One Room Challenge | Week 1: Home Office Befores & Plans

The first week of April means it’s the beginning of a 6 week, unlimited budget, one room transformation challenge. If you’re new around here or new to the One Room Challenge - first of all welcome to my sliver of the big wonderful internet world - but mostly the One Room Challenge is a 6 week event where a bunch of bloggers and instagram’mers encourage each other to renovate an entire space. That’s all! It’s much harder than it sounds, those 6 weeks creep up on you almost overnight.

My second time doing the One Room Challenge was the fall 2017 round. I had just completed the laundry room in the spring round and was just getting started on my DIY skills. I honestly had no idea what I was doing and didn’t know what my style was (I still really don’t), but it turned out okay. All that to say, I’m re-doing the office! Well, kind of. I’m turning it into an office/guest room.

$100 Room Challenge | Week 5: Modern Hall Closet Reveal

January flew by (especially when you spend a week in another country) and the end of January means another $100 Room Challenge reveal. This season we refreshed our hall closet which is our main storage area in the house. In just 4 weeks we took our closet that became a catch-all for anything and everything and turned it into a functional space.

Week 1 | The Befores

Week 2 | Faux-lap

Week 3 | Cutting & Installing Shelves

Week 4 | Staining the Shelves

$100 Room Challenge | Week 4: Staining the Shelves

I’ve been writing posts for a while now, and I still never know how to start them. So there’s the not-optional awkward first sentence. Week 4 of the $100 Room Challenge may not seem like we did that much but that’s because we had to stretch this challenge over 5 weeks instead of 4 and this makeover didn’t have as much hard labor as the previous challenges we’ve done. 

Week 1 | The Befores

Week 2 | Faux-lap

Week 3 | Cutting & Installing Shelves

$100 Room Challenge | Week 3: Cutting & Installing Shelves

I am so excited to finish this hall closet makeover. Partially because it has to be done soon and partially because I'm ready to get all the stuff out of the guest room. One more week of process photos then the reveal! Last week we got all of the walls painted and fauxlaped, this week I got all of the shelves cut and put in place. This is a short post, let's get into it.

Week 1 | The Befores

Week 2 | Paint & Fauxlap

Upgrading to Screwless Outlets and Switches in 30 Minutes

This post is sponsored by Legrand.

One thing you're almost guaranteed to run into when you buy an old house is outdated outlets and switches. Most of them don't match and some of them might even still be two pronged. But you don't feel like taking that hour and that wallet to update them all. Thankfully, Legrand's Radiant collection comes to the rescue with a modern and affordable line of switches and outlets. With several different types of outlets and switches (USB/wifi-controlles/dimmers/home automation) and in several colors (even metallic!), you're sure to step up your outlet game.

$100 Room Challenge | Week 2: Paint & Fauxlap

Week 2 of the $100 Room Challenge was so satisfying. Painting covers a multitude of sins and this week it covered the ugly yellow-white walls. I have to finish this challenge by next weekend and get all the pictures taken and post written so I will be kicking into high gear this weekend. Keep an eye on my InstaStories to see the real-time progress and behind the scenes. 

Week 1 | The Befores

$100 Room Challenge | Week 1: The Hallway Befores & Plan

It's day 3 of 2018 and we are already embarking on our next project: the hallway closet. Picking a space was a toss up between the hall and the full bathroom and as usual I didn't decide until yesterday which space we'd take on for the January season. They are the only two spaces completely untouched since we moved in - and boy can you tell when you walk by it. It's the 4th season for the $100 Room Challenge and we have more bloggers participate every time. This is our third time participating, the first time we remodeled the half/master bath and last time we refreshed the carport. Over the next four weeks and with only $100 we will be transforming this dingey eyesore into a functional and pretty space (fingers crossed).

  

Christmas at Our House

Christmas has reached our house! Of course, Christmas is more than trees, and presents, and pretty lights, but those pretty lights sure make me happy when things are sparkly at night.  But I think we can all agree that decorations can sometimes feel overwhelming. I'm not sure if it is because we're on a tight budget or if I would still decorate this way no matter what, but this year I've tried to focus on using a small amount of decorations that make the biggest impact. That means lit garlands, naked Christmas trees, and a lot of white lights.

