the space is like almost a hoarder zone!
So since it's been the last room that has been a little neglected with my apartment makeover it's definitely in need of some TLC and organization.
Now onto the FUN part! Furniture shopping, At Home is calling my name 😍
Tune in next week for my selections 🌟
Week 3
I FINALLY decided on which vibe I wanted for my bedroom design! 🎊 I chose the darker mood board because I think that is more representative of my overall style. So it became an easy choice to go with the look I'm more comfortable with as this is for a bedroom. 🕶
Some people may argue that the bedroom should be light and bright but I think DARK and MOODY with some pops of color will be more reflective of my style and I like to do things differently that are UNEXPECTED which also fits the Foster Decor theme.
I wanted to finalize the sourcing since that can sometimes take a while and there's only so many weeks with the ORC and somehow they fly by! So it's definitely a challenge to really sit down and source everything that I wanted to replace in this room. I finalized new bookcases and new console table that will be a bit longer so I can house a larger TV. 📺
I'm such a dude I like having TVs practically in every room. We literally have almost two in every room. So my big wish was to upgrade this tiny little 32 to a 50 in and thanks to Facebook marketplace I found quite a few deals for some artificial plants, tv, and other fun accessories. ✌But the majority of my sourcing went to Amazon and Etsy. It's crazy how Amazon used to be just for books and now it is DOMINATING the online shopping experience with very competitive prices from the Big chain stores.
I was able to get a bargain on the new furniture and bed. I had a beautiful velvet bed before I had quit my 9:00 to 5:00 put everything in storage or sold it before living in Europe with my fiance (this is when I had discovered e-design back in 2014 and was working remotely). ✈
It took too much space so I sold it but it was gorgeous and it's been many many years since I've had a nice new bed so now is the time! I was looking for just headboards but ironically those cost just as much or more than a bed frame WITH a headboard. so figured it's time for an upgrade. 😊
I took a LONG TIME ⌚sourcing the curtains and I always love getting them from society6 because I'm all about artists that are putting themselves in their work out there and it makes for more unique items in the space that not everyone has. I strive for unique creativity that thinks outside the box and not with the normal trends so the acid green and pink blackout curtains seemed really fitting and I really love creating a big statement on a budget.💸
Like I said before the floor curtains can run between $150 to over $300 and since I'm buying so many pieces I need to be very economical and check Facebook marketplace, flea markets, the sales on Amazon including the prime days that just happened (YASS). 🤑
But world tapestries definitely take the cake ranging from anywhere between $20 to $40 which is a FRACTION of the cost the ceiling to floor curtains would have set me behind. So it's really important to stick to a budget and having that constraint also helps think outside of the box and I've ended up finding some happy accidents of things that I found that have worked out great with the design.
The design is of a watery ocean scene and black and white with pink cherry blossoms for that pop color. 🌈There's an oversized Moon as well in the background and I feel like this night scene will look great and make a huge statement trying to cover most of the wall. It will cover one of the windows which is the design no no but at the end of the day with my graveyard schedule I could care less because I always have the blinds closed and never open the window. ⚡
I'm really tired of looking at these ugly drapes as well so we're moving the curtain rod and these drapes throwing them in the dumpster Goodwill will be great.😁
My old website that was actually shouted out by Design files in their designer directory and guidebook had a lot of black and white furniture and when I was looking through my online inventory I stumbled across a couple of pieces that I always liked but never got the same like the PERFECT time to do get these babies!
I found my striped faux chinchilla throw pillows on Etsy as well as an oversized large snake rug. I'm super excited ✨about this since I want to hide most of this dark charcoal carpet to lighten the room since there will be a lot more pieces and color and I don't want the room to feel heavy so by lightning the dark rug we can go for a light and bright feel. ☀
I'm so glad 99% of the sourcing is done. I leave 1% because you never know I might have to return something or maybe something won't look as good especially when it comes to the life of an e-designer not everything you buy online is what it seems so let's see what happens as I start to collect these items getting shipped out.
