Here we are, at the end of another whirlwind One Room Challenge.  I added mine up, and would you believe this is my fifth One Room Challenge?!?  Yes, apparently I’m a slow learner, and a glutton for punishment, because at the end of these challenges, I’m always wondering why I decided to do them.  But truth be told, I love the rooms that I’ve done as part of these challenges, and the deadline forces me to make decisions that I would otherwise dwell on for weeks months.  That said, this challenge has really been a tough one, but I’m excited to share how it ended up, despite my best laid plans.  This post contains some affiliate links. First off, let’s take a look back at where it all began.  The Hoarder’s Paradise.  I’m not really a hoarder, (says every real-life hoarder), but honestly, this place was just a dumping ground for everyone’s crap.  Christmas decorations, graduation stuff, craft supplies, you name it.  So embarrassing.  But, I did a lot of purging, donating, etc…, and while there is still work to do, some definite progress has been made. Now it’s a room I don’t have to shut away or hang my head […]

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Here we are already, week four of the Spring 2018 One Room Challenge, and while I feel like I’m pretty on top of things, those niggling details have a tendency to culminate and sneak up on you.  I feel like I’m closer to being able to pull those niggling details together now that I have some bigger things in place.  Last week was a lot of decisions made, and this week, those decisions started coming to life. This post contains some affiliate links. My daybed/trundle arrived and I put this bad boy together, and it’s big.  I’m hoping my space planning will be able to accommodate this beauty, and my college aged son is already excited to have it as an extra crash pad for his friends when they spend the night.  Ummm, yeahhhhh.  About that.  No stinky college boys allowed in my new multifunctional space. I finally made a decision on bedding, and it arrives tomorrow (yippee!), and I’m crossing my fingers that it works because I don’t really have a Plan B.  I ended up going with the Larkspur Quilt.  I also made a last minute splurge and bought some pretty shams to go with it too. And the shams […]

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After my not-so-big progress update last week due to the big scary kitchen makeover, I’m excited to share some serious progress with you this week!  First things first.  It no longer resembles a hoarder’s paradise.  I finally got to it, and paid my highly organized daughter $10 to take the emotion out of the decluttering process.  I posted items on our local Facebook Marketplace page (and realized I completely underpriced our pub table given the amount of responses I got in selling it), but the point I’m trying to make is that I cleared a lot of stuff OUT.   And while my trash guy will probably curse the day I was born, it feels good to get rid of a lot of the crap that was cluttering up this space. Remember this? Now we have this… The main area looked like (gulp) this: And now this: Although now that I got rid of the big IKEA bookcase (which was a nightmare), and in the interest of transparency, I have to figure out what to do with the stuff that was stored there.  So, it’s on my desk.  Which I’m looking to swap out for something a bit less bulky. But back […]

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First off, I did NOT forget that our weekly updates are due on Thursday.  My computer needed a minor exorcism, which is why I’m posting on Friday.  My apologies.  That said, I don’t have any exciting room clean out photos to share yet, and it still looks like it did last week, a Hoarder’s Paradise.  However, I did start shopping around for furniture this week, and I’ve also been working on this: Let’s get on with the subject at hand.  I was hoping to find some great steals and deals at Restoration Hardware Outlet like I did for the last One Room Challenge.  This is the dealio… Pretty campaign-style furniture… But then there is damage like this: And a price tag like this: $794 plus an extra 30% off, is still way too spendy for a piece of furniture that I’m going to have to repair and repaint.  Considering I got this piece from Ballard Designs for about $50 (which I didn’t mind repairing, and was planning on repainting). Then I stumbled upon this craziness –  This is where I think Restoration Hardware has completely lost touch with what most normal people are looking for when it comes to furniture.  I’m sorry, […]

