Week 4 of the One Room Challenge- I did nothing but shop and drink, and not in that order

First of all, I want to say thank you to all of you readers, and an even bigger thank you to all those who left some sweet and encouraging comments. This has been the most fun thing I’ve done in the blogosphere, and I am so happy to discovered so many cool and talented people. Thank you Linda of Calling It Home for hosting the most fun eParty!

Second of all, I want to apologize for the craptastic-ness of the forthcoming post.

Maybe it was all of the drinking…

or the fact that it was Easter, and I actually went to church! (I was raised Catholic, but have been pretty bad about this. I’m a Chreaster- only go to mass on Christmas and Easter. Yikes!)

Or that I was busy running around picking up furniture off Craiglisters for other parts of my house, not the ORC, as if I have time to spare…

(Let’s ignore the fact that there is already a perfectly good sofa in this area, and that there are now 2 sofas there back to back. I’m out of control, I know! But the daybed is just so much sleeker and sexier.)

What I’m saying is that I did very little in terms of measurable progress. So what did I accomplish this week? Basically whatever I could do with the click of a button.

I bought these super cute salt and pepper shakers for the pool house. Thought they’d make a fun addition to a poolside barbeque.

By some miracle, I did manage some minimal manual labor. I spent my lunch hour yesterday framing art.

(Please don’t miss the eggs at the top of the photo. They are farm fresh, given to me by my patient.)

And last night, I relocated this awesome Flamingo I got at a city-wide garage sale last year from my roof deck to the pool deck. Poor thing, he was up there gathering rust and leaves, and faded from the sun.

A brief coat of hot pink spray paint later, and here he is- ready to either hold a potted plant or an ice bucket of bubbles poolside. I prefer the latter. What about you?

Hoping I get my S*%t together this upcoming week!

Things to do:
1. Essentially set up the entire poolhouse
2. Do something to beautify the exterior of said poolhouse
3. Hopefully rig up some kind of bar/ beverage station
4. Get ready for Cinco de Derby (combo Cinco de Mayo/ Kentucky Derby Party)

#4 is my personal fave.

Cheers!
Celine

One Room Challenge Week 3- Macrame for the win

Welcome back to aquahaus, where I and innumerable other crazies are trying to re-do a space in 6 weeks. We are halfway through… or theoretically supposed to be, I now understand why this is the panic point in the One Room Challenge….

This week, I finished painting. Uhhh, painting the edges and corners sucks!!

Here is our final space, all glittering in white paint, just waiting for that American flag to be hung.

Painting sucks.

To reward myself for all that hard labor, I treated myself to shopping. and not just any shopping, my favorite- thrifting on Craigslist.

You see, there is a small side patio to the shed that is dying for a little sitting area.

I knew what I was looking for…

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the equipale chair after seeing the below photo in this article.

I sat with my cup of coffee, tapped on the computer keys as quickly as I could..and a few minutes later, I hit Craigslist gold.

Hello little pretties! How did you find your way into my home? Muahahahaha.

Please ignore the fact that this room is in shambles. It will hopefully be for a future One Room Challenge.

Back to my obsession with these chairs, which will definitely make their way onto that side patio. That long piece of wood (that’s what she said) in front of the chairs is for yet another project. Let’s see if I can get my shit together for that in time.

Lastly, in an effort to bring back some boho into the #rockerbohochic, we have some macrame. Yes, macrame- can’t have boho without it!

I actually made this piece at a macrame workshop (yes, these exist in the utopia that is Austin) last weekend at Mockingbird Domestics. (If you ever come to Austin, please go to this awesome store). I plan on hanging this beauty somewhere in the pool house.

Next week, I need to come up with a semblance of a room plan and buying accessories.

Have a great week! and please check out all the other kickass makeovers happening here.

Celine

Week 2- One Room Challenge…Paint galore!

Hello designphiles, hope you had a productive week.

Mine was so so. I got sick and am finishing up my Z-pak, so less progress this week than I would’ve liked, but here we go…

Biggest thing I needed to do this week was to paint the walls.

