One Room Challenge – Jest Cafe – Week 1

jestcafe.com--one room challenge week 1

Okie Dokie. Call me crazy or whatever but, with no design background, I have decided to participate in the One Room Challenge starting today! Here is a post about what this challenge is all about.

This is the thing, I love interior design and I have followed design bloggers for a while, so I am ready to take on a challenge, although, I am a little bit worried about that 6 weeks deadline to fully renovate a room with a limited budget. Does not sound easy.

My inspiration is the photo above. I have a Pinterest board filled with other inspirational pictures, but I keep on coming to this one because I LOVE that nursery. Why do I love it so much? It is bold, whimsical, and it takes you out of your comfort zone (Black for a nursery?? who would have thought!?). Also, there is a little of mismatch design in this room, don’t you think? Not sure if that rug is the obvious choice for this space, but it works!

For this One Room Challenge,  I have decided to transform my kids’ room – the ugliest room in my house- to say it is horrible is an understatement. Please, see the pictures below and judge for yourself. My feelings won’t be hurt!

DISCLAIMER: You are about to witness the ugliest children’s room that exists on planet earth. If you don’t like to look at dreadful spaces, SKIP the next 6 photos, or venture to look at them at your own risk. Just be happy to know that in 5 weeks all this ugliness will be mostly gone (hopefully).

jestcafe.com--before-photos3jestcafe.com--before-photos8 Did you spot that diaper baby in that last photo? I didn’t know he was in that picture until I uploaded the photo to my site. I’ll might just take photos of him and post them on the blog instead of going through this whole ordeal. The result would be equally as cute, don’t you think?jestcafe.com--before-photos7jestcafe.com--before-photos2jestcafe.com--before-photos5 The real challenge will be to figure out what to do with all these books:jestcafe.com--before-photos4There you go. The worst is over. Now, you can breath again.

Right in this moment you might be asking yourself what am I going to do with this space? What is the plan?

I could go for the easy choice: white walls, pastels, and gold accents, but it is not what I intend to do. The easy road is not for me, my friends.

I want a moody room with unexpected pops of color (not chosen based on the  obvious opposite “color wheel” options ), some vintage/thrift art, and “IKEA” hacks. I don’t have the budget to buy all new furniture, so some IKEA DIY transformations will have to happen around here.

Here are some of the items that I am considering using:

jestcafe.com---ORC-week-1--collage1.BÖJA – Pendant Light / 2. Lemon – Benjamin Moore / 3. TROFAST – Storage /

4. Campaign Bookcase / 5. Underwater World – Wallpaper / 6. Multicolored Rug /

7. Mid-Century Rocker / 8. Deep Green – Benjamin Moore/ 9. Mydal Bunk Bed

About the items with the pine finish, I am planning to paint all of them in a different color. I can’t afford the mid-century chair and the white book case, but I’ll might be able to find something similar on Craigslist if I get VERY lucky.

How do I feel about participating on this?

SCARED! I have absolutely NO experience re-decorating a room from scratch, but I do have a lot of opinions and, what I assume to be, a decent taste, so I will jump into the swimming pool (not knowing how to swim) and reach for the gold. Ha! I am ridiculous, I know.

At the end of this challenge, you will be the judge of the room. Hope you like it!

If you want to take a look at what other bloggers are doing, go to Calling It Home (lots of talent out there), and don’t hesitate to give me your opinions as I go along. I appreciate all the comments on my blog, so thank you for sharing. And thanks to Linda for organizing all this!

Wish me luck (and a little bit of vodka)!

For more, here is Week 2 – Week 3 – Week 4 of the challenge.

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Let Us Connect:
32 replies
  1. Christine Martin says:

    Stopping over from the ORC link-up! Funny that you say it’s the ugliest child’s room ever! Go check mine out, that we are redoing during the challenge. I think I could give you some stiff competition for that title of ugliest room! LOL! Looking forward to seeing your kids space transform!

    Christine | http://www.amidstthechaos.ca

    Reply
  2. Samantha says:

    Also stopping over from ORC link up! I am really stoked to see what you come up with, especially around the Ikea hacks! (I’m doing an entryway, which is a total disaster at the moment, and isn’t as fun as a kid’s space). onceandfuturehome.com

    Reply
    • Mila says:

      Hi Samantha, thanks for checking in! I will take a look at your entryway. I agree, an entryway might not be as fun to decorate as a kids’ space, but it has a lot more impact on those who visit you! It is the first impression! so I will say it is much more important. Can’t wait to see

      Reply
  3. Elise Xavier says:

    Ooo! This is really exciting! I absolutely *adore* your inspiration picture. You don’t even need to have something close to that to really nail the look, though, because it’s just the kind of whimsy and brooding sort of look that I think will be able to be replicated as long as you’re getting mismatched furniture and dark tones into that space.

