It's Week Five, and thank goodness there's an extra week this ORC! To catch up, here's Week One, Week Two, Week Three, and Week Four. I'm renovating a ranch house, and am opening up my kitchen and family room. A light, happy sunroom style space is what I'd love, and below are a couple of inspiration images.

Inspiration

Tabletop with Wedgewood's Nantucket dinnerware, blue hydrangeas, blue and white fabric and accessories, and a fun, colorful painting by Ben Georgia in this lovely Nantucket getaway designed by Lynn Morgan

via New England Home

Fabric

This week I’m checking upholstery off this ORC’s to-do list. It took me awhile to make a fabric decision because while my heart wanted white for the sofa and chairs, my brain kept reminding me, “you have a dog and a teenage daughter.” In this case, aesthetics weren't sacrificed for practicality as Stroheim and Fabricut had exactly what I wanted and needed (imagine the Ode to Joy Chorus here). I’ve chosen Stroheim's Crypton Home Dearing fabric in Alabaster from the Dana Gibson Collection for the sofa. With the built-in stain repellency and added durability, I can have the crisp white fabric I love while also having the ability to relax, be comfortable, and enjoy actually using it. For the club chairs, I'm using Fabricut’s Pier Stripe fabric from the Kendall Wilkinson Collection, which will add a fresh, fun, timeless look. It's a Sunbrella fabric, so all of the seating in the family room will not only be gorgeous, it will be stress-free. Let the snacks begin. I can’t wait to see these newly upholstered pieces in the space!

Snapshot from IBM Upholstery sharing newly reupholstered sofa and chairs using Stroheim and Fabricut performance fabrics

Super-talented Dallas designer and life-saver, Susie, from Maddie G Designs, shared a fantastic contact with me -- Ivan from IBM Upholstery. Ivan's doing all the upholstery for my project, and sent me the progress update above. Oh my goodness, doesn't this all look amazing?!

Electrical

Legrand Adorne series via The Makerista

My project goes way beyond any of my previous ORCs. This is a complete renovation of my kitchen, breakfast room, and family room, and I truly was not prepared for such an undertaking. Without a couple of unbelievably helpful friends, this wouldn't be possible. I've had to learn A LOT. For example, I was completely clueless, but very happy to learn about light switches and outlets because what was in my house was so bad. I had both stained and painted wood plates in what at some point must have been considered attractive, decorative shapes. Yikes.

I knew I wanted to use the Adorne collection from Legrand and worked with the fantastic people at Bellacor to make it happen. It was kind of an undertaking as I knew nothing about gangs, poles, or outlet types. The Bellacor people were super-helpful, and with the input from my electrician, I learned everything I needed to know to make the right choices. I'll be sharing more on this soon, and am excited to share photos of this update as these Legrand products make such a huge and welcome difference. For now, I'm sharing what you need to know if you plan to update the switches and outlets in your house at some point.

Everything you need to know prior to updating light switches and outlets in your house

Is this single pole, three-way or four-way control?

* Single-pole: one light being controlled from one switch or dimmer

* Three-way: one light being controlled from two different locations. Example: top of stairs and bottom of stairs or two separate entrances to a kitchen

* Four-way: one lighting controlled from three different locations

What gang wall plates do you need?

* A one-gang wall plate fits one switch and one outlet

* A two-gang wall plate fits two switches, two outlets, or one switch and one outlet

* This continues as you get to generally a 4 or 6-gang wall plate. You will not see as many of these. A four-gang would hold 4 switches/outlets.

What style interface would you like?

* Adorne has a variety of interfaces you can choose from (Paddle, Whisper, Push, sofTap, Motion Sensing, Touch and Wave)

* You can pick one consistent style throughout the home or mix them by room and gang

* sofTap and Paddle complement one another when ganged

* The Motion-sensing and sofTap complement each other as well as the motion-sensing and paddle

What type of outlet do you need?

* The majority of outlets in a home will be basic, 15A tamper-resistant outlets

* These can be replaced with USB outlets, Pop-Out Outlets, or combination outlets (outlet with USB ports)

* In the Kitchen or Bathroom, you must have at least one GFCI outlet (Your electrician will know this)

* GFCI stands for Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter and is required in locations by water. If the outlet has contact with water, it will stop the flow of electricity to the outlet and prevent electrical shock.

Walls

Farrow and Ball's All White paint as the backdrop in the fresh, feminine sitting room designed by The Pink Pagoda for the spring One Room Challenge™ event. Lots of blue and white, a large gold leaf George I mirror, a white lacquered console table f…

If you followed my previous ORC, you’ll remember me raving about Farrow and Ball’s All White in Modern Emulsion. To no one’s surprise, I’ll be using All White again in this space. In my opinion, All White is THE perfect shade of white. It doesn’t lean cool or warm, so it pairs well with any color scheme. It’s also unbelievably crisp. By now you may be aware that it’s an absolute requirement for my house to be very light and bright, and this paint is perfect for facilitating that need. I truly can't recommend it more highly. Farrow and Ball brings a level of quality that no one can miss.

Metrie Moulding elevates the entry and dining room in The Pink Pagoda's ranch renovation project for the spring 2017 One Room Challenge™.

Recessed paneling and casing from Metrie via the Spring 2017 One Room Challenge

I’m also thrilled to be working again with Metrie, who provided the absolutely gorgeous mouldings in my last ORC. The mouldings in the front rooms, more than anything else, elevated the spaces by giving them a much more sophisticated look. The quality of the mouldings combined with the design, added character that these rooms completely lacked. I’m so excited to get to carry this huge design improvement into the family room, breakfast room, and kitchen via baseboards, crown moulding, and casing. Beyond offering elegant, high quality products, the people at Metrie are lovely. Last time around, I knew absolutely nothing about moulding, and will not forget their kindness and patience. Needless to say, I’m very happy to have the opportunity to work with them again.

A giant THANK YOU to the One Room Challenge™ team for including me this round. Till next week when I'll have lots and lots to share!

See all the amazing design greatness by clicking through the links below:

Week Five: Fall 2017 One Room Challenge

Inspiration

Fabric

Electrical

Walls

Fall 2017 One Room Challenge: Week 6

One Room Challenge Week Four