ORC Tenth Anniversary Fall Edition Week 1

The Challenge and The Checklist

The One Room Challenge is an eight week design challenge held twice yearly and includes twenty featured designers and hundreds of guest designers. Started by an interior designer 10 years ago as a way for her and her online besties to complete their home improvement tasks, this year’s media partner is Apartment Therapy.

This will be second time participating! I did fall 2020 and had so much fun AND a little stress, to be TOTALLY honest! Still being mid Covid, the hubs and I tackled the job ourselves, including wallpapering the tallest wall in our bedroom. It was actually much easier than I thought and hubs had a great time helping. When we were done, HE was the one that chimed in he was ready for another go.

To check out the “workflow” for Fall 2020, view the other weeks here… (Or view them all)

• PSDesign ORC Week One
• PSDesign ORC Week Two
• PSDesign ORC Week Three
• PSDesign ORC Week Four
• PSDesign ORC Week Five
• PSDesign ORC Week Six

For now, we are pumped to get the Fall ORC off to a great start. We’ll dig in this week to the design plan, the inspo and a few preliminary items.

I was inspired!

I confess, I love wallpaper. There’s something so transformative about putting a bold (or subtle) paper on an entire will. When we did the fall ORC I’d been sparked by the Black and White Banyon Tree wallpaper. The rest of the plan fell in around it. Almost immediately after completion I found this paper and knew I needed it somewhere. I love the bold pattern, the cool colors on the black background. It had just enough gold and it hinted at a retro vibe without screaming vintage. Without missing a beat, I ordered four rolls to just to make sure I had enough. In full disclosure, I wasn’t 100% sure about WHERE it was going but definitely going somewhere.

The Sewing Table

About the same time we started the fall challenge, I bought myself a sewing table. I liked it as it fold flat and (theoretically) fit under a bed. But really I was enjoying being able to whip up quick pillows, repair clothing items and even contemplated making some things from scratch (well, THAT hasn’t happened). But the sewing table just sits in the office taking up space.

Also in the room? An “L” shaped desk that fits an awkward corner and affords me the most beautiful view in the house. My brother-in-law built it for me, based on my mom’s suggestion and while basic I love the shape, the location and the size. It’s over 9′ long!!! It was built before I had a “real” office to go to so I could lay out fabrics, storyboards and design plans. I still work from home a bit so it gets a fair bit of that but mainly it’s for household paperwork, sewing projects. I figured out that if I could lift this thing about 1.5″, my new sewing table would fit underneath it slightly and make up the difference in the room OR fold up and fit underneath and out of the way. Best of both worlds.

If you give a mouse a cookie.

If you’re a mom or dad, or were a kid anytime in the last 20 years, you may know this book. There were several of them in the series and my kids loved them! But this little project is the decorating equivalent of that book. It started with a sewing table and will end with (hopefully!) a gorgeous, creative and organized home office to entice me from working ALL the time and into other creative pursuits.

Kicking off the challenge.

I started plotting the next project over Christmas ’20. Anyone that works with me or knows how I plan, will probably I know I use Trello to organize projects. Client projects, marketing projects, family vacations and don’t get me started on my detailed board for our Europe trip in ’19, lol!!! So this was no different. I love that I can organize all my thoughts and the drag and drop feature allows me to see items next to each other. I’ll share the board with y’all at the end of this if you want but for now, know that I created a sharable board for organizing design projects here if YOU want to try it out.

The MOOD Board (’cause it’s ALL about the mood!)

Here’s a little sneak peak of the elements slated for the room.

To-Do List

• Remove and elevate the existing desk AND repaint it. (Color TBD – MORE one that next week)
• Paint the walls – wall color is close but needs a refresh
• Wallpaper, baby!
• MAYBE? paint the shelves??? (can we chat??? this as a trickle down effect!!)
• Paint/Paper/Re-Imagine the basic closet doors
• Re-upholster my previously made-over and very comfy desk chair
• Update the lighting
• Select the new art
• Steal the hubs guest chair ‘case while I don’t love IKEA ALL the time, I DO love, love, love this chair
• New custom decorative valance
• New woven privacy blind without Cat-tempting cords
• New organizational plan
• Style the bookshelves – Maybe add wallpaper behind for texture!

That’s it for now! Next week we’ll dive into problem solving – my favorite subject!

xoxo,