    Also, I don’t think you should be scared. You do have great taste when it comes to this stuff and think about it this way: whatever you do to that room it will be infinitely better than before, lol! I feel like you have a lot to work with in that room because once it’s got a new coat of paint, it’ll look remarkably better already.

    Just gonna throw this out there, but I’d say that a nice white, black, or grey fur rug definitely goes along the same style as this room (if you’re into that kind of thing!), and if you’re looking for a cheap way to have one, go to a raw leather place instead of to a rug place and just straight on use the raw product instead of paying a premium for a more “finished” product. You can get hides for fairly cheap from places that expect you’re not going to just throw them on the floor (although there’s obviously nothing stopping you from doing just that!).

    Tandy’s leather is where I’d go here: https://www.tandyleather.com/en/ Have gotten so many cute rabbit furs that I use for photographs for so cheap. Not sure what equivalents would be but am sure they’re out there.

    Reply
    • Mila says:

      Elise, this is a wonderful, wonderful advice. I love it all. Thank you for taking the time to help me. It makes me so, so happy. Really. I will look into that link right now.

      Reply
  4. Carina says:

    Very exciting. I remember your post about the wall paper, lookslike the inspiration you needed to begin is now here. Please don’t laugh at me, but I honestly didn’t think the current room is that bad at all! Nonetheless, your plan sounds super exciting!

    Reply
  5. Zan says:

    OK. LOL! You are so funny with the disclaimer. I feel you, my bathroom that I am redoing needs this disclaimer, too. You can do it. Pinterest is always a big help for ideas. I am sure it will look very nice and the kids will be happy!!

    Reply
  6. Helen says:

    Little diaper baby doesn’t even want to be associated with the room. 😛

    I’m excited to see what’s next and curious about your thought processes as you move forward!

    Reply
  7. Jessica says:

    Checking you out from the ORC. You are hilarious and I totally did not spot the toddler in diapers until you pointed him out. I think you will do great and good luck with your craigslist finds. If that fails, you can always create a faux campaign shelf using flat brackets and L- brackets.

    Reply
    • Mila says:

      You know what? you are totally right. I should be more creative about the space. Maybe L brackets are the way to go for the bookcase! I will check if there are beams to hold them up where I want this bookcase to be. thanks!

      Reply
  8. Melissa George says:

    Love your direction for the space! And I was cracking up when you mentioned the diaper baby. I missed him on first scroll by and had to go play Where’s Waldo. Good luck with your first ORC!

    Reply
    • Mila says:

      yes! he is totally hidden by that awful yellow light that you need to use in before photos to have the after pictures look more dramatic. that is funny. thanks for the good wishes!

      Reply
  9. Erin @ Lemons, Lavender, & Laundry says:

    The first time I participated in this challenge, I’d never redone any room either. I had started a blog the month before, found out about the ORC 24 hours before it started, and decided to join. You will do just fine! You have great ideas for this space. Can’t wait to see how it all turns out in the end! Good luck!

    Reply
    • Mila says:

      Sure. One of my favorite projects from snooping around today was your nursery. That wallpaper is really beautiful. I really like it.

      Reply
  10. Sharon says:

    Your choices are all quite stylish so I wouldn’t worry about that. And I was just like Erin–my blog was less than a month old when I joined in last spring. I’m looking forward to following along and I’m sure it will turn out lovely!

    Reply
    • Mila says:

      Wow, that gives me so much courage. I will check you project from last spring, too. The powder room that Erin did was so good. Can’t believe she pulled it off in so little time.

      Reply
  11. Su says:

    I really don’t think it is that bad, because it is obvious that the kids love it. I’ve used black paint before in two spaces, and it is really interesting, and I don’t think it could go wrong . I used Black Fox Sherwin Williams for my spouse’s room and my daughter chose a black from RL, and there are paints that are less that can match a sample. A similar drawing can be done on any black paint with chalk, but if your walls are not textured it will be even easier, but it will rub off a bit in chalk. It could also be decoupaged with cut outs and drawings. I like the yellow door and cute little person waving. Don’t forget vintage store and goodwills in good neighborhoods. Look forward to the transformation. xoxo Su

    Reply
    • Mila says:

      I am happy you like it! I would love to get a similar wallpaper than that one but it is so expensive. I found another one that is pretty moody and cute though.

      Reply

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