I didn’t talk much about my plans for my Media Room in my post last week. I’m not sure I had much of a plan last week. I really enjoy the way my projects unfold when I’m working on the One Room Challenge. I’ve mentioned this before in previous ORC’s. It’s a totally different process than if I were designing for a client or even if I were designing my house without a six-week deadline. I normally figure everything out first and then implement the design. But with my ORC projects I fly by the seat of my pants. I don’t have time to ruminate or stress about finding the perfect chair, fabric, or whatever. And (so far) I’m always so happy with the results.
So I have a better idea this week of my plan. I knew I was keeping the existing theater chairs in the dark brown leather, but wanted to add more seating. I have two Ektorp armless chaises from Ikea that are currently in our Game Room, which is adjacent to the Media Room.

Ektorp chaises.
I’d like to move them into the Media Room for additional seating. They are very comfortable for movie watching. The problem is that their slipcovers are green. Not the peacock green that I want to add to the space, but kind of grass green. And Ikea discontinued this chaise a few years ago so they no longer sell the slipcovers for it. I’d like the chaises to match the theater chairs if possible, so my first plan is to try to dye my existing slipcovers a dark brown, and if that doesn’t work, I found a seller on Ebay that makes custom covers for most Ikea pieces, including my discontinued chaises! The only problem is they’re in China and the lead time is 4-6 weeks. That doesn’t leave me much time!
I mentioned last week that the inspiration for this room is James McNeill Whistler’s Peacock Room.

Whistler’s Peacock Room
Once I decided on that, I knew I wanted to paint the walls Peacock Blue/Green. However, I also want this space to be reminiscent of old movie theaters, so I wanted to drape the wall behind the screen with fabric to look like the curtains in older theaters.

Theater curtain inspiration.
If you’ve read my other blogs, you probably know that I have closets full of fabric bolts and remnants. Unfortunately, in this case I needed about 20 yards of fabric, and I didn’t have 20 yards of anything lying around. Enter Kravet’s outlet. They have discontinued fabrics at ridiculously low prices. I think it’s just to the trade, but if you have an account with them, you should check it out. It includes their other brands too, like Lee Jofa and Brunschwig & Fils. I searched their website for blue and green solid fabrics and eventually found this one.

Kravet discontinued fabric
When shopping like this, you can’t get memo samples, so I was basically taking a chance. I could never do this with a client, but it was marked down to $3.75/yard and it originally retailed at $38/yard, so I took the chance. Once I received the fabric (which was perfect,) I selected a Benjamin Moore paint color to match and that’s going to be my Media Room’s wall color. It’s 2051-30 Casco Bay. I’ve painted one coat. Here’s how it looks so far:

Media Room with new paint.
And here’s the fabric with the paint swatches (I was considering going with the lighter paint because I was afraid the room would be too dark, but my daughter, Tabitha, convinced me to go with the darker one. I’m glad she did.)

We went with the color on the right – Benjamin Moore Casco Bay.
Additional plans I have for the space include:
- Lighting! It’s so dark. I want to switch out the ceiling light and add wall sconces.

Neirmann Weeks Sunburst Sconce
- Hide the weird door to our attic space somehow (you can see it in the photo above showing the new paint)–probably by just painting it out the same color as the wall, but a hidden door would be cool.

Hidden Door
- Revamp the situation below the screen to look more sleek and custom.

Current messy situation under the screen.
- Possibly add a bar area on the back wall if there’s room once the additional seating is added.

Inspiration for bar.
- Movie posters–I know it’s cliche, but my family wants movie posters in this space, so…

Breakfast at Tiffany’s Poster
Next week I hope to have demo’d the half wall, finished painting the space and attempted to dye my chaise slipcovers. Please check out the Wednesday ORC participants and the other Thursday participants. There’s so many talented people playing along!
Happy Easter and happy Passover!
Rachel
Can’t wait to see it. I love media rooms, I’ve done a few myself!
Thanks Denise!