Building A Holiday Wreath from Scratch

Christmas is right around the corner and we are decorating our house for the first time! Last year we had just moved in, with no couch, no rugs, and definitely no room for decorations. Now I feel more settled in I busted my Christmas box out of storage. Honestly the older I've gotten the more plain I've become. I used to like snowflakes everywhere, neon Christmas trees, and intense Christmas music blaring every second of the day. Now I find myself more drawn to the natural  aspects of the holiday like live, lightly-decorated Christmas trees and handmade wreaths.

How-To: $11 Dyed No-Sew Dropcloth Curtains

Thank you for so much love for our One Room Challenge Office reveal! Even though the ORC is fun to participate in, I can't wait to participate in the January season of the $100 Room Challenge. I took the entire week of Thanksgiving off of blogging to concentrate on getting all the houses ready and spending time with all the family that came down. Over that week we got so many questions on how we dyed the dropcloth curtains - so we wrote down every step!

One Room Challenge: Week 7 | The Home Office Reveal

Whew! Keeping this room a secret from Auston for 7 weeks has been hard. If you're new here, this desk was covered in white paint (see Week 4 & 5) and the curtains are dyed drop cloths (see Week 6). This is my second One Room Challenge, last season I did our laundry room which was a finish from the studs project. I love doing the ORC because it gives me a schedule and I always meet new people. This office is really my first time fully decorating a space. In the laundry room I used some cute accessories but it really wasn't designing around an existing space - so tell me how I did!

Week 1: The Befores
Week 2: The Mood Board(s)
Week 3: Salvaging A Fox Hunt Print
Week 4: Restoring an Antique Typewriter Desk Part 1
Week 5: Restoring an Antique Typewriter Desk Part 2
Week 6: Drop Cloth Curtains

One Room Challenge: Week 6 | Drop-cloth Curtains

If you follow along with the blog then you know I debate myself in almost every post. It's not intentional, I just really do a lot of thinking before I make a decision. So the debate for this week: what color the curtain rod should be. I finally ended up settling on brass since the chair will be chrome and the bar cart/accessories will be brass and I wanted something structural to tie it all together.

Week 1: The Befores
Week 2: The Mood Board(s)
Week 3: Salvaging A Fox Hunt Print
Week 4: Restoring an Antique Typewriter Desk Part 1
Week 5: Restoring an Antique Typewriter Desk Part 2

One Room Challenge: Week 5 | Restoring an Antique Typewriter Desk Part 2

I've never been more excited about restoring an old piece of furniture! But to be fair, this is my first time really doing it. If you missed last weeks One Room Challenge, we're taking my old desk that had been painted white and restoring it to it's original wood and hardware. I didn't plan for this guy to take up 2 weeks of posting, but it was a beast! 

Week 1: The Befores
Week 2: The Mood Board(s)
Week 3: Salvaging A Fox Hunt Print
Week 4: Restoring an Antique Typewriter Desk Part 1

One Room Challenge: Week 4 | Restoring an Antique Typewriter Desk Part 1

Most important news first, the ORC will be extended this season by one week! Due to all of the natural disasters which have affected many states including largely delayed shipping times, the reveal date will be moved to November 15th for the featured designers and November 16th for the guest participants. It's lifted a weight off my shoulders since this desk restoration is taking longer than expected and will end up being two posts.

While I was in high school my parents got this antique typewriter desk that had been painted white. It has the flap that you would push up and it would bring the typewriter up to use. Thankfully they deconstructed it and just screwed the top flap straight to the desk so I didn't have to. This desk has been siting in the guest room since we moved in where it has served as my vanity/desk. The bad thing about it was it's size. It is bulky and incredibly deep - making in a great middle of the room desk in the office. The white paint had also been worn down and stained from my painting over the years that I could either paint the whole thing again or strip it down to its raw wood. Of course, I took the hard way.

