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Writer's pictureJacqueline Loiacono

Vienna’s Closet Book Nook ORC Weeks 4 and 5


To preface these past two weeks, I have to say that I am impulsive, stubborn and hard on myself…however I am adaptable, have perseverance and the courage to forgive myself when I’m angry that I make mistakes. There’s an internal struggle in all of us, but not everyone talks about it openly.


Week 4 of the @oneroomchallenge had a small setback that changed my budget and design plan for Vienna’s Book Nook Closet. I had always planned on removing the ceiling wallpaper that I put up when we first moved in, but I didn’t account for the fact that it would rip the ceiling off with it. As I said before, I am impulsive and aggressively began to pull it off without using my heat gun, so it destroyed the drywall. It needed to be repaired but I had never skim coated a ceiling before. I guess there’s a first time for everything.


I was going to replace it with new floral wallpaper, but I needed to go out and buy joint compound, dry wall tape, a larger putty knife and a mud pan. This ate into my budget so I had an idea to paint stripes or some sort of design on the wall instead to save money.


This step is still renter friendly as I was fixing the mistake I made now, instead of when I decided to take it down further into the project timeline, and/or moving to another rental (not that we are doing that at this time). @apartmenttherapy


Last weekend I was able to repair the drywall, sand, and paint the ceiling and other patches I had spackled. I used @behrpaint Pebbled Courtyard color. This color flows from her room and in other spots in our house which makes it feel more calming and cohesive to me. I also had time to rub n buff the existing shelf brackets to match the new brackets I bought for the shelf (we still have yet to put back up).



It was a small setback that costed me a few hours of work, but it looks clean and fresh and ready for the next step….my favorite; painting sometimes you need to go backwards to get to where you need to go forward.


I was feeling hopeful despite having the severe PMDD symptoms throughout the week. I struggle with physical and emotional symptoms that are very difficult to control so during week 5, I felt overwhelmed and stuck in a creative rut. I had a plan for the walls in Vienna’s Closet Book Nook, executed it and then didn’t like it. Just another trigger to add to my list while trying to breathe through it.


After I pouted and stomped my feet feeling bad about myself, I realized it’s not about talent, or experience…it’s about problem solving…and doing it yourself takes a-lot of tries. No matter how many times Brian and I troubleshooted it, I didn’t like the results.


Here’s what I did:


-I found inspiration on Pinterest to make my own stamps so I could make hand stamped faux wallpaper on her closet walls

-I made my stamp out of foam paper by drawing some samples and cutting them out with my exacto knife before gluing the bow design onto a bottle cap

-I cut out and glued foam paper onto the inside of a candle lid as a stamp pad for the paint

-measured and sketched the pattern on paper as a diagram to replicate on the wall

-measured my distance to stamp



All went well so far until I started to stamp the wall and realized the paint (dove by behr) was too light on the wall color (Pebbled Courtyard by Behr). So I wiped it all off and used Whitestone by Behr instead. The color was better, but I didn’t like the pattern distance on the wall and how it looked. So I painted over it and now we’re back at the drawing board.



I originally wanted to separate the wall with moulding and only stamp the top half but I’m on a tight budget. My next idea is just making a feature wall behind her comfy reading chair with the stamp instead (but flipping the colors). We shall see. Sometimes you need to take a step back to go forward and it seems to be the theme of this ORC for me.


Time for a breather and to collect my thoughts to move forward. 🎀


Do you have difficulty accepting when your original idea doesn’t go to plan? Because if you do you’re not alone.




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