One Room Challenge - Guest Room / Office / Creative Space

Wow. It feels like it has been a million years since I last logged into my Blogger account. 

But in reality, it has only been eight. 

In 2018, I had just left a job I loved and moved out of Toronto—farther north than I had ever lived before. I was living with my parents, enrolled in Interior Decorating as a mature student, working online as an eDesigner, writing for a lifestyle site, obsessed with Instagram, and so excited to finally be stepping into a career in the design world.

The eight years that followed packed in more life than I ever could have predicted: becoming a homeowner, actually working in the design world, becoming an aunt (twice!), meeting my now-husband, becoming a landlord, living through a global pandemic, getting laid off, changing careers, turning a candle-making hobby into a side hustle, moving 7+ times, building a house, changing careers again, falling out of love with social media...and most recently (just last weekend) getting married.

A lot has changed since I last logged in. But I've been missing the blogging world. 

I miss scrolling the grainy photos and having an attention span that could handle reading an entire post. The DIYs that weren't polished or algorithm-friendly. I miss when being creative wasn't about building a brand or a side hustle. It was about making your space feel like you and inspiring other people to do the same. 

I'm looking forward to jumping back in and challenging myself to actually finish a project (anyone else have a hard time doing this lately?!) 

Luckily this season of the One Room Challenge came at the perfect time for me, when I've been itching for a creative challenge. 

Our guest room has always been a hodgepodge dumping ground for the things I like and need, but don't have anywhere else to put them. ie the Cricut I received a few years ago for Christmas. I love it, but have always packed it back up into its box after using it because I never had a dedicated space for it--until now! 

This spring I am going to try and tie together all of the things I need this room to be: Guest Room, Office, Creative Space. 

My fingers are crossed in hopes that my design ideas don't cause our first argument as husband and wife! 

This room is truly a disaster. 

But that just means the after photos will seem that much better, right? 

Step 1 - Moving the two garbage bags of clothes out of the room and into the back of my car (...will drive around with them for a while, but eventually will drop them off at our local VV) 

Find the full list of my fellow ORC participants and follow our progress here! 

Updated One Room Challenge Reveal

Over the Christmas break I managed to snag a few more pics of my updated One Room Challenge. November is a pretty dark month, and that made it tricky to get some bright pics. Plus I had some spare time to hang pictures and do a little more tweaking to the styling.

Click here for all of the before pics and my original final reveal post. 

Merry Christmas and happy New Year! 
Ashley

Week 6 / 7 - One Room Challenge - Reveal!

{{ catch up on past weeks }}

WEEK 1  //  WEEK 2  //  WEEK 3  //  WEEK 4 //  WEEK 5

past one room challenge reveals

SPRING 2016  //  FALL 2016

Seven weeks have come and gone, marking the very end of the Fall 2017 One Room Challenge! I'm not going to lie, I was concerned that my dad and I weren't going to finish on time, but this past weekend we finished all of our Dapp'ing (I think we counted 6 tubes) and painting and FINALLY got a chance to decorate! 

As always, a huge thank you goes out to Linda from Calling it Home. She's the mastermind behind the One Room Challenge, a massive blogging event that brings together almost 300 designers and bloggers. Twice a year she challenges everyone to redecorate a room in six short weeks, and share their progress/pain points in weekly posts. You can check out the featured designers' final spaces here and my fellow 200-and-something guest participants here.

This year my dad and I transformed a guest room into a second media/TV room. And with the help of Metrie, we were able to incorporate some beautiful mouldings into our space. Last year we had created a board and batten look in my bedroom, and the goal for this season's ORC space was to carry the theme of a cozy, modern-cottage into the new space. This time, we created a slightly more elaborate board and batten design, using Metrie's 6" MDF Stile Rail, and on either side of the 6" rail we placed Metrie's True Craft 1 5/8" Fingerjoint Poplar Applied Moulding. We spaced each rail 8" apart, and it created a really beautifully layered space with tons of dimension. 

On the ceilings we added Metrie's 11 1/2" MDF Shiplap, I chose shiplap in lieu of a tongue and groove paneling simply because the shiplap offered a wider panel and we really wanted something that was as minimal as possible. The shiplap was heavy to hang, and needed some serious drilling, but the results were worth it. 