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Even though I have no business jumping into the One Room Challenge right now, I’m doing it.  I’m flying on a wing and a prayer that I can pull this thing off, even though it seems as though I have a million other things simultaneously demanding my attention.  The main reason I’m jumping in is because the room I’m making over is an embarrassment, and if I don’t do something about it, it will continue to stay that way, indefinitely.  Of that, I’m sure.  The fact that I’m even sharing photos of this abomination of a space is making me a bit hive-y.  So please don’t turn me in to the Hoarders show or anything like that.  I promise I will get it under control. I should mention that a small part of what got it to this stage was that we asked our college-aged son to help clean out some of our storage area (which is what my husband thinks should be the room for this round of the One Room Challenge), and his idea of “cleaning out” was to dump a bunch more stuff into my office.  But, I can’t blame him for everything, I know.  Let’s get […]

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I’m so excited to share this navy inspired dining room makeover with all of you!  I really couldn’t be more pleased with how it all turned out, and I’m so glad that I jumped in on the Calling it Home Fall 2017 One Room Challenge!  Now I have a Thanksgiving-ready dining room, and not a moment too soon!  I won’t jabber on too much right now, so let’s get on with the reveal, shall we? But first, let’s take a peek back at where we began (with a terribly lit before photo, of course).  It just wasn’t getting any attention, and is one of the first rooms you see when you walk into our home. If you want to go WAY back – here it is when we first moved in, seven years.  Yes, let’s look at how far this dining room has really come.  Before we moved in –    And here it is now: I could just sit here and stare at it for awhile, enjoying the finished look.  I want to rope it off so no one can go in here and touch anything.  Especially my dogs.  Our younger pup is living like a nomad right now because […]

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Part of me wishes I had never known that the deadline was extended a week, because I would be enjoying my pretty new dining room right now.  But no, the deadline was pushed out, and I’m pushing out the panic one more week.  It’s not that nothing is getting done – lots is getting done!  There has been some divine design intervention, let me tell you.  This post has some affiliate links. As you might remember, choosing some upholstered chairs for the ends of my dining room table has been on my list since this project started.  But I’ve had some anxiety in pulling the trigger and buying online, especially when I read reviews that say, “Color isn’t as it appears online.”  Yikes.  This is one of those purchases that I want to see in person, to be certain that it’s what I want because I’d rather go to the dentist than have to return a large item like this.   So what do I do?  I stop by Restoration Hardware Outlet again just to see if they might have some upholstered chairs, even though they had nothing just a week ago.  Well, would you believe it… What are the odds?!?  And they […]

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I think I’ve been a bit too calm, since I found out last week that we get an EXTRA WEEK to finish the One Room Challenge.  I think I would have been better off not knowing that information, and (gasp) finish ahead of schedule.  What a crazy idea, right? But alas, no, we have an extra week, which leaves me browsing the internet for new elements that I could add to my dining room.  Like beautiful wallpaper – I blame Kris at Driven by Decor for this distraction.  Have you seen her wallpaper choices for the One Room Challenge?  Or, since wallpaper would be pushing the limit at this stage of the game, a pretty stencil like this one.  Because that’s where my mind goes when it hears there is an extra week to get stuff done.  This post contains some affiliate links. Focus, Jenny. Focus. In case you need to catch up, here are my posts on this One Room Challenge so far: One Room Challenge Week #1:  Dining Room Plans One Room Challenge Week #2: Fabric Ideas One Room Challenge Week #3: Paint and the Crypt Keeper Chandelier One Room Challenge Week #4: Rugs + Chairs + DEALS My rug […]

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So here we are, week #4 of the One Room Challenge, and I feel like I’m making progress and (perhaps) won’t be in a state of complete and utter panic by the end of this thing.  Who am I kidding?  I’m sure there will be some panic, but I do have a lot of the big items under control.  I think.  This post contains some affiliate links. In case you’re just joining me, you can catch up on the action here: One Room Challenge Week #1:  Dining Room Plans One Room Challenge Week #2: Fabric Ideas One Room Challenge Week #3: Paint and the Crypt Keeper Chandelier Rugs I posed a question on my Facebook page this weekend, and got a great response – thank you!  I’ve been trying to decide on a rug for my dining room, and was considering these two options, and I shared the rugs in rooms (even though the style is totally different in each one). The herringbone rug got the most votes, and it’s the one that I ultimately chose (and finally ordered today).  But I really do like both rugs – the second one, the Moroccan Trellis rug, has a great look as well, […]

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