ORC – Spring Weeks 4 & 5

Weeks 4 & 5

 

Here we go with the last update on the bathroom project I’m working on during the One Room Challenge. I haven’t done many updates because we had some major things happen during the past few weeks — we actually decided put our house on the market and it sold a couple of weeks ago.

I had been planning to do the One Room Challenge for a few months and the project was supposed to be all about doing small manageable updates that could be done over a couple of hours each weekend. Well, good thing it was a simple plan since we had to cram the whole thing into one weekend.

I had planned to do all of the work myself but we were so lucky to have good friends come visit for the weekend – good friends who are very skilled with home improvement. This is Alfredo and he was the one who brought my vision to reality. He brought his circular saw and years of experience doing his own projects. I have so much to learn from him!

I had wanted to create the look of floating shelves in our bathroom closet while using materials I already had. My plan was the use plywood that was from a booth I had made for the One of a Kind Show.

This is the booth I made a few years ago to sell my art & accessories. It has been in storage in the garage and I’ve been saving the wood to repurpose. (You may recognize the shelf & storage unit from my studio).

Alfredo traced the shape of the shelves onto the plywood and then cut them with the circular saw.

He then created thin strips to go on the front of the shelves to give them depth.

Now the shelves are a feature waiting to be styled rather than a messy storage area — All with reused materials. I had planned to stain the wood but I ended up liking it as is. With the walls and tiles all being white, the wood here warms up the room.

 

Here’s a little step by step guide for how to update a vanity without doing a renovation — it’s easy and makes a world of difference. Next week will be the final reveal.

 

 

 

To see how everyone else is coming along with their rooms follow the link below:

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ORC – Week 7 Reveal

The One Room Challenge is now done and it’s time to see the finished spaces for all participants. There were a lot of changes in our home during these past 7 weeks, especially with the addition of our newest family member who was born 3 weeks ago.

Completing this room by myself while being very pregnant and then with a newborn had its challenges. I was able to install the Metrie trim but I  didn’t have enough time to paint the bunk beds — I may have been a bit unrealistic about what I could complete during this time!

The foundation of the room is finished with the new trim, casings, baseboards and new light fixture. With the board and batten on the walls, the ceiling seems higher and these formerly blank white walls have interest even though one side of the room is currently bare.

Remember how this wall looked before when it was just plain white and had narrow baseboards? See the difference now? 

This is the side where the bunk beds will go. In the meantime, here is a clear view of the new, Wide Baseboards and Solid Pine Lattice that I used for the board and batten. It was a new challenge to change the baseboards and I’m so glad I did because it gives the whole room a more updated look.

What I learned from installing wide baseboards is that you need a large blade on your mitre saw in order to properly cut them. That’s just something to keep in mind when choosing a saw if you like the wider moulding profiles.

The board and batten worked well with the awkward angles of this room.

For artwork, I used this painting that was done by my husband and just happened to be the right colour scheme for the room. While mum was visiting in October she made this flannel crib sheet.

Here is my 3-week old son testing out the new space and of course our dog, Cali is right there beside him.

Thank you to Metrie for helping to make this vision a reality! I love when a sketch or an idea comes to fruition.

Even though many elements in the room stayed the same (curtains, curtain rod, crib) with a new foundation the whole room looks new.

To see how all of the other 200 + rooms turned out click on the ORC logo below.

ORC- Week 5

The pieces and materials are all coming together for this room, now it’s just a matter of completing all of the projects. 

This is my son who was born last Thursday and was the reason that I decided to take on the One Room Challenge this fall. This pineapple quilt was made by my Mum and is part of the theme for the room.

Since my last post, I’ve ripped off the basic mouldings in the room so that I can replace them with Metrie baseboards and casings. Since I’m going to be adding board and batten to the walls, I wanted to add weight to the baseboards and casings to make the whole room have more architectural interest.

I am so excited to partner with Metrie again to complete this project. This time I’m using trim from their Pretty Simple Collection because the profiles were the perfect complement for the lattice I’m using as the battens.

