Our Fall One Room Challenge – Surprise!

So while 72% of my instagram followers thought we should FOR SURE attempt to get the kitchen done during The One Room Challenge, especially now going on 14 weeks with our temporary kitchen… Sadly folks, we are NOT. Why? I wanted to. But, when we looked at things from a project management standpoint – it just wasn’t feasible. The clincher for that? A three week turn around on our marble countertops & slab sink. I was not giving those up – and there is NO way we could even hope to somewhat complete, being at a least 2-3 weeks away from being ready to template counters right now. BUT… I had the itch to #oneroomchallenge! And since the Niki projects in the kitchen won’t get to start til the counters go in this is the perfect excuse for me to check another room off my list!

SO… What room is that??? It’s my studio! You may have seen one of the many stalled efforts on my part to transform this space into a functional space for all of the various ways I like to create, a tall order for a girl who loves everything from drafting, to mold making, & leatherwork. This effort was mainly inhibited by the ever growing disorganized mass of art supplies, projects & decor that has travelled with me through many college apartments, studio spaces, an extended stay in my parents basement (thanks Mom & Dad for all the storage!) to this house, where it slowly accumulated in the smallest and saddest upstairs bedroom. Intended to be a place for me to let my creative juices flow, it instead became a storage unit.

Earlier this year I shoved everything into the middle of the room to paint it all white & I did get that done, but the cabinets I planned on using to create workspace and storage ended up going to my parent’s house to make a coffee bar & built in table by her front door (they were ones that came in wrong from the manufacturer for their kitchen project). So again, the room got back burnered. Well, about a month ago, we had one of our displays from the showroom that needed to leave to make room for our new Candlelight display & I had an idea… it would be PERFECT in my studio! So I spent the weekend pulling everything out of the room and into the back bedroom for temporary storage, I tore out the closet, and Chris hauled the cabinets upstairs… since then there they’ve sat. Remodeling your house does not happen overnight folks, especially when you’re busy people doing as much of it as you can yourselves.

So here we are now, A pile of cabinets and no clear plan. I had a plan, but failed to remember the corner cabinet goes in the opposite direction, so that plan has to be thrown out the window and we need to re-think. Here’s what we know so far:

• The bulk of cabinetry will go on the longest wall to create workspace & supply storage for supplies, art, & materials.
• The closet will get built in shelves with one drawer base in the center with slots on the side for storing framed art, canvases, & decor/staging items. It’s also definitely getting painted black.
• My antique sewing machine table will go on the wall adjacent to the closet
• The wood floors will get painted in a checkerboard pattern.

The To Do List: 

• Chris to remove the last piece of baseboard Niki is scared of cause a copper pipe runs through it supplying heat to the adjacent bedroom.
• Figure out where the cabinets work & dial in the layout a little further
• Chris to help me install cabinets (meaning he will do all the work)
• Install all shelving to be built in
• Spray closet interior with shelves & any cabinets we need to change the color of (we’re using a multi-finish display that wasn’t built for this space, plus some random slightly damaged cabinets from projects so I’m pretty sure we’re going to need to paint at least one or two to make the space work)
• Paint the floors
• Figure out a countertop surface, probably laminate or wood.
• Replace the ceiling fixture
• Hang that curtain rod finally.
• Organize all the stuff I have, hang some old art up, and put everything back in the room. 

  

  Make sure to head to the One Room Challenge blog to check out all the other amazing projects folks are working on!