ONE ROOM CHALLENGE // WEEK 1

It's finally here - the Fall '14 edition of the One Room Challenge and I, Erin Neally am once again jumping into the fray to participate in this bi-annual room makeover event created by Linda of Calling it Home. Am I crazy? Maybe. But in all honesty, I had so much fun (and got a lot done!) in my first round, that I've been counting the days ever since. 

Each Thursday for the next 6 weeks, I will join many other design loving bloggers in a linking event, as we battle through the successes and trials in making over one room.  The payout of all this hard work will be a completed room checked off my to-do list, a lot of learnings and I'm guessing I'll make some new friends in blog land along the way. I tell you, there is no way to fail!

For this round, I'll be focusing on a redesign of our master bedroom. Let me just say upfront that this room as is, works fine. It's clean, it's comfortable and there are actually many things about this room that both my husband and I like.  But the truth is, it's never really felt "finished". We moved most of the furniture in on the first day, much of it relics of rooms in our previous house and there it has sat for the better part of 4 years. I've always imagined a little more edge, sophistication and function for this space, because it is a room we (and that lil' photo bomber Valentino above) actually spend a lot of time living in. So, while a makeover might appear frivolous, this room never really got the attention we wanted to give it in the first place and until now, we have purchased very few new items for this space.

Because we spend so much time here, it's prone to real-life clutter (I've photographed it on a good day) and non-functional aspects (I can't even open one of those closet doors).  That said, its always easy to pick apart a space and become critical of individual elements. So, how about some of the things we actually like:  

The spaciousness. It's a good sized room and the current bed/dresser configuration emphasizes this.  The natural light. We have an 8ft. window overlooking our pool. Day or night, it's a great view.  The TV. It might put the nail in the coffin on a made-for-magazine design, but this is a real-life space and it gets used every single night.  The mirrored closet doors. They reflect light from the windows and keep what would be an otherwise dark corner nice and bright. 

Where we're split:

My husband prefers our ceiling fan. I am longing for a pretty fixture. I wrote all about it in this post. This is one dilemma where we will have to seek a compromise over the next 6 weeks.

To help vet out the plan, we started by compiling a high-level wish list. From there, I began crafting a design strategy that will hopefully address all of these areas. We also came up with our out of pocket budget that must cover any new purchases, tools and supplies.  You must know that I've been squirreling away a savings for this space - cobbled together with side jobs and eBay/Craigslist sales. The final design will repurpose as much as possible (be it here or in other rooms) to eliminate waste and I'm quite sure the final outcome will include some second-hand items. Based on our budget, I've also accepted that all the pieces may not come together in 6 weeks. Additional time and savings may need to happen. But that's all part of this challenge - to see what can be accomplished in a limited timeframe.

Next Thursday, I'll share a bit on the direction and work in progress (yes! It's already set to happen this week). Until then, please be sure and visit Calling it Home to see what my fellow participants are scheming up for their spaces.