We started with an acid green color

and in true blogger form, I took a roller and some white paint to it. How else am I going to set the perfect background for my art and gallery wall? :)

Now, don’t hate on my painting technique. I had a roller, but no brush, so I started with the mid section. It is going to be a pain in the ass to paint the edges, but that’s my modus operandi…do things the hard way.

Here is an “after”, though I still have more to do.

Already brighter and it seems bigger. The big crap pile in the middle of the room. Oh yeah, don’t you paint that way too? Just pile up everything in the middle of the room? Weird.

Here is a section of one wall, before and “after”.

Now that I am starting to see what this room can become, I have started to formulate a plan for the decor. While I started off desert boho, I am moving into more of a #rockerbohochic vibe. This is how I want my pool parties to be…laid back, yet ready to party maximus at a moment’s notice. Oh wait, this has already been done…throughout the 70′s. Oh well.

(Don’t hate on my non-existent mood board skills)

Rocker elements:

Playing some jenga in my furniture rotation, I will move this vintage thrifted sofa from my house’s record room into Aquasita, as it is a good lounging sofa with its sling seats.

The large bass drum I found at last year’s Roundtop, and will serve as a great coffee table. More rocker chic.

The cowhide is a great, durable rug that can stand up to wet feet from the pool.

And the American flag tapestry says, “Eff you, I’m America, and I rock!” It is kinda crazy, but if you can’t have fun in a poolhouse, then where can you? Worst case scenario, I can throw an annual July 4th pool party.

In the next week, I will find more boho elements to bring into the room to soften it up (cacti, macrame, art), figure out a furniture layout, as well as finish that damned painting.

Hope you’re having the best week!

Cheers!

Celine

If you haven’t yet, please check out all 85 of the linking participants. Some major talent going on here.

And of course, please check out the featured amazingness here. Linda has assembled quite the party!

In case you missed it:
Week 1- Introducing Aquasita, A Modern Pool Lounge

Linking into the One Room Challenge…La Aquasita

Ahoy matey’s and fellow lovers of design!

Welcome to aquahaus!

I’m very excited to link into this round of the ORC.

I’ve been working over the last year, remodeling my mid century house in downtown Austin. While I’ve made good progress inside, I need to shift my priorities outside! There’s a lot of summertime living that happens outside in Texas, especially when you’ve got a pool.

And luckily, that I do!

But like Cher needed Sonny, and Gwyneth used to need Chris, every pool needs a casita. Having respite from the hot Texas sun is essential and doing it in style is a bonus.

Hence my ORC- Turning this shed…

which currently serves as a tool shed and storage,

into a boho modern pool lounge, which shall henceforth be dubbed Aquasita. (Aquahaus’ casita) It has a nice window, nice French doors, and good light, and potential I’d say!

Step 1- Do something to cover up that dirty plywood subfloor. I’ve actually already done that. Please read about it here.

Step 2- Now that we are working with a clean slate, come up with decor scheme. I really love modern eclectic bohemian interiors. To me, this says Austin. Laid back with an ethnic vibe.

Great examples of this are the Hotel San Jose

and the Ace Hotel (below image)

Additionally, the classic Austin landscape includes 3 items: corrugated steel (check- see shed), horizontal cedar fencing (check- see my fence), and xeriscaping with cacti.

Here is the full outside space, resplendent with corrugated steel and cedar fencing.

I’d like to do something to zhush up the exterior. We need to create a badass sitting area here just to the right.

Then inside, we need a place that will allow us to lounge, watch sports, and entertain friends during pool parties. Watching sports is very important to both me and my husband. For a woman, I have an unnatural love of sports, bizarre given my strict Asian upbringing, and the fact that I am an only child with no older brothers. (Any other sports lovers out there?)

My rough plan is to create a kickass lounge that incorporates mostly furniture that I already own. I don’t know how pleased my husband will be if I continue to buy and hoard more chairs. #chairhoardersanon

See you next week! I think I will have a detailed plan of attack then, and will have hopefully made some progress on the interior front. I see a lot of painting in my immediate future.

Cheers!

Celine