ORC Master Bedroom, Week 4: Lighting and Art

Well, you guys…it’s Week 4 of the One Room Challenge, and I’ve just got to share these divine (and affordable!) lighting and art ideas with you fine folk. I’m hoping you’ll take away some inspiration and ideas to implement in your own home. [I’m sharing links to everything at the bottom of each post…scroll on down if you need to catch up.]

Lighting

This room has recessed lights in the ceiling, but we almost exclusively use lamps, as lamps provide much more pleasant, subtle ambient light. This is one trick to instantly make a home feel more warm and welcoming…bring the lighting down to eye level or lower.

I had considered a pair of these hammered table lamps for the night stands, but stumbled on a different pair in Home Goods that were perfect (and only $50 each!). The black metal bands that make up the base give a unique, graphic feel to the lamps, and I like that you can catch the light from the window peeking through them. If I find something similar online, I’ll be sure to share it with you.

The sconces were at steal at $100 for the pair. The light is dimmable, and the arms articulate in many ways. It makes it simple to adjust the light when one of us wants to read late while the other is sleeping. They are plug-in, and while bit of cord showing isn’t ideal, I like the flexibility it affords me to move them or switch up the lighting completely down the road. I just paint that part of the cord the wall color to help camouflage it.

I also picked up this classic library lamp from Magnolia at Target to go beside the blue chairs.

The Art

There are two walls in the room that needed framed pieces. One is directly over the bed, and the other is a good sized blank wall between two doors.

I’ve been on the hunt for the piece over the bed for a while now. As I mentioned, I wanted something wide and short to go there…either a series of 3 or 4 square-ish pieces or one larger piece. (I explained more about this strategy in Week 3.) I kept my eyes peeled whenever I was in thrift and antique stores, and even considered making something myself.

A few weeks ago I noticed this painting peeking out from behind a sofa at the Green Chair Project, and the size immediately caught my eye. At closer glance, I just loved the dark, moodiness of the painting. It’s an original piece of art, I believe it’s done in pastel, and it’s framed in what seems to be an original frame. The rusty orange in the trees would be the perfect pop of color to repeat in the room.

I decided to go for it! At first glance it’s difficult to appreciate the level of detail and depth in the painting. I hope it’s translating a bit through the photos. You can see in the top photo below the waviness in the glass. I’m guessing the glass is quite old. The second photo reveals more of the painting itself.

vintage painting wavy glass Cate Holcombe ORC

If anyone has an idea of who the artist might be or how I could find out, please let me know. The signature is a simple, beautiful MH (I think). Here’s a closer look at that:

The frame had quite a few chips and dings, so took myself to Michaels and picked up a few bottles of paint and some metallic paint pens to touch it up. I started with the flat black and brown paint, and used a stippling brush to dab the paint on where needed and blend it in. Then I went in with the metallic paint to refresh the gold leaf. These paint pens worked like a charm!

Regarding sourcing for the other wall, I always aim for something meaningful and lovely. Well, recently I uploaded all of the digital photos I’ve ever taken in my life to Google Photos. This makes it super easy to see them all in one place, and to sort by location or by the faces in the pics (plus it serves as a back-up).

In looking through my old photos, I noticed a theme…I often snap photos of trees. So, I skimmed through my library of images and gathered a bunch of tree photos from travels and daily life, added the same filter to give them a bit of unity, added the year and location in small subtle text, and had them printed.

Are you needing to fill walls with art?

I encourage you to look through your old photos. Do you notice anything repeating? Perhaps it’s interesting old doors or windows, pictures of clouds, sunsets, or beautiful bricks or stones. Or, maybe it’s the yearly first day of school pic of your kiddos or your family holiday card photos. Printing them small in a consistent size, and with the same filter, and framing them big will give them a more artistic feel.

I have lots of details to share on exactly how I did this (what filters I used and how to use them), but I’m going to share that in a future post. [See that post here.] This one’s already getting quite long! For now, here’s a glimpse at how using a filter can really unify a bunch of different photos:

unify photos with a filter cate holcombe

I picked up these 12×12″ frames from Michaels for 8 bucks a pop. Then I got sheets of 12×12 white paper from the scrapbooking section. This paper has a bit of a linen texture to it, and will serve as a “mat” by framing the photos with a big square of white.

I cut a template of sorts from an old 12×12 paper to make the positioning of the photos super simple. I laid the template on the white paper, put double sided tape on a photo, and pressed it to the paper, positioning it in the inside corner of the template.

Then I popped the paper into the frames, and voila! I laid the frames out on the carpet to determine the placement, then hung them on the wall.

There’s a little looksy at the lighting and art going into our master. Next week I have a super exciting development to share…something never before seen on this here website! I’m so excited to share, I’ll be spilling the beans to my email subscribers tomorrow. Be sure to enter your email address at the bottom of this page to get the news!