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What is the One Room Challenge?  Linda from Calling it Home created this challenge years ago for herself and friends to design and complete one room in 6 weeks.  They are now on their 13th season!  The challenge is now a bi-annual nationwide event that House Beautiful has partnered with ORC to follow 20 featured designers as well as guest participants like me!

Last week was a busy one.  I spent most of the week sourcing for a new client, preparing for a few film and television auditions, and finished off the week with one heck of a snow storm that continues today!  Even lost power several times throughout the week.  That said, the show must go on and so I decided to nail down a few more decisions in the room with regards to the refinishing projects that I will be undertaking as well as introduce you to the pieces themselves.

But first, a quick note about sourcing.  It is a passion for mine.  Over the years I have built up an amazing network of resources for my clients.  All too often I have found incredible pieces for attainable prices that have afforded my clients to own expensive pieces without boutique pricing.  Please take a moment to checkout "The Refinery" section of my website to peruse my recent finds.  Ok, now let's take a look of some recent finds that I have scored for my personal enjoyment and that will be used in my new office.

Restoration Hardware Inspired Sideboard

I currently have a large credenza in the space that I would like to update to work in the new room.

It's great for storage and has a nice boxy modern shape to it.  I would like to elevate its simple design to work in the new space.  I was inspired by the Marlow Sideboard currently available from the Restoration Hardware Modern collection.

What I like about the Marlow is the beautiful brass trim around the perimeter face of the piece.  I plan on applying a brass like finish to the front of the sideboard and paint out the current hardware and legs (so they disappear).  A few small changes, and the piece will give me the look and feel I'm after.

Louis XVI Bureau Plat

I was very fortunate to purchase my desk from my dear friend Marc Philip at one of his recent French Antique auctions.  Marc lives in France and has been imported fine French antiques into Toronto for years.  His sales are well anticipated and attended by dealers and antique enthusiasts.

My desk is in definite need of refinishing, but I couldn't help but purchase as I saw the potential of what I could transform it into.  And the price was, well,  unbelievable.

The great feature of this desk are the extending side panels to the desk top.  I can increase my work surface considerable when needed.  I enjoy the straight lines of Louis XVI furniture and find they integrate well with other modern pieces. 

I plan on refinishing the desk in black, with a light grey stain to the interiors of the drawer fronts.  I'm hoping the contrast will enhance the gilt bronze along the desk top and legs.  I'm so excited about this project.

Coffee Table by Guy Lefevre for Maison Jansen

My heart skipped a beat when I saw these two coffee tables at an auction a few years ago.  The smaller table was particularly damaged, but I knew their true value and snapped them up without a particular use for them, but only to hold onto them for a future installation.  Well, the time has come for the larger coffee table to be put to good use and I couldn't be more thrilled to restore it.

These tables were produced by French designer Guy Lefevre and currently sell for about $4,500 on 1stdibs.com.  I was able to purchase them from an auction some time ago for an amazing price.  Just about every set of these tables I've seen online have cracks to the lacquer finish as result of age.  I will attempt to ammalgamate the finish, but I'm ok with the cracks.  There is one area that is dented, so I will attempt to repair with some gold leaf and additional lacquer on top.  Overall, the piece is quite tarnished, but some home made solutions applied to the gold plated surface should remove most of it.  Just take a look at the table top, stunning.

Layout for the Feature Wall

I decided to get cracking on layout of the wood moulding for the feature wall.  My inspiration came from this image I found on pinterest of a geometric pattern which I fell in love with.

One issue I needed to address is that my feature wall has a door opening.  So I need to space out the design to that the rectangular panels that surround the door are not to close to it (which would make it look imbalanced).  This is what I've come up with.

The spacing will allow just a bit of the paneling to surround the door so that it still makes sense.  This will definitely be the most work in the room but I am holding off on starting this until after I have completed all of the refinishing.  If I should run out of time, I can simply paint the accent wall with my choice of bold and deep teal and complete the paneling soon after the completion of the One Room Challenge.  But I will do my best as it will certainly enhance the room.

If all goes well this week, there should be quite a few reveals in next week's installment.

Please come back weekly to check-in and see the progress on the room.  As promised, I will also post separate DIYs for the refinishing projects in the room.  Its going to be a lot of fun!  

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Thanks for stopping by!

Catherine