Hello there! It’s Week 4 of the One Room Challenge! How did that happen? A lot’s been going on around here in the past week, and it’s starting to look like an office/sewing room in here instead of a junk room that we pretend doesn’t exist!
If this is your first time reading, thanks for stopping by! I’m participating in the six-week long One Room Challenge sponsored by Calling it Home. To see what I’ve been up to in previous weeks, click here. To see what the other 150+ participats are up to this week, click here.
I’ll start today’s post with a reminder of what the room looked like when we got started and the progress we’ve made since then:
 |
| Right side – Before |
 |
| Right side – Today |
 |
| Center – Before |
 |
| Center – Today |
 |
| Left side – Before |
 |
| Left side – Today |
When I left off last week, these were the goals I hoped to complete by today:
1. Determine paint color for new sewing desk
2. Create order by removing and rearranging furniture.
3. Start making the switch: move items from old sewing room to new office/sewing room.
4. Consider fabric options.
We’ll start with an update on Goal #1: I keep waffling on the color for the sewing desk, so I consulted the Mister to see what he thought. We talked through it, and I think the current ‘final’ decision is to paint the desk navy and the pegboard, which will hang directly above it, the pretty aqua. The frame color for both the pegboard and the giant bulletin board that will hang on the other side of the alcove is still up in the air; it will be either dark wood stain or white.
Last week, I mentioned that though I usually gravitate toward more detailed photo frames, I had decided on plain white frames for this room since there is already so much decorative trim around the tops of the bookcases and around the windows. Along those same lines, I had started to consider using plain wood to frame the peg and bulletin boards instead of fancier trim.
After my trip to the dentist last week, my mind was made up. You’re probably thinking that this is a strange time to make such a decision, and you’re right. But this was my first visit to his new office (which was only 100 yards away from the rising the flood waters the day it was due to open, but it was spared!), and I found inspiration in the new building. During my visit, I noticed that instead of fancy molding, they used basic wood slats as baseboards and window trim throughout the office. I really liked the simplicity of the basic trim, and the view of the trees outside didn’t hurt, either!
 |
I’m one of those weirdos who loves going to the dentist.
But who wouldn’t enjoy this view even if it is only available from a dentist’s chair? |
Moving on to Goal #2 – All the furniture that needed to be removed is finally gone!! This makes me incredibly happy. Also, my old TV from college is now in the corner where it belongs, and I can now turn on my old Disney VHS’s while I work, along with any DVD (instead of using the computer). For now, this TV doesn’t get any channels, which is probably for the best because real TV is a bit distracting. The Mister set aside 3 hours to work with me after work the other night, and we turned on the Lion King while we worked and had a pizza dinner.
During our 3 hour session, we moved all the furniture out of the way, discussed fabrics, paint colors, and light fixtures, and the Mister sifted through a few stacks of his old things and hung the medal shelf and rod.
 |
| And it turned out to be level! |
Yesterday, I spent the morning arranging all of our medals in the order that we received them, ironing their ribbons with my hair straightener, and hanging them up on the shelf, with the oldest ones in the middle and the newest at the outsides so we can easily add new ones in chronological order.
 |
| These colors were too pretty not to photograph! |
The Mister’s medals hang on the left side; mine hang on the right. Most of his are from high school with fewer from college and later. Mine are the opposite, with a few from high school and most from races during and after college. The dividing line between our medals is his little hay bale medal just a bit to the left of center. I haven’t finished arranging the rest of these shelves yet and will print some photos of us at races both during and after high school to put on the shelf above the medals. And in a few weeks, when the madness of the One Room Challenge is over, I’ll share a how-to on the medal display.
 |
I’m considering getting some shower curtain hooks to make the medals face forward instead of sideways
(one’s neck is vertical, but the rod is horizontal, which confuses the medals). |
As far as Goal #3 goes, we’re making good progress! I started moving crates of fabric and craft supplies on Monday morning, and have moved a bit more each day. Last night after work, the Mister broke down my old craft desk/table and moved most of the units up to the office.
 |
| The desk Before… |
The cubes rested overnight after their long trip from the opposite side of the house.
