ONE ROOM CHALLENGE // WEEK 1

Life can really move by in a clip, can't it? Just six months and several posts ago I was revealing my last One Room Challenge design to you all. Now here I am again, embarking on yet another design adventure, by the end of which I will have a completely new space to work and create from each day. 

Undoubtedly by now you are all familiar with the 6-week design sprint (I'm not calling it a marathon!) known throughout the blogosphere as The One Room Challenge. Created by Linda of Calling it Home, the event centers on twenty design bloggers hand-picked to lead the charge in making over a room of their choice over the course of 6 weeks, all the whilst blogging and photographing their progress on Wednesday of each week. I'm lucky enough to get to join in on all the fun along with other design enthusiasts who share progress each Thursday.

This will be the fourth space in our home I've tackled thanks in part to all the moral support I've received from so many of you throughout previous ORC seasons. Check out previous designs completed for our guest bath, master bedroom and my husband's home office. For this round, I'll be transforming our unused and oft neglected guest suite into my own personal workspace.

 

Though I'll only reveal one redesign, the collateral effect of this makeover really will address two troublesome rooms. You see, I actually already have a home office I work from each day. While it was one of the first rooms I outfitted when we moved into our home 5 years ago, it has slowly morphed into a hodge podge of storage, project and shipping paraphernalia where amongst I have a desk and computer that I use for my day job. It's no longer an inspiring place to work from and it too is in need of a redesign and reorganization. The current guest room that sits adjacent to it has long played overflow - to both my current workspace, the linen closet and my growing collection of fabric and project supplies. The bottom line: because of the chaos, we have been underutilizing precious space in our house. My goal is to clean out and convert the catch-all guest room into a beautiful and productive space to both work from and create and share that final result with you on Week 6.

Why am I moving into the guest room? To be honest the room gets far better light and it is also in the center of the house and is better situated for quiet daytime work away from the street.  I also like its cozier set up. Give me an inch and I'll take a mile, I swear! I think half the battle in maintaining an organized office is not allowing too much extra space to fill up with "stuff" that really should be stored properly elsewhere. So, I'm looking forward to purging, donating and getting creative in a smaller space.

The "before" photos I'm sharing in this post were brightened up a bit for presentation. The current walls are actually a light gray and are on the target list for some brighter paint and trim. By post time, I've already disassembled the guest bed (it was a fold-away bed from Grandinroad), removed the makeshift headboard and cleared the space of the pileup of linens, gift wrap and artwork that had started to accumulate in the room.  I've also gotten into that closet (yes- doors bulging under the weight of more "stuff" behind them). I've been on a transformative purge, inspired in part by this philosophy (I'm going to Kondo the entire house!).

I'm not tossing it all however. I plan on repurposing quite a bit of what you see (and frankly may not be able to see) here. I'll be giving new life to the hacked IKEA chandelier that currently hangs in the center of the room (originally concepted by Jenny of LGN). It has fallen into disrepair and this makeover seems like the perfect opportunity to give it a more streamlined look. 

I'm excited about the design direction I've chosen and look forward to sharing it all with you in next Thursday's update. Until then, be sure to follow along on Instagram for all kinds of design shenanigans and don't forget to check out plans from the 20 design bloggers and the others taking part each Thursday.  

Until next week...