One Room Challenge Week 5: Home Office Makeover Sneak Peek!

If you missed my last post, you may be wondering where the master bath project that I was so excited about went! Well, as I explained last week, I had to shift my design schedule around to accommodate my contractor. I hear people complain about this type of situation often, but when you are married to the contractor it’s easy to be more understanding. Working in the trades is not predictable. There are a lot of variables at play. And schedules and resources do not always align. So I have moved my attention to my home office that I have been ignoring since the fall 2015 One Room Challenge. No one to blame for lack of completion of this project but me. So I am back at it with focus and enthusiasm! I saw the acrylic frame above when I was out shopping for a visual merchandising client project recently. I almost gave it to my client, but I liked it so much that I kept it. I have it right where everyone (as in all of my family members) can see it when they enter my space. So far it’s working : )

My office desk is a very cool black vinyl covered custom table. It’s 8 feet long. I inherited it from a creative business associate who made it for the Frette showroom in Boston. They used it to display luxurious bath linens and such. When they were done with it, my friend was asked to remove it. He was about to cut it into pieces and I asked if I could have it for myself. My husband was nice enough to go pick it up for me, and I love having it! My plan is to organize the large surface area to better accommodate my various projects in the works. My first upgrade was my new mouse pad that looks like black alligator skin (found it at Staples). I love how it disappears into the table now. I wish I could hide everything else so easily! I spent all day today moving unwanted clutter out of my office. It’s now in my hallway and working it’s way up the stairs to the third floor. Remember we don’t have an attic since we turned it into our master bedroom, or a usable basement for that matter (it’s a VERY old farmhouse). I sometimes wish I could just get a storage pod delivered to my driveway just to place the stuff I need to sort through until I am ready to tackle it. But I have a feeling I would end up with a colony of pods if I went that route (plus my husband said “absolutely not” when I mentioned my brilliant idea to him). So for now the boxes will remain in the hall till I can get to them. And I promise that I will. Nothing will go back in this room unless I love and need it!

My favorite light is already installed. It is a Schonbeck crystal chandelier that we picked out for our original master bedroom. We have great high ceilings in this house (close to 9 feet) but the new bedroom we built in the attic is not quite as tall. So I decided to keep it where I would enjoy it every day. And I do!

Come back next week for my final reveal. I am really going to try to get it done before the clock strikes midnight on May 12th, the last day of the One Room Challenge. Thank you, Linda, of Calling it Home, for providing this design motivator – it really helps! Check out how motivated everyone else is ...

Featured Designers week 5 progress here

Guest Participants week 5 progress here

House Beautiful weekly trend round up here

One Room Challenge: We may live in a fixer-upper, but we are NOT Chip and Joanna

Bubbles, celebratory sips, and spa-like surroundings are far from my reality at the Week 4 mark of the Calling it Home “One Room Challenge.” True, my 3rd floor master bath design plan does not even include a soaking tub this glorious (that will be in the renovation of our current 2nd floor bath someday) and even if it did, my enjoyment of the space would not resemble the type of pampering that is pictured above, although one can dream, right?

The illustration featured in the photo is the front of a small metal container that I used to store bath items, like loofahs and such, back when my husband and I built a new bath in our last home (we moved to our current fixer-upper in 2003). Back then it was SO much easier to accomplish our projects!

Remembering our master bath project from around 1996

We built a brand new full size bath (with a large soaking tub) after completely raising the roof of our New England Cape-style home, along with building two brand new bedrooms on either side. We did all of this while I was pregnant with our first (who is graduating high school this year). And there was no Pinterest or Houzz to help out either. HGTV was barely a network and there were not a lot of programs to follow (plus no DVR!) All we had were shelter magazines to go by or design/build books for research (remember those?) If we were looking for a new trend or idea, we had to wait a month for a new magazine to come out. Can you imagine?

Granted my husband is a contractor, and his friends are contractors. They all worked together to get our remodel done, and they had the real experience and knowledge to do so. And truth be told we had a lot more energy back then. And perhaps a bit more motivation? But even so ... how does so much time go by for us today, with all that we know between the two of us, yet with so little at-home progress to show?

