One Room Challenge – Week 1
BETTER HOMES & GARDENS IS THE OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER OF THE ORC!
Welcome to the One Room Challenge
Well we’ve got some really exciting news to share! We’ve officially signed up for the One Room Challenge and we are ready to be challenged to actually finish a project in six weeks!
If you know me at all, or have followed along on Instagram, you know that I like to start multiple projects at the same time. That’s all great, but some of them get finished and some of them are just ongoing projects.
So now we have a deadline.
If you’ve never heard of the One Room Challenge, it’s a bi-annual design challenge event. This fall challenge is sponsored by High Point Market and there are 20 bloggers who will design and makeover a room over the next six weeks. You can see all of them HERE!
There are also guest participants that follow the same rules and post progress of their projects each week. That’s what we’ll be doing. You can see all the guest participants HERE
I’m not going to lie, it makes me nervous to actually commit to finishing a project in six weeks. I know that we can get it done in that time frame, I’m just not used to setting a deadline so this will be a good way to stay on task with a project.
My second concern is sourcing materials. I hope that we’ll be able to find all the pieces we need to complete this project and get them without delay’s.
Who Am I?
If this is your first time visiting then let me introduce myself. I’m Traci and I live in the beautiful Hill Country right outside of Austin, TX. We are fortunate to have a small piece of property (5 acres) with an amazing view. I live with here with my husband Darrel, who is my main muscle. He keeps my projects under control and points out why something will or won’t work in a space.
He also can keep a straight face no matter what kind of crazy ideas I throw out at him!
We are sort of, empty nesters now. During the pandemic, we adopted two puppies (we call them our pandemic puppies) and they are a bit like having toddlers in our house again.
Over our marriage, we have worn many hats in our DIY journey’s including the role of General Contractor and we have built a few homes and renovated all of them. This is our 11th house so far. I’d like to say that we’ll stay here forever but I’ve made that mistake before.
Our Bathroom Project
For this challenge we are planning to update our guest bathroom. This room had an update started when we were moving in but it didn’t work out quite like we had planned.
Fast forward 5 years and it’s time for an update. I’m ready to add color and pattern back into our home and this small room will be the perfect place for it.
One of my favorite parts of designing a space is coming up with the plan for it. I love to look at Pinterest for inspiration and I definitely keep lot’s of ideas on my board’s at all times. This is the mood board that I’ve put together for this project.
Our Bathroom Before the One Room Challenge
Taking bathroom photo’s is pretty hard. It’s a relatively small space and it seems to get a fish eye look to it but here are a few for ya!
This is standing in the tub looking at the other wall. We replaced the floor tile when we moved in and installed a new vanity but the topper is the wrong size.
On the wall next to the toilet there is a small window so we do get some natural light. One of the cords of the blinds is broken so they hang a bit crooked these days. (I didn’t notice that until we were taking photo’s)
Standing in front of the window you can see the doors that lead into the hallway and the linen closet.
The tub needs to be replaced. It is an acrylic tub and it has stains and is discolored from age. This is the starting point of this project, replacing the tub.
Which means that we have to replace the tile surround. So it turns into more of a construction project than just updated decor.
Our Bathroom Goals
Anytime we start to work on a room there are a series of questions to answer to be sure that when we finish we’ll have the room in our vision. Or even better than we expected.
I like to start each project by answering these questions.
How do I want this room to feel?
It might seem like a funny question for a bathroom but it should be the first question you ask on any project you take on.
I’m ready to have some brighter colors in this bathroom and make it a happy and vibrant place. It’s mainly a guest bathroom now so I want it to be cheerful and comfortable when we have guests here.
What do I want to change?
Since this is a guest bathroom we don’t have to worry as much about storage. The vanity that we have works fine but it’s going to look a lot better when it gets a brighter paint job.
We have a large linen closet so there’s plenty of storage. In a perfect world I wouldn’t have a door behind a door but we’re not changing the layout.
The tub needs to be replaced so this gives us an opportunity to add tile all the way to the ceiling. I just like the way that looks better. We also want a shower head that’s adjustable so that we can bathe the dogs without breaking our backs.
I also think that both of those items will improve the resale value if we eventually decide to sell this house.
So stay tuned!
Now you know what we’ll be doing for the next six weeks (along with a few other fun projects that always pop up).
We also have a vacation planned so I’m hoping that we’re able to pull that off and that it doesn’t throw too much of a wrench into our plans.
I hope that you’ll follow along on our journey and cheer us on from the sidelines. I’ll be sharing updates each week and there will likely be some sneak peeks on Instagram too so be sure to follow along there.
Be sure to check out all the other amazing projects too – go to One Room Challenge Blog to see other participants.