This is what I’ll be using in the room:

Solid Pine Lattice 1 5/8″

Pretty Simple Casing 

Pretty Simple Baseboards 5 1/4″ 

This is the current state of the room with all mouldings removed. Before installing the new ones I will paint them outside in the garage. Since I couldn’t wait to see how it would look I propped up the new baseboards to get an idea of how it will look.

We have bunk beds now as well. After searching for months without any luck, I finally found this set of solid wood bunk beds on Kijiji. 

This was the only picture in the ad but it was enough to tell that they were what I was looking for – good quality, solid wood and could be separated into twin beds in the future if we ever wanted to.

This is part of the bunk bed frame that I’m planning to paint white.

After seeing the bunk bed ladder in the room I think I’ll leave it as is for practical reasons and also because the colour of wood works with the white walls and yellow curtains.

 

To see the progress of the other One Room Challenge participants click on the logo below.

ORC – Week 4

It’s week 4 of the One Room Challenge and our baby was born this morning! Even though this room isn’t perfectly finished it doesn’t matter because we have a bassinet in our room to use for the first couple of months anyway.

 

Another announcement is that I am partnering with Metrie to change these plain white walls into ones with more substance thanks to board and batten moulding. Below is the rest of my mood board for the room.
After adding moulding in other rooms of the house, I have seen the sense of character it adds and envisioned it here as well. Since this room is an irregular shaped kids room that will be packed with furniture, the board and batten painted white will add some subtle dimension to the walls.

Image Via: Rethink Design Studio

This image from Rethink Design Studio is the inspiration and I intend to do a similar style. I like how they used the lattice along the top edge instead of crown moulding. After installing moulding on our staircase this should be a simple job.

This is the rough idea of what I’m planning. After doing some sketching and spending time in the room measuring different spacing, I prefer the look the board and batten being wider.

 

That’s it for this week…time to get back to that baby! More updates from the other participants can be found below.

 

Fall ORC – Week 3

Lighting

Lighting has been the biggest change in this room so far. I finally replaced the builder basic light with a statement one. Since the rest of the room is going to be mainly white and yellow I wanted to create a focal point with the light fixture. My plan was to use this bucket style pendant light and adjust the length to the shortest I could possibly make it.

This is what the light looked like with the original long cord and below are photos of it in the room after it had been shortened.

Since this was the only change made to the room since last week, here’s a view of the light from all different angles.

A reminder of what the room looked like before.

This weekend we’re planning to buy a secondhand bunk bed. I’ve been searching for one for months without luck so hopefully this one works out! If not, we aren’t in a huge rush which helps when you’re looking for a specific secondhand piece.

 

Progress in other rooms from the One Room Challenge can be seen here in One Room Challenge Week 3.

Fall ORC – Week 2

It’s Week 2 of the Fall One Room Challenge and just over 1 week away from the new baby’s due date.

Here’s a look at the plan I have for this shared nursery/bedroom – a neutral base with white walls, furniture & bedding; a statement light fixture and colourful accents that can be changed up over time.

Initially, I had planned to colour block the walls with navy on the bottom of the wall to contrast with the white furniture. When my husband saw how dark the navy was, he was completely opposed to this plan so I ended up painting the walls solid white instead. I still think that the navy would have looked good because this is a bright, South facing room but I like the white too.

The furniture and curtains in this room are the original pieces that I used in our very first nursery from our Montreal home. This rocking chair was among the first furniture we bought and I below is the original photo of it from October 2012.

At that time I was expecting our first child and was keen to paint everything with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, that’s where my love of DIY home improvement began. The white paint from 5 years ago has stood up very well as you can see in the photo below. The mirror resting in the photo below is the same one that we have in our powder room.

Goodbye mountain mural nursery wall…

Here’s the plain white room which isn’t too exciting right now. After painting the room I realized that I need to make the doors and trim a brighter white so that there is some slight contrast between them and the walls. By the way, these black door handles are actually shiny brass hiding beneath spray paint. It has been three years since I spray painted these and they’re holding up well here because we don’t use these door handles very often.

