Friends, the last One Room Challenge I did was two years ago! Remember how crazy it was renovating our kitchen in six weeks? Yeah, took me two years to recover and gear up for another one. Lol! I kid. I love a good challenge! And have been waiting for the perfect room and perfect opportunity. If you’re unfamiliar with the ORC, it’s a six week design challenge with 20 featured designers, and hundreds of guest participants (like me). Because of everything going on in the world right now, they’re giving us an extra two weeks, so look for weekly updates and the big reveal the last week in June.
So…. I’m redecorating our living room!

Is it lovely? Absolutely. Is there anything terribly wrong with it? Nope. So why this room? Well, let’s cover some bases. One, I love change. Two, I love projects. Three, we’re quarantining, and house ideas are making my life a bit more exciting these days. And four, while it is lovely, my style is ever-evolving, and I’m ready for something classic, moody, and just downright fabulous.

The plans…
So, let’s talk about the evolution of the plans for this space. Because I made a mood board for it months ago that I loved, up until a few days ago. And I started from scratch. Lol! From scratch, you guys! The week we’re suppose to start! Yikes! Wanna see the direction I was going to go?

Wowza! Let’s discuss. I initially wanted something a bit quirky, with a fun nod to my love of books. I found this book wallpaper and didn’t think twice. Designed the room around it, even pulling our green sofa from the office. And then…
For the past month, I’ve been working on making over our master closet. Can’t wait to share it with you! But I was looking for wallpaper to put on the back wall of it, and I came across a mural that looked like decorative trim. At first I thought it was cool and then I realized, I didn’t like that it was “fake.” And then suddenly, I started looking at this fun wallpaper of books differently. It would just look better to have a wall of real books. I know I don’t need to think about it too deeply. It was only going on the upper portion of the walls and it could easily just read as fun art, but generally speaking, I started to worry it read a bit juvenile. And the more I thought about it, the more I was craving something a bit toned down. Still luxurious, beautiful, and whimsical, but not necessarily something ultra colorful. I know I’m known for color. I will never NOT like colorful rooms, but the fun of the One Room Challenge is to actually challenge yourself. And I wanted to push myself to dig a bit deeper, and curate a room of my newest self.
We’re quarantined, guys. My head is ALL over the place.
So, without further ado, let me show you the current plan. Literally tweaked it up til the last second, and may tweak it some more. Showing you two mood boards here. One has a pop of color in the chairs, and one doesn’t. I’ll explain…


Oooookkkayyyyy….. LET’S DISCUSS. Are you as excited as I am??? For starters, Universal Furniture has so graciously offered to sponsor the Detroit Show House I’m doing (that’s been postponed to September), and I’m keeping the furniture they’re sending! So, you’re getting a little sneak peek of the Show House. A teeny tiny one. Trust me when I say it looks VERY different from this! But, I’m so so in love with the two display cabinets. Those are going on the wall that you see when you’re looking straight into this room. The gorgeous, masculine, black leather chair is also from Universal.
So, I only requested one of those chairs for the Show House because it’s sitting in a corner, but in our living room, we typically fill the window wall with two chairs. So if I go with the leather chair, I’ll be using a side table and lamp to fill the space. But, my friends, I’ve been so drawn to the color rust lately! And I’ve been eyeing the rust chairs in the mood board for months. Honestly, I came across this one recently and thought the color was even richer and more beautiful, but it’s double the price. I mean, who knows. Maybe I’ll save the money altogether and bring down the pretty cream chairs we put in our bedroom since I decided to get a dresser to put in their place. Lol Time will tell!