So what's left to do? Well a whole hell of a lot. The bookcase and console table that comes are in black and those will be changed to a lime green color so I will have to do some furniture assembly and painting.🖌
Same for the new nightstands those come also in black and I will have to assemble them and paint and I'm thinking bubblegum that matches the little pop of pink found in the curtains and pillows I chose. Painting and assembling furniture is such a huge part of this experience so I'll show some before and after photos so you guys can see all the behind the scenes and progress with our ORC fall challenge! 🌟
Get ready and don't hold it against me if some things in these concept designs more for change a bit as I said before that's what I've learned with these orcs and designing in general is sometimes things don't always go as planned so we have to adjust to the potential nightmares and the happy accidents that make the room even better so let's see what happens!🤘
Week 4
It's the middle of the challenge which makes it rewarding to see how far we've come but also this being the hump is going to be the TOUGHEST part of all!! Even the sourcing took a while and even creating the design took a while, every part that's led up to this week has been challenging. 😩
But this week especially will be, because it's time for me to go into my jungle of a room with a machete and chop down all the weeds and clutter that I've been avoiding! 😂
So I took it pile by pile and just started with the edge of my room and worked my way around. This is literally the last room that I haven't decorated since I did a full home tour video with the rest of my apartment. Unfortunately this room hasn't gotten any love but only is an extra landing place for junk clutter and dust bunnies. 👎
So I made sure to take extra Benadryl and wear a tight mask because no joke there's so much dust in this room I probably should have passed out. But I worked my way across the room and started to put away all of the items from my bookcases into boxes so I could empty them out and put the white bookcases now in my office.
These will look great over there so I can REUSE and RECYCLE them and not throw them away. I will be going through a lot of my collectibles but to be honest I probably won't get rid of much but be able to organize it better and even just trimming the fat of some of the random cluttering garbage will be a great relief to this room. I also went through all the video games and our small little TV area. I'm such a dude and I'm the one in the relationship who needs a TV in every room and my biggest wish list item for my bedroom is not the bed or the furniture just the 50 to 60 in TV. 🎮
That is a must and that definitely comes first. Again that's probably the tomboy in me LOL.😂So the whole wall design was centered around the TV and making sure there was enough space with the new cabinet huts that will be arriving and the bookcases that will flank it.
So it's important to get all of the old furniture out of the way and into the dining room as my temporary staging zone. After I emptied out the nightstands and bookcases filled with lots of books and junk clutter and collectibles I ORGANIZE things over in the dining area and then was able to wipe everything down and do a very thorough vacuum cleaning! I'm so excited that there's literally nothing under the bed or in the room. It's now a clean slate for all the new and exciting goodies!! ⚡️
But it definitely took HOURS of blood sweat and tears so stay tuned for next week's update which will be all about building the furniture and painting it uuufff just thinking about it makes me tired lol! 🤣
I definitely love interior design, I definitely love decorating, I definitely love creating exciting renders and concepts, but what I don't really care for is the DIY part. I'm definitely no stranger to it but I'm not the handiest of people.
But when I was little I used to rearrange the furniture in my room and in the living room. I was probably like 8 years old 🤔. I never thought that was much of a skill I just did it for fun every few months I'd REARRANGE my whole bedroom and move my bed which was a queen all by myself slowly dragging and scooting it as best I could. 💪
My parents would come home and I'd have a whole NEW room and same for the living room they'd see things rearranged differently and would think oh wow that's cool! Or maybe they were just humoring me and like oh my God what did she do! 💥
But I never thought of that as a profession so I didn't know I wanted to be an interior designer until college. I always got interior design magazines and watch HGTV but it didn't click until I was at the GC that hey maybe I can do this as a PROFESSION!
So many rooms later, degrees later, designs and projects have worked on, still to this day if I design for myself for a part of the one room challenge the DIY part is not my favorite but it is essential to the design process and the result I know in the end will be worth it! Stay tuned for next week as we build all the new furniture and paint after that 👀