WEEK EIGHT: I officially have a new OFFICE!
Hellllllo! It’s Week 8 of the One Room Challenge™, which means THIS IS IT! The weather has been insane, we’ve had weather in the 30’s and we have had rain, it’s been yuck. I am hosting 4 people for Thanksgiving : My pops and his gal, my sister, and my fella. So I have been hella trying to finish this project, while making a huge mess elsewhere and also attempting to clean like crazy. I legit decided last minute that it was going to be an office.
If you missed out on the Jungle Vibe, here you go: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 6 , Week 7
FINAL THINGS
I jammed all the things in that I didn’t wanna do, in the last week. I pushed it. Putting a new fan up, putting the lantern lights up, new knobs + door hinges, patching holes, touching up paint, styling everything, and the worst - transferring almost everything from my other closet into this closet. What’s nice about that is I got to start over with how I wanted to organize it and if I want to keep all the things. I probably changed up the plants in this room 5 billion times, I mean I needed the perfect plant for the perfect spot. Styling was fun, I get most all of my things from my own home, fb marketplace, estate sales, or I love me some goodwill. I mean why would people pay full price if they don’t have to? I also love a story with all the things I own, I somehow have a horrible memory but I can tell you exactly where I got something, what I paid for it, and how long Ive had it. I think I assume that everything’s more unique that way. Saving $ is my superpower, so let’s dive in…
THE CHAIR:
This chair is opal house brand from Target, I actually got it for 1/5 the price because the people who owned it said their little girl got her head stuck in the top and couldn’t get it out for hours and finally called firemen to help and they had to cut it to get her out. So they wanted to get this out ASAP, I was there to save the day! The monstera pillow on it was original drapes owned by my great-grandmother in the 1930s, it then got passed down and my mom sewed it to make me 2 pillows. The heart pillow brings me joy (is why I added pink in the mural), and the sunshine pillow is the entire reason why I added the mustard yellow to the mural, I thought it was the “main piece” of the chair. To the left is a Monstera Plant (main plant in the mural and the easiest plant to get if you are a beginner) and to the right is the split-leaf plant (not as friendly to beginners).
THE DESK:
Let’s start with the super fun lantern lights, I got them from Goodwill for $10 and found them on ARTICLE site for $180 each. They were the last and final piece I added and omg it made the room transform, it is so fun in here. I love the shadow it makes on the wall and this little nook in the corner is a vibe. The pink antique touch light is my Great Aunt Lucille’s - her grandaughter (my closest cousin) saw it and freaked out saying that it reminded her of all of her childhood memories in that home. My sister brought me the cacti from Tennesee because she has some of the most amazing cacti up there, she also got me this cute frame. I also have some fun lego markers and awesome succulent plants and pottery. Who doesn’t love dinosaurs? The copper face is something I made in Metals class, where it got displayed at TXST in 08’. The art of the deer is from a local artist I met at Austin Studio Tour one year, and the painting below that was done by an elephant on one of my birthdays.
THE BOOKSHELF:
The birds! I got these at a really awesome Brazil handmade items estate sale, they had probably 200 and I was shocked no one was buying them? I saw grandmas buying some for their grandchildren to paint? I was like nooooo, this should be a cool sculpture piece, so I bought probably 25. I got the original art and rock pyramid at another estate sale. The little elf ornaments were a birthday gift from my grandmother, she said she saw them in 1950 while walking by a window display. The TV and cameras were from several places. The skates are from when my knee was decent and Id go with family to adult skate night. The flower painting is from Goodwill and somehow had a price tag of $750 on the back in 1965, I def didn’t pay that. If you appreciate art - I stand firmly on saying always check it out at Goodwill, I have some of the coolest original pieces from there and, the fact of the matter is, you won’t find original pieces at your department stores. Plus they always have way nicer frames than I would ever by myself. The big plant is a birds of paradise and I super DO NOT recommend getting if you are a beginner. They are super temperamental if theres just a brief weather or water change.
THAT’S IT, FOR NOW!
Overall, I had a blast and this whole 8 week thing kept me crazy accountable. This is def the way to go if you are redoing a room. I pushed myself more than I normally do, because I’m not normally under a time constraint. I enjoyed writing and posting about it because it helped me plan things better and gave me less room for indecisiveness, which I suffer from ;). I truly love the energy and vibe in this room now, The mural took a big chunk of time and bringing things together and making final decisions also took me a hot minute. I would def be down to do this challenge again, so this won’t be the last time you get to see my interior design skillz haha Thanks for hanging with me - back to branding things on a computer, I go.
THE PROJECT LIST:
Repaint the entire room in Alabaster
Level floors
Add flooring
Clear out room
Pick out, Paint and install trim
Pick colors for mural
Stencil Mural
Paint Mural
Decide on which bed works for the space
Maybe New Curtains? <——I bought 4 and tried them all out.
Rug? New One? Existing one? <—- I bought two
Should there be art hung on any of the walls? - yes.
Purchase new fan + light
It was fun! See yah next time! Special shout out to my badass co-worker Dania for taking the photos of my new space!
