Women’s Conference Chocolate Relaxation Room

A few weeks ago, I was asked to transform the stark white walls of a church classroom into a chocolate relaxation room for a women’s conference. There were classes going on throughout the building, all about finding JOY, but they wanted a special room that the women could go and relax, while indulging in chocolate flowing from fountains. I missed the conference last year, and they debuted the chocolate room then, and heard they pulled in the floral church foyer couches, and how fun that was.  When we came up the color scheme of red, black, and gold this year, I knew a blue and pink floral just wouldn’t work. I had some plans brewing in my head.

First, I know you want to see the BEFORE pictures, because everyone loves a before and after.  This is actually the same room that I teach my Early Morning Seminary Bible Study class each weekday, so I’m very familiar with the layout and size of the room.

Big door on one end, two small chalkboards in the middle, and big chalkboard on the other end

This is how it all came to be…

When my friend Candida called me a month before the conference, asking for suggestions on decorating the room, I gave my thoughts, but it wasn’t my call, and I wasn’t invested. We discussed the main eating room as well, and made plans to do some decorating in there, but at a group meeting, someone decided against our brainstorming. I was bummed, but only because of the dreams I had imagined would not come to pass. I hadn’t actually done anything yet. My friend told me about that in the same phone conversation that she asked if I wanted to “take over” decorating the chocolate room. I hesitated in silence, and I think she feared I’d say no at the daunting task, but I only paused because I wanted to make sure that I’d have full creative license to do what I wanted without veto’s.

I knew I was going to make my favorite fabric banner. They are just perfect for any gathering, to make it a bit more festive. This one was going to be the longest yet, and I enlisted the help of my fabulous children, and my friend Nicole when she was in town visiting from Florida. We whipped up the fabric banner in just about an hour, including ripping and tying.

From stark white church walls to a festive relaxation room…

Candida and I spray painted old metal folding chairs on my driveway a few days before.

I packed my van to the brim with all things red, gold, and black!

Here is the room with everything dumped inside…what to do first?  I gathered lots of great stuff, but I wasn’t quite sure where everything was going to go. I figured I’d figure it out once I got there. I was grateful for my friend Alysha who was there at the beginning to help me figure out where to put the couches, and main furniture, then everything else fell into place after that.

Getting excited!  But also thinking…”where the heck am I going to put everything?!?”

My awesome boys brought in the two black couches from a friend of mines’ home, they were PERFECT in the room!

My worker bee team: Candida, Kari, Tricia, Kam (You can see the double brown doors being covered with the wrapping paper). If you are familiar with LDS church buildings, we are in the Young Women’s room, and those doors open up to the kitchen serving area.

It took 5 of us, 4 hours to get it all set up. Some of that time was spent staring and trying to decide where to put everything.

We decorated on Thursday night, and on Friday morning at 6am, my seminary class thought it was pretty fun…

the black bench below, normally sits on my front porch

Saturday morning, it’s GO TIME! Here is my dear friend, Candida, whom I worked with on putting this together.

Here are the “hero shots” of the room before everyone got to see it.

Let me tell you about this red rug. I found it on Amazon for $45 {It’s $40 now! (affiliate)} and had to get it…crossing my fingers that I could sell it the next day for the same price…and I did!  Gold lanterns found on Amazon (affiliate) red I got at Hobby Lobby. I collect paper lanterns for parties!

My dad gave me this gold trunk, it was old and brown, and I said the only way I’d take it is if I could paint it. He didn’t care. I LOVE it gold!

The other side of the room has a HUGE chalkboard, and we covered that with a different wrapping paper. I just love how it looks.

This pano is kinda hard to see, but I had to include it. The video might actually help you get the best feel for the room layout.

At the conference, I enjoyed a relaxing lunch with two of my closest friends, Alisha and Shelley. These two ladies know my heart, listen to me complain, allow me to cry on their shoulder, and love me through it all. I’m grateful for them, even if we hardly get to see each other! They still have babies, and pre school and I’m home plugging at my computer most days. But that doesn’t stop us from friendship.

Here is a snap of ladies enjoying the room…including myself.

Candida prepping the room with all of the fondue toppings.

The black and white wrapping paper is covering a giant brown double door. The paper was perfection!!

At the end of the conference, before we took everything down, Candida, Kari, and I celebrate with throwing some kit kats in the air. We had so much fun working together! I just met Kari the day before, but we became fast friends, and have similar days working from home on the computer while our kids are at school!

It was only enjoyed for a few hours, and we had to pack it up. Such a fun day, my awesome family and amazing helpers at church broke it all down in under an hour!

What’s your favorite element in the room? Or something unexpected that you enjoyed? I had so much fun putting this together, and to hear others say they enjoyed it, just made my heart smile. I already have a new color scheme in mind for next year!

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