A New Hope…
One Room Challenge, Week 7/8
It’s Week 8 of the One Room Challenge and sadly, we don’t have a big, impressive reveal for you! This season of the One Room Challenge has not gone at all as I had hoped but we are not here to focus on the disappointments. We are here to cheer and share the progress that has been made in this room! I’m not one to make excuses, but I will explain why we couldn’t possibly finish the challenge in 8 weeks. First, Doug started a new job in March, and we honestly had no idea what to expect. It has ended up that at the end of the school year, it involved a lot of travel. He also started pursuing his master's degree this year and well, it’s kind of kicking his butt (and mine).😉 My work has also gotten really busy over the past 2 months. All this to say, we had very little gusto at the end of the workday to work in the room. We also had an out of state funeral, two holidays, out of state guests and another out of state trip to celebrate my birthday right at the finale. So, if you’ve kept up with me......that’s 5 weekends we couldn’t work on the room.
So, let’s talk about what we were able to accomplish in 3 weekends! 😊
First, we rented a storage unit and moved everything out of the room to the storage unit. We then had wood floors installed in the room. