If you want to learn more about the One Room Challenge, how to participate or how it all started, click on the website link here. 

I heard about the ORC from some of the bloggers that I follow who have participated in past challenges and renovated some amazing rooms (you can see past participants on the website). It was great timing for John and I, since we’re in the middle of renovating our bedroom. I can be a pretty bad procrastinator, so having a deadline seemed like a great way to force myself into finishing the room. Otherwise, we’ll end up sleeping in the basement for a year. Plus, since there are so many participants, I know it’ll be easy for me to stay motivated just from watching everyone else’s progress with their own rooms. 

This is what we started with. Not a lot to look at and a pain in the butt to clean!

How I like to start my projects

I started by making a list of my likes and dislikes for our room. This was really easy to do and made it very clear what my priorities were. I’ve put a couple of pictures of my original lists below. Looking at them again I’m realizing how important having things tidy and clean is to me. I base a lot of my decisions on whether or not they’ll make it easy to vacuum dog hair. It’s a really important factor in my life! Honestly, that’s probably the thing I hate most about our bedroom now. I feel like it never looks clean and put together because of the dog beds. That being said, I want them to have a comfy place to sleep and I want it to be close to me, so hidden beds are a must!

Making a plan of attack

Up next was listing out some of the ideas I already had. 

I’ve been dead set on doing a faux brick wall in our bedroom for a long time now! Truth is, I bought the panels for this about 2 years ago and they have been sitting in the garage collecting dust ever since. These are finally being used!

I also wanted to add a headboard to our bed. I got the idea for this foam headboard from Suzy at The Sweet Bungalow’s master bedroom. She used Bradley Tolbert’s tutorial to make it, and  I really wanted something similar. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has changed my plans for this. The fabric I wanted to use is backordered because of shipping delays, so I came up with a Plan B that will still allow me to add the headboard later if I want to (I’ll chat more about this in a later post). 

I have a tendency to get overwhelmed with ideas, which can lead to a lot of great ideas that don’t necessarily go together. To try to organize my ideas for this challenge, I made a mood board! It’s funny, because while I was in university, we had to hand in mood boards for a lot of our design projects and I HATED THEM! I like to think that this was because I didn’t have enough time to get everything done, and it seemed like an unnecessary step. More truthfully, I’m pretty sure I was just being a lazy bum. Trust 28 year old Kaitlyn and not 18 year old Kaitlyn; mood boards are such a great tool!!! Especially for a larger project like an entire room. 

I used Adobe InDesign to make my moodboard, but you could do this in a word document too. I also like to make a mockup of the area in photoshop. This usually looks pretty rough, but it gives me a better idea of how I want to put my room together. Pinterest will also be your best friend throughout this entire process!

Alright, last but definitely not least we need to talk about budgeting! I think going into anything you should have a budget. Whether you’re traveling, purchasing a house or shopping with your mom, it’s a good idea to have at least a rough idea of what you are willing to spend. I originally budgeted $1000 for our master bedroom because I knew fabric and the foam for the headboard would use about half of this. Since I’m changing that part of the project, I’m hoping I can come in under $750. This should pay for everything I need: wood, paint, frames, rugs, bedding, etc. For each project, I’ll list the materials needed, where I bought them and their cost so that if you want to recreate it for yourself, you have an idea of what it will cost before getting started. Let’s hope the sale gods are looking out for me!