If you’re not familiar with the One Room Challenge, it is a six week design challenge in the spring and fall with twenty featured designers and hundreds of guest designers. Everyone chooses a room to transform, and this year we have eight weeks to complete the challenge. I’ve been following the One Room Challenge since it started but this is my first time participating as a guest!
As you know, we’ve already started remodeling our home office. It was always the plan to do our home office remodel as part of the One Room Challenge but I wanted to get a head start because I’ve never built cabinets from scratch! Here’s the before, my design plans, and where we are starting the One Room Challenge:
Before…
We started with a completely blank space:
This room has been serving as an office, but a very poorly equipped one! Also, like most rooms in our house, it has ZERO built in storage. This is surprising given the square footage of our home, but it’s also an opportunity to build custom solutions, like built ins!
Design Plans
Here is a SketchUp model of my design for the office:
The long blank wall in the room will have built ins with two desks- three base cabinets and two upper cabinets and bookshelf in the middle. The base cabinets in the corners will be drawers and the base cabinet in the middle will have doors and house our printer and other electronic items. The upper cabinets in the corners will have doors for lots of enclosed storage and the bookshelf in the middle will divide the two desk areas.
There wall on the left will be a feature wall- the bottom half will be slat wainscoting and the upper two thirds will be faux brick.
Then there’s all the pretty details, right? I have an exciting collaboration to announce for the lighting, and I’ll add a rug, drapes, chairs, and other fun items to complete the space.
Where We Are at Now…
If you’ve been following on Instagram, you already know we built the cabinets, bookshelf, and a custom desktop that spans the entire length of the built ins:
The real showstopper here is the desktop we made out of spalted maple boards that we found at an Amish lumber mill. They add so much character to the space!
Plan for the One Room Challenge
I love celebrating the fact that we have accomplish SO much thus far, but there is also SO much left to do! That’s why I wanted to do the One Room Challenge to finish this space- it will keep me motivated and on track. Here’s a general idea of what we need to accomplish:
1. Slat wainscoting
2. Brick accent wall
3. Cabinet doors and drawer fronts
4. Crown molding
And finally, here’s my mood board!
I’m ready to get started on the slat wainscoting, so be sure to follow along on Instagram @LoveLivingHere to see all the details and I’ll be back next week here on the blog with a recap and update!