Week 1: The Befores
Week 2: The Mood Board(s)
Week 3: Salvaging A Fox Hunt Print

An Update on Our DIY Fridge Paint Job

You might remember when we DIY'ed our fridge paint job when we moved in almost a year ago. It only cost $16 and transformed our old almond color into a not so ugle black one. 2 months later, that fridge died and we were on the hunt for another one. Luckily, my parents had just bought a house to renovate and it came with an old almond Whirlpool Mark I, the same model that had died. We spent another $16 on paint and basically we got another fridge for $16. I grabbed the spray paint and gave it the same treatment as the original. Today I wanted to answer all your questions and give you an update on it 10 months later.

 

One Room Challenge: Week 3 | Salvaging a Fox Hunt Print

One Room Challenge land is a very different animal this time around. Last time, we were starting from studs and there was SO much to do every week. Now that we are basically just furnishing a finished room, I feel like there is not that much to share with you guys! Luckily, we were digging around in our attic and I found our post for the week. Enter in this old fox hunt print.

Week 1: The Befores
Week 2: The Mood Board(s)

One Room Challenge: Week 2 | Home Office Mood Board

The second week of the One Room Challenge is all the planning and idea generating hours culminated into one short post. I have been thinking all week about what this room should feel/look like - and there are still a lot of unkowns haha. I'd like to do an accent wall treatment, but none of the walls lend themselves to do one. All of my pins have dark walls,  leather chairs, and  of course wall treatments. Why can't you just do a wall treatment or paint the walls dark you ask? Among other excuses, the main one is we are most likely going to rent this house out and I would have to repaint any dark colors for renting purposes, but anything can happen in the next 4 weeks so we'll see.

Week 1: Home Office Befores

Studio McGee's photo is giving me so much inspiration in the colors, the way they mix metals, and the simpleness of the desk. We already have the swivel chair pictured in the mood board, and I was a little worried about how a chrome chair would fit into a room. But after studying photos of their offices I'm sure I can pair it with some warm brass pieces.

Quick Closet Refresh & Shoe Storage Option

A functional and efficient closet system can make all the difference in how you feel about and live out of your closet. In February we refreshed the guest bedroom closet, where I keep my clothes, and added a custom shelving unit because it had little function. Almost mirroring that guest closet is the master bedroom closet which Auston uses. When we moved in it was a single rod with one shelf that did not look good but it definitely didn't give a lot of usable space. We installed two rods with brackets and stained some planks to set on top. But where do the shoes go you ask?

One Room Challenge: Week 1 | The Home Office Befores

Even though we just finished our carport reveal for the $100 Room Challenge, I couldn't pass up joining in on our second round of the One Room Challenge. Last May we participated for the first time as a Guest Participant where we completely transformed our laundry room from studs into a functioning space in just 6 weeks. They ask 20 bloggers to participate as the Featured Designers, who post on Wednesdays, and then open the challenge to other blogger to participate as a Guest Participant. You can see all the Guest Participants linked up on Calling It Home's website.

This go around we decided to tackle our "home office" which is just our 3rd bedroom which is functioning as our storage room right now. It houses all the things we don't know where to put. I honestly did not know how long it takes to get "unpacked" and settled in a house. We are going on one year here and we are still bringing stuff back from my parents house. We've already come along way in those 12 months, from painting the walls and tearing up the carpets to refinishing the hardwood floors and improving our hollow core doors.

$100 Room Challenge Week 4 | Carport Reveal

Let me start out by saying, this is my second time participating in the $100 Room Challenge. I also participated in the One Room Challenge last season where we remodeled our laundry room. And while that challenge was a little bit easier in the sense there was no budget, we had to build a space from studs so it was a lot of work. But despite those things, if I had to compare both challenges, the $100 Room Challenge wins hands down for a small community of bloggers who support each other in their work/goals. I didn't feel the love from the ORC like I do from the $100RC. So a big thank you to Erin for creating such an incredible environment, it's truly what this whole thing is about. *end small rant*

Now welcome to the carport reveal! I'll keep it short since I know we're all here for the pictures. In 4 weeks and with $100, we turned our dingey, unattractive carport into a semi pretty, useful place to park the car. Catch up on the previous weeks below to see how I built the planter and installed the can light.

Week 1 | The Carport Before & Plans
Week 2 | A Modern Exterior Light
Week 3 | $10 Planter with Herb Garden

The before's aren't the worst, but I'm much happier with how it is now.