A local Habitat for Humanity build that my husband
John and I participated in together back in 2012 –

he helped out with power tools, my job was marketing.

Well for starters, I do not like to do the physical work. I have met lots of women who enjoy tiling or building walls or getting drills or wet-saws as gifts. I totally admire and respect them, but unfortunately I am not one of them. I barely enjoy painting anymore (hence my unfinished home office). I am more of an idea person. But since my husband is a builder, we cannot hire another builder, just like I would never hire someone to do what I can do. Currently he is too busy to finish my project. So our master bath sits unfinished.

Sink, faucet and glass counter top installed by my husband – on time –
for the Old York Annual Decorator Show House, summer 2013

My husband has helped me out with many of my time sensitive design projects over the years. And when it comes down to it, he always delivers. But what started out as a time-to-get-this-done-for-us type of project – that seemed quite possible four weeks ago – is now looking to be not very probable with current obligations. Of course I am super disappointed, but really, it is just a bathroom. Finishing renovations is not an emergency situation. I have lived this long without it, what is another month or so? I will have to just shift design gears.

My still challenging One Room Challenge, fall 2015

Fortunately, I did have a back up plan from the beginning. My home office that I did not complete for the fall “One Room Challenge” will just have to move up on my priority list. My only concern is that last weekend while clearing branches and brush in our rustic backyard to make room for a new garden, I got a touch of poison something, so I am not feeling 100%. I suppose I can still do some shopping and styling, but there is still some heavy lifting and clearing of clutter – and painting – to accomplish, which really does not appeal to me feeling the way I do. But I will move forward, gingerly, but towards my goal of sharing some type of “after” photos for all of you ORC visitors! Please come back next week to see how it goes.

Now if only I could enlist some help ...

A photo op with Kevin O’Connor from This Old House

North Shore Design Show Preview Party, May 2012

Or perhaps ...

Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV Fixer Upper
photo credit: Larsen + Talbert via HGTV

Check out the progress shared by the ORC sponsored bloggers here and the many guest participants here. More ORC design trends reported by House Beautiful here. 

One Room Challenge: I can see clearly now

This #OneRoomChallenge home office makeover has been a real journey for me, but it is not over yet! I have made significant progress to the point where my very large desk is completely clutter free, walls have been repainted, and one of my favorite pieces of original art – a custom framed signed print from fashion designer Jason Wu – is now hanging right where I can see it every time I sit down to create.

There is still a bit of styling to do, and organizational pieces to bring in, but for now I am very pleased that I made it this far (even if everyone else’s rooms are done!) I could have given up many times throughout this process, but I allowed myself to just get started and set small goals. Even my kids are pretty impressed with the change. My youngest was in awe, grabbed himself a pillow, and laid down under my desk which is 8 feet long. He never would have fit under there amidst all the to-be-sorted boxes before I started this! 

Thank you for coming by to check in on my progress ... my next post will show more of the room for sure! I hope all of the other One Room Challenge participants are enjoying their freshly designed spaces as much as I have enjoyed seeing them come to completion. And special thanks to Linda from Calling It Home for creating this opportunity to tackle our design to-do-lists with the “we’re in this together” inspiration of a community of bloggers cheering us on : )

to be continued ...

Easy to care for ...

I am thinking about getting a pair of bunnies, but I am on the fence. Do we need more mouths to feed around here? Should I just stick to trying to fill the planters at my front door before Easter? And then remember to water them? My indoor plants have not fared so well this winter. Moss and grass I am pretty sure I can handle. Moss is very forgiving and will stay green even without water for extended periods of time.

I really love these lightweight stone resin corner planters cast from estate originals by the company Pennoyer Newman seen at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show. Combining a set of four could create an intimate English garden-like seating area. Boxwood plantings would fill them nicely, or a fragrant herb garden perhaps. These bright and cheerful flowers are ranunculus. Aren’t they sweet?

This circular planter would make a stunning container garden focal point, with or without the heron statue. I love how the succulents are paired with the moss.  The egg shaped garden stones in the background are pretty cool, too. They would look neat tucked away in the wooded part of our property like fossilized dinosaur eggs. Is it too late to have them delivered for our Sunday morning Easter egg hunt?

How will you fill your planters this spring?