 |
| The cubes hanging out overnight |
This morning I reassembled the cubes in their new location and propped the big bulletin board on top of the amazing new craft supply shelf they created to get a feel for how much it needs to be cut down before we frame it. It’s currently WAY too big for the space.
 |
The new cube shelf After:
I had hoped there would be enough space on the far end to put my bolts of decorator fabric,
but the unit is only 3″ smaller than the wall. The remaining space is perfect to store my light tracer and paper trimmer. |
It’s starting to look a little empty in the sewing room! But take a look at the giant bulletin/magnet board that remains: I learned my lesson with it as far as using busy fabric goes. I absolutely love the fabric, but it’s probably better for curtains or pillows. There aren’t that many items on the board, but it looks really messy and disorganized, and though the plain cork above reminds me a little too much of the old paint color, I really like the way it makes the few fabrics on it stand out. My plan as been to cover it with fabric, but I’m also now considering 1) Leaving it bare (but there are a bunch of random pen marks on it that don’t look great); 2) Painting it white; 3) Using a MUCH simpler fabric to cover it.
 |
I have plans for this space but am not letting myself think about them
until the new office is complete to prevent totally overwhelming myself! |
The fourth and final goal for Week 4 was to consider fabric options. This is quite a vague goal, and as a result of its vague-ness, I can say it was completed. I did rule out any fabrics at Hancock Fabrics during my quick trip there on Tuesday, and I plan to stop by JoAnn’s and Hobby Lobby tomorrow before ordering samples of a few I like on Fabric.com. I already have three samples from a previous project (the ones on the giant bulletin board in the photo of the new craft shelf), and will probably use the navy one at the top somewhere in the room. I will also most likely use the pink and white striped fabric in last week’s post, but only in a small amount (this is a shared space, after all, and I don’t want it to be too girly). It’s an outdoor fabric and will be perfect to re-cover the bar stool for the new giant craft table and small stool for sewing desk. And maybe the rolly desk chair, though I’m not sure I want to tackle that.
Alright, moving on to goals for Week 5:
Make shopping list for and successfully navigate trip to Ikea with the Mister.
We will be near an Ikea for a few days next week and will be buying several items, including shelves for the base of the giant craft table, photo frames, and magazine holders. We will do our best to avoid the inevitable Ikea breakdown experienced by Liz Lemon and Criss Cross in 30 Rock.
Assemble new giant craft table!
We will use the aforementioned shelves as the base of the craft table, which will be the last major piece of furniture to be added to the room.
Finish swapping rooms.
I’m waiting until I paint the sewing desk to move the sewing machine and everything that goes with it, plus the pegboard and everything it holds. In addition to these items, there are still some other craft supplies to be moved. Once it’s all in the room and I know what I’m working with, I’ll arrange all the items on the book shelves a bit better as they are quite a mess right now.
Paint pegboard and sewing desk.
We’ll make a decision and live with it! After all, it’s just paint, so if it’s the wrong decision it’ll be easy enough to fix.
Purchase new light fixture, fans, and wood for peg and bulletin board frames.
The light fixture for the bottom of the stairs is an online only item, so I’ll need to order it soon, and we’ll make a trip to Lowe’s to look at fans together. I want the Mister with me for that purchase since he’ll hopefully be the one to install them. Might as well buy the wood for the frames while we’re there!
Take the dogs for a walk.
The littlest members of the family have been missing out on their exercise lately. After my own run and running up and down the stairs with heavy boxes like a crazy person, I don’t quite have it in me to walk them. They have found other ways to entertain themselves, though:
 |
| Pipsqueek entertained himself by finding piles of things to sleep on. Mainly, he discovered the giant fish that I was determined to get rid of, or at least to relocate to another room. It looks like it has found new life as a dog bed, though. |
 |
| Rocky also discovered the magic of the giant fish, along with a fuzzy blanket and the real dog bed. |
In other news, have a newfound love of Celtic music, which I’ve been listening to on Pandora for the past 2 hours as I create this post. For whatever reason, I selected it instead of my classic country station, and I think I’ve found a great new way to work! So far, my favorite song is “I’ll Tell Me Ma” by The Young Dubliners. It’s quite catchy!
Here’s to another productive week!
Laura
