One Room Challenge – Week 2: Progress & Unexpected Challenges

Progress is being made on the Family Room Makeover for the One Room Challenge, and I’ve most definitely already experienced a few challenges.  But that being said, I’ve also had some great wins, so let’s dive in.  Here is what the space looked like earlier this week – empty:

Unfortunately the fan has to stay.  🙁 

Oars will come down, just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Our new sofa had already arrived a week ago (yay!), so we really needed to get the old sofa set out as quickly to make room without having to store the old set.  Luckily, one of  my husband’s friends wanted it, so saved us from having to haul it down a flight of stairs into the basement (double yay!). Even though I was totally overjoyed with the new custom sofa I ordered (and overjoyed that it arrived 4 weeks early) I got oddly emotional about getting rid of my old, trusty sofa set.  It was my  first large purchase just out of college (totally ‘adulting’, before ‘adulting’ was a thing).  It was my trusty sidekick in my first solo apartment after college, then it took a little vacation in storage a few years when I moved into my boyfriend – now husband’s house, and eventually found it’s way back to us again when we built this house.  This set was with us when we were just two married kids, and was still with us when we were just two married kids,  with two of our own kids.  Lots of  good memories on that sofa. Glad she went to a good home where I can still visit!

The white monster!  Keep reading to see what it transform into below!

After the sofa set was out, I started to strip the walls.  The curtain panels that framed the french doors came down, as well did all the mantle decor and our large clock.  The curtains won’t be replaced – they are nice, but going for a more simplistic look.  The oversized clock will be replaced with something a bit more modern feeling, but still large in scale.   The clock over the fireplace serves not only as a decorative accent, but it really is an essential item in the the operations of our household.  My oldest son, Jackson (9) learned to tell time on this clock  – and was one of the few kids in his class that could always read the time on a wall clock.  I suspect it’s because we’re constantly referring to that large clock to let him know how long he has to do a task, or to let him know in advance when  we’re leaving to go somewhere.  Conversations usually goes like this: “When the big hand is on the 12, you need to be dressed or [insert consequence here].”  It’s really worked wonders in allowing both my boys (my youngest, Cooper is 5 now) to become responsible for completing their assigned task, but being able to do it on their own schedule – as long as it is done by the ‘deadline’ on the clock.    So anyway, replacing the clock with another large clock (that has actual numbers, not roman numerals) is essential to mine and the Mr.’s sanity around here.

Next the area above the mantle got a couple coats of paint to make it match the of the room. The color is Benjamin Moore White Dove.  Out with the dark beige/light brown, in with more white!.  I’ve painted this area this exact color once before actually, and I had a hard time adjusting to it being white –  so I reverted back to the same dark beige color (hello comfort zone).  Hopefully this time around, once I get the right accessories up, it will look better to me- fingers crossed.

The biggest change to the room has really been made to the white monster- the big blank wall opposite the TV wall.  It’s an enormous wall with10 foot ceilings, and it’s been beast for me to decorate.   The wall has seen it’s fair share of trends over the years, however.  There have been photos ledges, a gallery wall, plans to hang a pair of vintage doors on it that never came to fruition (thank goodness, what was I thinking?), thoughts of adding custom built in shelving, and  then and eventually made it’s way to a big, blank wall.  Since, I’ve had a hard time figuring out a good solution for the wall.  Until now.  We spent a few hours this past weekend putting up four, 6 1/2 foot long DIY floating shelves, and all for under $100.  They turned out great, not lie.  I would definitely consider this a major success for this space. If you are looking for affordable, floating shelving, this is the way to do it.   I won’t go into too much detail now about the process, but stop back on Tuesday next week for more photos and a full tutorial.  Here’s a little peek:

Floating!! 

Decor just added for dramatic effect – and so you can see the white on white shelves.

So with success of one of the major components of the room under our belt, I figured it was smooth sailing from there!  Not to mention that the sofa arrived earlier than expected (total win), and I’m in love with the base I ordered for the DIY marble coffee table (more on that in Week 3).  But of course, things never go quite as planned, and I’ve run into a few challenges as well.  The large area rug I ordered to go under the furniture arrived on Monday, and while I LOVE the rug itself, it doesn’t seem to work well with the color of the sofa.  The tight black and cream diamond pattern tends to creates a color to the the rug that seems to alter the color of the grey/greige sofa closer to the purple spectrum.  And that is NOT cool with me.   So, I’m shifting gears a bit, and instead I’ve been debating between a large sheepskin or cowhide rug.  It won’t cover as much area as the previous rug, but I think it will be just enough.  A large rug essential to help conceal some of the staining and wearing on the carpeting, so I am really hoping one of these two options will be the magic bullet.

Sneak peek of the new sofa!  The colors/pattern looks great close up, but it’s the larger view that doesn’t work.

Success! The table base for the coffee table DIY

Its a gorgeous rug, just not in that particular space. We ended up moving it into our basement, and it looks great there!

The only other challenge be the chairs.  I love them as much as I love the rug, but they were just not right overall. I knew as soon as they arrived.  So I have a  new idea for a pair of chairs (necessary to the seating situation for the space), but it requires finding a pair of vintage chairs and some DIY upholstery project.  I’d pay someone in a heartbeat to do the upholstery and avoid the DIY,  but I know it’d cost me a fortune.   So, I’ll give it a shot (wish me luck)!.  Plus, if this idea works, I’m confident it’s going to look beyond awesome – and that will make up for the DIY pain I know this project will be!

So this is were things are currently at.   Here’s the to do list as it stands now:

• Install goose neck sconce lighting above the bookshelves (this is actually happening today, so I can kind of half check it off the list)
• Decide on and purchase a new rug
• Locate a pair of vintage chairs, and DIY reupholster them.
• Complete the DIY coffee table
• Change out the current feet on the sofa for new feet
• Shop for lamp lighting
• Stain the media cabinet
• Make remaining online purchases
• Create a two part typographic print for shelves (which will also be a free download for you later in the challenge!)
• Shop for accessories and plants (Can’t wait for this part!)’

Not too bad overall. The rug and chairs threw me for a bit of a loop, but I think the changes will be for the best – so I’m almost glad they didn’t work out.  Keep checking back for updated posts over the next four weeks to see where some of these changes take me!  Thanks for joining me for Week 2 of the One Week Challenge!

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