The Creative Spiral VS The Creative Process
Have you ever been so awe struck by an interior design photo that it inspired you to change it all? Recently, during a quest for kitchen inspiration (yes kitchen, not bedroom), I found this photo on the blog, “Damsel in Dior.”
The color of the accent wall was so beautiful in contrast with the wooden bed frame and the neutral bedding. WOW! There was no going back, I needed to do this! What a perfect post! This of course sent me spiraling into a steady course of crazy steps with only one day to conquer. It was my one day challenge so I could post it today! Now before I share and tell, I must preface that I am typically an over thinker when it comes to decision making, especially in my own home (and especially in client’s homes) but for some reason this specific photo just forced me into overdrive!
If you haven’t picked up on this…
KIDS, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!
Let’s assess the steps within the spiral…
Step one:
After my first trip to Home Depot, and a very friendly chat with the lady behind the counter about her ballet classes, I came home with what I was sure was the exact color in the photo.
Step two:
Prepping the space meant moving the bed which then sent me into another search on Pinterest on bed frame hacks. I have a wonderful headboard but really want a bed frame not on metal slats with wheels, so bad! It has been a long and tiring road trying to find the perfect frame to go with my authentic walnut mid-century modern headboard that I WILL NOT GIVE UP! No luck but I did find a way to upholster and attach legs to your box spring so it looks like an upholstered bed frame… maybe a temporary solution? Take a look- pretty clever actually.
Step three:
I ponder… if I drive to just my local fabric store, perhaps I will find something simple? How hard could it be to find something simple but in the right color, in the right texture and in the right price range… 3 stores later I came home with nothing, feeling defeated so I just paint the wall.
Step four:
Well the paint is a little too blue and I really wanted it to be a little more green so I went to my hyper local paint supplier; my garage. I had a mustard yellow that would most certainly work. Now mixed, I slapped up a second coat only to find, it really was not exactly the right tone, it needed more of the mustard added to make it the right deep sea teal green I envisioned.
Step five:
Well the paint looked amazing so now I just needed to put the bedroom back together but the headboard needed to be reinforced a little better so off to Home Depot again for the proper anchoring hardware.
Step six:
It’s now dark and the lightbulb went out but luckily my drill has a light so I hang the headboard by flashlight but it’s just a little too far to the left so I start over.
Step seven:
I get the bedding on, place the nightstand back and the art work above and though it all looks pretty good, I think I need to look harder for the bed frame and perhaps new nightstands.
Step eight:
I shop online and I order nightstands. Of course they are not the right color but because the price is right, I won’t feel bad painting them when I get them. So that is a win but I still can’t find the right bed frame so I finally give up and go to sleep to the faint smell of three fresh coats of sea green paint.
Step nine:
I wake up and I realize that during all of this… I forgot to take pictures for the post! Seriously!
The Moral of the story…
So what started out as a “how to,” has become a perfect, “what not to do.” I will say I do love the wall color and the whole palette really! I just wished I had taken more time to plan things out and have all of my materials together. I am still short a bed frame, a plant on the left side of the bed, and a bench at the end of the bed that wasn’t just recovered in a pinch. Had I planned things out, I would have had a mood board, assessed all of my colors and textures together including fabrics, wood color, metals and my rug. This would have been the right “creative process,” instead of a “creative spiral!”
I will chalk this one up to a learning experience, I suppose.
We live and learn!
Xoxox Sarah