 

Week 2 from all of the other participants is linked up through Calling it Home.

Fall One Room Challenge – Week 1

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared any new projects on my blog. Now that The One Room Challenge Fall Edition is here I’m joining in to create a shared bedroom for my son and his baby brother who is due this month.

This photo is from exactly 3 years ago when I painted a simple mountain mural for my 1-year-old. It was a quick and easy project (see the post here) that I still like but, that 1-year-old is now almost 4 years old and with a baby coming I know it’s easier to redecorate now rather than later.

Before I show my plan for this room I’m sharing photos of the whole space as it currently is. The crib has worked very well as a toddler bed but soon we will need it back to use as a crib.

The desk worked as a change table & dresser before and now it’s still used as a dresser. The rocking chair was one of my first chalk painting projects.

 

This little installation I created with some secondhand mirrors as well as canvases and painted them with paint samples.

This is the view of the room from the hallway that I completed with Metrie Moulding last fall. The gallery wall is made of wood secondhand frames that I painted white and distressed.

The pineapple quilt was made by my mum who will soon be opening an etsy shop with baby quilts.

That’s it for this week. All of the other people participating have shared their plans for The One Room Challenge and it looks like a few nurseries are being created as well as many other rooms.

ORC – Final Reveal – Part 2

Here is the final reveal of the planter box and lattice that I built for the One Room Challenge.

In the boxes I planted several types of kale since I know that they grow well in this spot and will provide us with steady greens into September. There are also 4 clematis plants to grow up the lattice and vinca vines to spill down the front of the boxes.

Here’s a reminder of what the fence looked like before. 

Now is the part that I love, watching the vines fill up the lattice and having a constant supply of leafy greens for the next few months.

The Before & After of this project is also on Apartment Therapy.

More photos of what this area looked like before I started and inspiration can be found here:

Week One – One Room Challenge

Photo Instructions on How to Build This:

 

ORC – Week 6 Reveal- Part 1

The 6 weeks of the One Room Challenge are over now and it’s time for the final reveal. My reveal is going to be a two-part post because I’m not quite done building and we were still having frost warnings last week so I’ll be waiting to plant. The planters are currently in place but in the photo above I drew in the lattice since it’s not done yet.

This was some prep work along the fenceline where the raised beds will be going. Since they’re open on the bottom I dug up the grass where the boxes will be sitting.

Constructing the boxes was so smooth and quick but staining them and the lattice strips have taken much longer than I had anticipated.

Here is the  14 feet of raised planters in place in the garden. This space already feels more organized and expansive with the black boxes.

The lattice is coming together and I hope to have it installed within the next 2 weeks. Since it is 8 feet tall I need a hand putting it in place plus there is still more lattice that needs to be stained.

In the meantime, by propping up some wood it gives me an idea of the space will look once the full screen is installed.

The final reveal is now on Apartment Therapy

Before & After: Plants and Privacy, What More Could a Backyard Need?

 

To see how the other One Room Challenges turned out click here for the final reveals. It’s incredible to see how much changed in such a short time.

One Room Challenge – Week 5

We’re one week away from the final reveal for everyone participating in the 6 week, One Room Challenge, hosted by House Beautiful and Calling it Home. Compared to so many of the major room transformations that others are working on, my project is small and could be completed over a weekend.

Right now this is the status of my project — a garage full of wood cut and ready to be stained and put together over the weekend.

I had to make a couple of trips to bring it home but having the planter pieces cut in store was a huge help. For the planter box I’m using cedar decking boards and the lattice will be made with 1″ x 2″ pine that I will cut at home with my hand saw. I decided to go with a solid stain and had it tinted black.

The pieces will all be stained before I assemble them but this is the idea of how the box shape will be. The grey wood in the back isn’t for this project, it’s something else that I’ve been making for a pillow display going into a local decor and renovation showroom.

Here’s a reminder of where the planter and lattice will be going. We’ve had lots of rain so the green is coming back,  hopefully there will be some sunny days in the forecast to get staining in time for the final reveal next Thursday.

Tthe progress of the other participants can be seen here.