{One Room Challenge} Week 1 – I’m Giving Myself a Deadline!

If you’re not familiar with the One Room Challenge (ORC), it’s an awesome blogging event hosted by Linda, from Calling it Home. There are twenty talented bloggers who are headlining the event by making over an entire room in six weeks time {you can see all of their plans here}. I was really looking forward to following along with the ORC bloggers, but then I learned that Linda is opening up the challenge and providing a way for other bloggers to play along by linking up their room plans and providing updates along the way. So I’m in! 

For those who have been following my blog for a while, you’re probably saying to yourself, I thought that Beckett’s room was going to be done months ago.  And to that I say, TOUCHE! I thought so, too! But things were so busy with the holidays, and it seems like someone in our house is always sick, and my husband works long hours and it’s hard to find time to work on projects together, and… You get the point! I could give you a million excuses, but I’d rather get the room done, so this deadline is exactly what I need!

For those who are new here, I’ll recap the plan, and then I’ll give you a quick update on the {lack of} progress to date. Back in the fall I shared three different mood boards with concepts for Beckett’s big boy room, and after much deliberation, we finally settled on a menswear inspired design plan that I like to call the “Vintage Preppy Lounge.”

You can read all of the details about the design concept here, but I’ll sum it up by saying that we’ll be incorporating a variety of menswear patterns, from argyle to houndstooth, as well as repurposing menswear items, including ties and leather belts.

Another of the design plans that we originally considered included a lot of transportation inspired decor. While we ultimately decided to go in the direction of the Vintage Preppy Lounge, I got pretty attached to some of the elements of the Planes, Trains and Automobiles room, so you’ll see parts of this plan crossing over into final room. 

Beckett’s new room will include several globes, a hanging playtent, and the license plate map. In fact, the license plate map is one of the only things we’ve managed to accomplish for this room so far. In case you missed it, I channeled my inner-Sabrina Soto and found a way to recreate the look of a high-end license plate map {like the one I’ve always coveted from Uncommon Goods} for a fraction of the price. You can read all the details about how we completed this High Low Project here.

Other than completing the license plate map project, we’ve really accomplished very little in the room, other than making plans and purchasing the furniture. But plans are good, right? Here’s the furniture plan for the room:

We’ve also settled on the color palette and purchased the paint, so next on our to do list is to get the room painted! If you’ve seen the ombre stripes that we painted in the nursery, then you know that we like a challenging paint project – and this room is going to be no exception. We are planning to paint one entire wall in an argyle pattern. Ahhhh! I have to take deep breaths just saying that! This is really one of the biggest reasons that progress on the room as been so slow. I am so excited for the argyle wall, but I’m also so intimidated! That’s why the deadline of the One Room Challenge is so important. I just need to GET. IT. DONE.

In addition to painting the walls, I have a long list of projects that need to be completed in order for us to put the whole room together. I know y’all love lists, so here’s a brief overview of what needs to get completed in the next six week:

• Paint room light blue; Paint argyle wall
• Add legs to bookshelves
• Paint dresser
• Add custom drawer pulls to dresser
• Create a play tent
• Customize storage bins for the bookshelves
• Create and frame art for above dresser
• DIY display shelves
• Paint chalkboard globe
• Create cornice boards
• DIY wall letters
• Install wall display above toddler bed

I’ll leave you with a few before photos of the room, and a couple of {frightening} photos of the room in it’s current state. 

For the first years that we lived in our house, we used this room as a workout room, so this is the before:

Right now, the room is in a chaotic state of transition. The closet in this room previously housed all sorts of random, unused decor items {not sure where that’s all going to go now – but for now, it’s spread throughout the room and the hallway.} I didn’t even bother taking photos on my good camera because the current state of the room doesn’t deserve more than a couple of iPhone photos.

I can’t wait to be able to show you photos of some real progress happening in this room! And this time I can really say that the room will be done soon because I now have a deadline. Six weeks. Let’s go!