DIY Living Room Transformation - One Room Challenge: Week 1
I finally signed up to do the One Room Challenge, y’all!
What’s the One Room Challenge?
Started by Linda Weinstein in 2011, the ORC is a bi-annual event where interior designers, bloggers, and home decor enthusiasts take on the challenge of completely transforming one room in their home over eight weeks and sharing the process with a large community of design enthusiasts across social media. The main focus of the ORC is to be a celebration of creativity by providing community, motivation, inspiration, and helpful information to designers and DIYers across the globe.
After being introduced to the ORC by design friends and former participants in 2019, the thought of registering crossed my mind a time or three, but transparently speaking, our budgets weren’t budgeting and the timelines were always off for us. This time, though? The stars have aligned.
How long is the One Room Challenge?
This season’s ORC runs from October 2nd through November 24th which aligned perfectly for us as we are finally feeling settled after our spring move and we'll be hosting family and friends for the holidays.
Is the One Room Challenge a Competition?
While the ORC is not a competition (sorry, no winner at the end 😌) the digital reach of this challenge, with Apartment Therapy as the media partner, taps into the MILLIONS so it’s a resourceful (and free) way to potentially get my design project in front of a massive audience. The event also partners with several furniture and decor companies for product sponsorship.
Decurated Interiors is in it’s blooming season and anywhere there’s potential for free product in exchange for content collaboration and press features in top industry publications like Domino, House Beautiful, Real Simple and the likes…sign us up!
Week 1
Let’s assess the current state of the space:
open floor plan with perfectly cornered living room
one large window
white textured walls
gray tile
ceiling fan instead of light fixture
Before
Challenges
While we don’t have any obvious hurdles with the space itself, the main goal will be swapping the placement of the tv cabinet and sectional so the tv can be viewed from the kitchen & dining area. This will allow us to see the tv while cooking and for guests to be better entertained in the space.
What’s Staying & What's Going?
The tv stand and faux fiddle leaf are staying. I’m undecided on the accent chair and coffee table…could possibly use them in another room, but we’ll see as the design rolls out in real time. However, Big Blue, is making her exit. This 50” deep sofa is more for lounging and we are stepping into our entertaining era which means we need more seats at a shallower depth for more overall comfort.
Design Direction
Refined Playful, Comfortably Creative, Gender Ambiguous
Although I’m in charge of all design decisions in this household, I still like to consider what my partner likes. I wanted the space to have a good mix of masculine and feminine touches. As you can see, we’re sticking with blue for the seating, but in a much more relaxed tone. I’m adding in round shapes, playful patterns, shades of green and brown, linen and chenille-like textures, chrome & black metals, and accents of sophisticated Black art.
Check the ORC website for weekly updates from all participants and make sure you come back here for my week 2 updates where I show you the design mockup, paint selection and fabric swatches.