For a few years now, I have been following the One Room Challenge hosted by Linda over at Calling It Home. It has such a great following and some really gorgeous spaces have come out of the challenge. But what I like about it most is:
- The diversity of the participants and their rooms, and
- Accountability.
I have thought about joining in for a while and since we moved last year and have still not “finished” things in our new home, I figured this would be the perfect time to come out of “lurkdom”.
So I am stepping out of my comfort zone and joining the One Room Challenge!!! And I am so excited!
My first mind was to tackle what we like to call the Kids Media Room. It was already at the top of the list when we tried to prioritize what rooms needed the most attention. Our master bedroom & bathroom were last on the list. But then I got to thinking…
As parents we are always looking out for others, especially our kids. We work hard, some of us play hard, and we deserve a little attention too. So my mind shifted to doing something for the adults. Specifically, my husband and I, specifically OUR room, our BEDroom to be exact.
No complaints from my husband! And just like that, we’ve decided to makeover our Master Bedroom for the One Room Challenge.
I’ve mentioned before that our overall style is transitional but in our new home we lean more toward the contemporary side of transitional. Inspiration for our bedroom is coming from:
- We love to travel and all of our favorite spots have 1 thing in common – beaches.
- We’re also really picky about hotels, specifically the beds in hotels. I don’t care much about amenities, it’s all about the BED.
- All the windows in the bedroom are overlooking the lake on the back side of our home, so we have to do that view justice.
We want a relaxed beach vibe – light & airy with a beach-y feel, but not a beach “theme” and definitely not farmhouse, cottage, or shabby.
Sitting on the sofa you can see into the bedroom from the family room, which I actually like, but we keep the door closed when people visit. Even though it’s neat & functional, it has started become a storage space for items that haven’t found a home yet – lamps, furniture, pictures. It’s a good size at around 18′ x 15′ – people always think bigger is better but 1 of the “challenges” is to make good use of the space.
Right now our master bedroom looks very stark and the furniture almost looks like a set even though it definitely isn’t – I don’t do sets. I love to do unexpected things with layouts, color, and materials. There’s lots of gorgeous bedrooms over on Pinterest and at Houzz with some great general ideas.
Most or all of the furniture will stay in the room. Some of the changes I plan to make are:
- Repaint – 1st & foremost that blue tray ceiling MUST go
- Update textiles – window treatments & bedding, add a rug?
- Refinish my grandmother’s high boy (on the right side of the 2nd photo)
- Refinish my “side table” (it’s actually a sewing table minus the sewing machine and a real top)
- Recover the sofa and arrange a true sitting area
- Keep the ceiling fan but update the light
- Add art & accessories
- Perhaps a little something unexpected with the french doors to the bathroom
True to my design philosophy, I plan to reuse as much as possible and donate/recycle the rest. The One Room Challenge is six weeks long so be sure to check back to see how things are going. It’s always easier for me to work on other people’s spaces so this truly is going to be a challenge. AND I’m a classic INTJ (extra emphasis on the I) putting it all out there, so we’ll see how this goes! Stay tuned…
