Fall 2021 One Room Challenge – week one ORC – the Guest Bedroom

Oh it’s already week one ORC time. Or It’s really time for the Fall 2021 One Room Challenge! Can you believe it?

Have you heard of the One Room Challenge?

First I want to start out thanking Linda for organizing the One Room Challenge .  

Not only does this event help motivate us to start new projects and finish them on a timeline, it also provides me with endless inspiration by so many creatives!

I’m always in awe when I see the completed projects at the end of each season but I also love following along each week to see everyone’s progress. It’s a great motivator and it gives me so many ideas!

Of course having a timeline means I might actually finish a project instead of getting it to that 95% point and then leaving it that way for weeks on end.

If you’ve never heard of the ORC then I’m excited to introduce you.  This is an exciting interior design event with 20 Featured Designers and hundreds of other Guest Participants .  I am a guest participant!

Each of us will have 8 weeks to transform the room of our choice and share weekly updates on our progress (or lack of it).

Even more fun? Better Homes and Gardens will be the media sponsor again this year.

Welcome to Week One ORC

Let me start by saying that I didn’t choose my project until last night.

If you know me you know that having a deadline is a must for me.

To finish a project I have to plan a party, a dinner or have guests coming that forces me to actually finish what I’m working on.

Sometimes that’s not even enough motivation and I’m just shoving things in closets to hide them.

The Room We Chose to Makeover

Surprise, the room we chose for the fall 2021 ORC is a guest bedroom.

It was between our closet and the guest bedroom and what tipped the scales is that I thought the bedroom would be much prettier when it’s finished.

I mean the closet will be amazing but it’s also something that we really need to do. The bedroom is working just fine, it’s just not as pretty as I’d like!

We’re also expecting our first two grandchildren in November and this bedroom is going to have a crib in it for when they come to visit.

The Plan

If you don’t already know, we moved into this house the last week of June, this year. So we’ve been here 90 days at this point.

The boxes have all been unpacked and we’ve definitely started settling in.

I’ve had a chance to discover my favorite and least favorite things about the house and we’ve already made a few changes.

Let me share some photo’s for you so that you can understand the space.

It’s a generously sized room at just over 12 feet by 16 feet. It has large windows and several doors so the furniture can only be arranged in a particular way and that’s okay. The bed goes along the wall by the closet door and the crib will go along the wall by the bathroom entry.

A dresser will likely be located along the wall where the door to the hallway is and nothing will go in front of the windows.

This is standing in the doorway looking into the room. To the left of the bed is a door into a walk in closet and if you look right there’s a pocket door leading into a bathroom.

The shutters are a really nice addition but I’m likely to remove them. Or at least the bottom section and leave the top for light control.

There’s no issue with privacy and I love having a view out the windows. The room isn’t quite big enough to have a bed here and be able to fully open the shutters.

Plus, I love having curtains as part of the decor.

The closet is a very nice sized walk in closet and it has a window. The only thing I’m not thrilled with is that it’s painted the same color as the room. So white paint is going to be needed here.

Also some organization.

Have you ever met a close that wasn’t in need of some kind of organization?

It’s currently holding cabinet doors from the bank of cabinets we removed in the kitchen and also a lot of junk from the move.

See, motivation on a deadline. Go through the junk and decide how to store what we need. (Let’s not think about if we actually “need” any of this).

Oh, the other thing I don’t love. The brown carpet.

We’ve got a lot of brown carpet in this house. All the bedrooms, and there are five of them. Plus the stairway.

I’m not a huge fan of carpet anyway.

Anywhere.

The carpet is going to have to stay for right now though. Since it’s in so many rooms we’ll replace that flooring all at the same time. That time is not right now, so I’ll be looking for a flat rug to put over the carpet for the time being.

The doors in this house are all 8 feet tall so this just gives you an idea of the height of the room.

It’s tall.

Twelve feet tall all around.

Then there’s this tray ceiling situation.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that these are making a comeback. I also understand these are a huge feature, I’m just confused by what to do with them.

The outside wall is 12 foot, the first tray goes to 13 foot and the third tray goes to 14 foot.

The ceiling fan is the only source of light (besides the window).

It’s not great lighting.

It’s actually kind of funny. The light is sort of like having a nightlight. You flip the switch and expect light, but it’s more of just a glow.

So that’s going to be replaced.

We’ll also add more lighting in this room so you can read a book. Or just see in here after dark.

I would love nothing more than to put a beautiful light fixture in this room. I would love that but I know that our guests would not.

Here in Texas we require ceiling fans everywhere.

So we will replace it with a new ceiling fan.

But here’s the kicker. We’re going to drop down the tallest tray. This will leave us with a more typical tray ceiling that’s just one larger tray.

It will also be painted the same color as the room.

The ceiling might very well be the biggest challenge part of this room.

First on the list is going to be another ladder. A taller ladder.

Fall 2021 ORC Plans

Here is quick design

Since the room is going to have a bed and a crib I want to make sure it’s functional for a family to stay in it. I’ll likely need a chair instead of a bench. Probably a rocking chair.

A dresser that stays clear for a changing table will be handy as well.

I also have to watch myself to make sure I don’t get too feminine in this room. Having 4 girls means that my go to colors are pinks but we’re going to welcome a boy and a girl!

The mural I’ve picked has lots of aqua’s and greens in it, but also some pinks.

I’m so excited about the mural!

I need a great paint color to accent the mural. I

f I go white the bed won’t look as amazing and if I go blue it will detract from the mural. I’m leaning toward pink but the jury is still out on that one.

First we have to tackle the ceiling!

So stay tuned for an update next week to see the progress!

Week One ORC goals

The goal this week is to get all the furniture out of this room and start on the ceiling. I think that’s going to be the biggest challenge for this project.

We’re also planning a trip (because we always like to throw in an extra challenge) so that’s going to put a dent in our week one orc plans, but it’s also going to be fun!

So it’s just the one goal for this week. If we make it further then it’s a true bonus but I’ll be happy if we can just figure this much out!

A Few More Notes

You can always find more inspiration that we save over on Pinterest.

And be sure to check out last year’s one room challenge project HERE.