An Intro to Orlando’s Guest Bedroom

You Guys! It’s Orlando today on the blog, and so much is happening you are going to FREAK OUT when I tell you. If you haven’t been following my shenanigans on Instagram, you have to start because my life is RIDICULOUS right now. To make a long story short, I’ve skipped town for a few months and am currently living at my parents’ house, writing my book, and running my design business remotely from Sonoma County (about an hour north of San Francisco, think wine, vineyards, and redwoods). I have a strict deadline for my book (which is still untitled so plz pass along any title ideas, K?) so I have to finish everything by May 31 and I’m FREAKING OUT ABOUT IT.

I left town because my life in LA has been insanely stressful and I basically went broke redoing my dumb kitchen, funding photoshoots for my book, and starting my own design business. BUT DON’T FEEL SORRY FOR ME. Yes, I lost my boyfriend, my job, and my home (temporarily) all in the matter of a few months, but I’m genuinely loving being up north and I’m getting tons of reach out from potential collaborators, sponsors, clients, etc. I have the feeling that next year is going to be my superstar year where I become disgustingly famous. So if you’re thinking of buying tickets to the Orlando Train, I’d suggest purchasing them now because next year they are going to be INSANELY EXPENSIVE. Yes I know how cocky that sounds but keep in mind that I’m literally writing this from my parents house and my mom made my lunch today (greens from the farmers market with salmon over it, so delicious!). I’m supposed to go back to LA in June but part of me is feeling like “NO THANKS.” It’s amazing here and I feel like the five month panic attack I was having is finally over. YOU GUYS WHAT IF I JUST LIVE WITH MY PARENTS FOREVER BECAUSE IT’S SO PEACEFUL AND GLAM HERE? Basically sounds like a pitch for the sitcom from hell. HELP!

Also, FYI, I’m still running a design business in LA with multiple clients and an employee so yes I’m a huge loser and nearly homeless but also, like, I’m still doing stuff, so don’t be scared. DON’T WORRY I HAVEN’T TOTALLY FALLEN OFF THE HORSE SORRY I’M YELLING SO MUCH ALL I DO IS DRINK COFFEE AND EAT ORGANIC FOOD HERE. I think sometimes when stuff falls apart it gives you the freedom to look around and just be like “Whatever, the world is a vampire, I’ma do what I want!” which leads to creative productivity. Also I’m starting Crossfit tomorrow and then you’ll all be sorry! And by “you all” I mean all my exes who dumped me for being gross and disgusting and fat.

Okay, so we’re not here to talk about how I’m a 75 year old grandfather of three who lives with his mom and dad. Today’s topic of convo is my guest bedroom. Which I got done just before I left town so I could shoot it for the book (IT LOOKS SICK YO!). But you’re going to have to wait to see the full, sexy reveal until later in the week. Today we’re gonna chat inspo, planning, and get an idea of the pieces I want to use in the guest bedroom.

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The apartment was painted all sorts of buttery colors when I moved in. I love eating butter, but I hate it as a paint color, so I quickly changed all of them. I chose a dark, saturated color for the guest room, New Providence Navy from Benjamin Moore, because the room gets the least natural light of any in the apartment. You might be wondering at this point why I have a two bedroom apartment. Basically when I was looking I was in a bit of a time crunch and all the one bedrooms in the neighborhoods I was looking in were so expensive that a two bedroom made more sense. A) If I wanted to get a roommate and B) So that I could host guests to come stay with me to help me deal with the ABSOLUTELY OVERWHELMING SENSE OF LONELINESS AND SORROW I was feeling post-breakup. Weirdly, there’s only a few hundred dollars difference between decent one bedrooms in West Hollywood and decent two bedrooms. So I went with an apartment that has a guest bedroom. Deal with it, America!

Also, two bedrooms means twice the decorating fun, DUH!

I love a navy bedroom. I love it so much I painted my last bedroom that color (the previous bedroom was actually Ralph Lauren Iron Blue which was apparently discontinued FOR A REASON THAT REMAINS A COMPLETE MYSTERY TO ME). I just love a dark, romantic bedroom. And navy is such a pretty, velvety color. Emily taught me a while back that darker rooms look better painted a color with some pigment to it. A lot of people think painting a dark room white is going to make it look brighter but that’s normally wrong. Usually painting a dark space white just makes it look shadowy and dingy. So I’m going full-on gorgeous navy for the guest room AND I’M NOT GONNA LOOK BACK (except at these pics of my old master bedroom that I totally miss tbh COME BACK TO ME, ORCONDO).

One of the issues I’ve run into with my new place is that I have all this art I’ve collected over the years and no idea where to put it. So I’m going to figure out a way to incorporate it into the decor of the guest bedroom. In looking at all the art I have, about 90% of it is blue so I’m going with an all-blue art scheme in here. It’s going to be so peaceful my guests are going to LOSE THEIR MINDZ!

I’m working with a luxurious linens brand called Cultiver to outfit both bedrooms with sumptuous linens. I actually simplified my previous bedding scape a bit, less textile mixing, just a combination of linens. It’s really pretty and feels a bit minimalist/90z Calvin Klein in a hot way.

I’m taking a hint from my old apartment (that we shot for this blog AGES ago) and doing a cute gallery wall. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these in my own home and I love them. They’re the perfect way to put all your art in one place so you can ogle it. I hate hanging gallery walls for other people because I always make like 5000 extra holes in the wall and I hate when clients stand behind me as I destroy their walls. But doing one for myself is fine because I don’t care if I ruin my own wall.

Before I moved in, the room was panted grey below the chair rail and butter yellow above the chair rail. I’m not a fan of this color blocked look for chair rails (one color above, one color below, and the chair rail painted the trim color). In my opinion it looks better to just paint the chair rail the same color as the bottom half of the wall or paint the whole wall the same color. I’m going for a simulated wainscoting look by just painting the lower portion of the room white. This also helps create contrast and gives some space between the reddish floor color and blue walls.

The furniture plan for the space is pretty eclectic, a mix of a few vintage items with very inexpensive furniture (I was doing this on a #nonspon MAJOR budget, so everything that went into the room is tres affordable). I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it until my head explodes, you can get away with anything if you have good art, so the furniture in the room may be super cheap, but the overall look is going to be high-end because the art is good. GET! EXCITED! Below is a small preview of some of the furnishings I’ll be using in the room:

Resources: Wall Color Benjamin Moore New Providence Navy, Wainscoting Benjamin Moore Super White, Ceiling Pendant, Gold Wall Hanging, Tom Killion Block Print, Traditional Rug, Nightstand, Table Lamps, Striped Duvet Cover, White Sheets. 

Check back on Thursday for the MIND BLOWING REVEAL and to hear more stories about how I’m a fully-grown man who lives with his parents. Maybe forever. Bye!

***Photography By Zeke Ruelas, Tessa Neustadt, and Orlando Soria.