The sofa in the living room is staying the same. I can’t find an image of it online because it’s a good 5 years old, so I added a different neutral sofa to the mood board. I actually love the slipcovered, casual vibe of this one, but trying to save where I can. We don’t need a new sofa in here!
Not sure about the coffee table just yet. I wanted a warm wood to balance out the “sexiness” of a sleek, black room, if that makes sense. Lol. I may pull up an old table we took to the basement that I LOVE, but a circular one may be in order, so I put one on the moodboard to get a feel for it. Also, check out the rug. I think it’s perfect, but sadly, only 5x8s are left. This room definitely needs an 8×10. I’ll either get this rug and layer it over a bigger neutral one, or I’ll find a similar one in an 8×10. I’m still searching. If you scroll up to the “before” shot, you’ll see what I mean. That floral rug is a 5×8, and it just reads too small. I like rugs going underneath the furniture a bit.
Let’s talk lighting…
In my opinion, lighting is everything. Elevates the vibe. Warms it all up at night. I’m excited about this collaboration, friends! Teaming up with Hudson Valley Lighting for this! The Riverdale chandelier is so spanking new that it isn’t even out yet, and that’s why I want it. I mean, it’s stunning. I love the lines and the simplicity! But I also love that no one else has it yet:) Also, those sconces! Those are going above the sofa, underneath a wall treatment I’ll fill you in on in a sec. And then, that gorgeous, earthy lamp. I just love how it cozies up the space. It’s got a beautiful texture to it!
Let’s talk walls…
Ok! It’s color and wall treatment time! Gonna show you where this whole vision started! First of all, Benjamin Moore has so kindly gifted me the paint and delivered it to my doorstep! I’m going with BM Jet Black. I’m so anxious to have this room flow with the adjacent foyer. It always bugged me that once I painted the staircase black and did the funky black and grey corner in the entrance, that this brown room nearby clashed.

Here’s the kicker. I love a good kicker:) I searched “arch trim” a few months back and found this from Home Depot…

I thought, holy crap. I can do something with this! So I dreamed up something for the sofa wall. I bought two 24 inch arches and one 36 inch arch to go between them, and I’m figuring out a way to wrap the room with coordinating straight trim. It didn’t make sense to continue the arches on the cabinet wall because they’d be covered by the cabinets. But the sofa wall, ooooh it’s gonna be goooood. The two sconces will be hung in the outer arches. Not sure what’s going in the larger, center arch yet. Art? An arched mirror? We shall see.
Speaking of art…
I just pulled a bunch of art that I was drawn to from different sites, mostly from BFF Print Shop. The lower right corner one (arch photograph) is from Minted. The scribble art and the sculpture photo above it I found from Chaos and Wonder on Etsy. I’m not sure how I’ll display all of this. Maybe like the mood board, around the cabinets, maybe not. Time will tell! I like to feel my way through design choices as I go. Sometimes a room makes decisions for you as more and more things get finished/installed.
The big question is…
… now what am I going to do above the trim, now that I’m no longer doing the book wallpaper?? I’ve searched for new wallpaper I love guys, but I think this might be the same situation as what held up my kitchen ORC two years ago with my lack of backsplash decisions… maybe I just leave it and decide with time. I don’t want to rush it. I still loved the idea of giving a nod to loving vintage/thrifted books, so I started to hunt down just interior text. Something like this…

I love it, but when I looked closely, the text is about “beautistry” and talks about how to give haircuts. Lol. Not everything has to have meaning, but I have no connection to hair dressing, so this would just be silly to have in my home, in my opinion. So… I’m still debating and searching, but I may just paint the upper portion of the walls a shade lighter than the bottom.
I’m pumped to get started! Thank you so much to Linda from Calling It Home and Better Homes & Gardens for hosting this fun challenge! I hope you follow along throughout the weeks I’m working on this! If you’re new here, you can find me on Instagram @haneens_haven. There are a ton of people participating, and you can find them on the One Room Challenge website.

Cheers!
Love this! I love your brown room too. I think this has a museum quality to it (by that I mean elegant and not old). Richness and art. Can’t wait to see it!
Love hearing that! Thank you so much, Linda!
I am a big fan of color but I’m really into the new and improved design. ESPECIALLY with the rust chairs. You must have SOMETHING rust in the space. As for the wallpaper– that’s tricky, could you design your own with something meaningful and have it printed on Spoonflower?
That’s actually a good idea! I’ll look into that! Thank you!
Wow, I can’t wait to see how it all comes together. Fun!
Thank you so much for reading!
It’s going to be so moody and scrumptious. I can’t wait to see it
Thank you so much! Can’t wait to start!
I’m so excited to see another room makeover from you! The room is perfectly fine until you show those gorgeous plans. It’s going to be beautiful.
Thank you so much, Corinna!
I’m so in love with the moodiness of your plans. The rust chairs are so beautiful against the dark walls. I can’t wait to see your transformation.
Thank you so much, Nicole! I appreciate your excitement!
Dying over those red chairs! Love everything!
Thank you, Kyla! So excited to get started! I’m obsessing over that rust color these days!
Oh Haneen! This room is going to be a dream!
Thank you, Jewel! Really excited about this one!
I am OBSESSED with your design for this room. Can’t wait to see it come together!
Thank you so much! I’m excited too!