To make the space feel as large as possible we painted the ceiling, walls and casings all in one colour, Benjamin Moore's Simply White in a flat finish. This was the same colour as my previous ORC room, and helped to tie the two spaces together.   

Okay, time for some pictures! But first, another goal I had set for myself was to shop my own stuff and use what I had. I stuck to that for the most part, aside from the buffet-turned-tv stand that I picked up at my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and refinished with some chalk paint I purchased at Michael's. On Tuesday night I also managed to score a very last-minute side table off of Kijiji for $20, and it fits that little nook next to the sofa perfectly. 

Okay, now it's actually time for some Before and After pictures :) 

(Congrats to everyone for finishing their spaces!)

Week 5 - One Room Challenge - Shiplap Ceiling

{{ catch up on past weeks }}

WEEK 1  //  WEEK 2  //  WEEK 3  //  WEEK 4

past one room challenge reveals

SPRING 2016  //  FALL 2016

As it turns out, that phrase Beauty is pain also applies to home renovations. My learning from week 5: Shiplap is no joke. Clearly this is how Joanna Gaines stays in shape, because after 8 straight hours of holding 7-foot-something pieces over my head (yeah, you read that right) on Sunday, I had some sore pipes and a knot in my neck on Monday...

My mid-Sunday afternoon thought was that we should give up and move on to making up a Plan B. Because, shiplap was probably best saved for just walls and should not be placed on ceilings. It was much heavier than I had expected, and required some serious screws to hold. BUT, now that it is done and we've dapped those nails and rested those muscles, shiplap definitely needs to be on more ceilings. I love the wider panels (11 1/2" MDF primed boards from Metrie), it's clean and crisp and adds tons of character to an otherwise bland and often over-looked spot. 

To get this lovely shiplap onto the ceilings, we drew a leveled line on the angled wall where we wanted to start our 'ceiling'

We then drew pencil lines across the ceiling where our beams/studs were running. We needed to nail our shiplap planks horizontally onto the studs so they would all hold. The first few planks that went up the angled wall were by far the most difficult, and we had a few challenges to overcome--like our wonky, not-at-all-straight walls. We were constantly checking the level to make sure we were keeping a straight line, and now that we're done, the shiplap actually did a great job at hiding the imperfections and creating a straight slope. I regret not taking a picture of how 'off' our ceiling was, but at the time I was too nervous it was all going to be a giant disaster.

Once the ceiling was finished we sanded and Dapp'd over the sunken screw nails, and I had waaaaay too much fun on Instagram stories playing around with filters and doodling on pics. I was off Instagram for a while, but am back to being obsessed.

What else happened this week? 

Well, I picked a paint colour and prepped my new TV stand (which was a dining room buffet in a former life). I had had some good success painting furniture in my Spring 2016 ORC room, when I refinished my Bubi's nightstands. At the time, I was worried I would be ruining them, but I am SO happy with how they've held up this past year. I think the trick was giving them a heavy wash with TSP  and water (check carton for exact measurements). I let them dry for 24 hours, and then washed once more. Once dry you'll see that the texture and colour of your furniture is a little dulled and matte. I haven't needed to sand any of the pieces I have painted, but you can if you feel you need to. 

This year I picked up a furniture paint from Michaels. It is their Americana Decor Chalky Finish in Primitive. I haven't used this before, but loved the colour, and think it will bring out some of the pretty details in my new TV stand. Once the second coat dries I will be buffing it with bee's wax. 

The plan for week 6? 

- paint TV stand

- prime walls

- hang the rest of our trim

- paint walls and ceiling 

- clean cabinet hardware 

The plan for week 7? 

- clean

- move in furniture and accessories 

- DECORATE :) 

- photograph 

That finish line is almost in sight! As always, a massive 'thank you' goes out to Linda of Calling it Home and her amazing creation that is The One Room Challenge. Twice a year, Linda brings together bloggers, decorators, designers, and enthusiasts and challenges us to redecorate a room in six short and sweet weeks (this year we have an extra week due to the number of natural disasters or fellow ORC pals in the States are having to deal with). 

I also am forever grateful to Metrie for sponsoring my room for this challenge. Their products can truly transform a space the way no other accessory can. You can click here to find a Metrie dealer in your area.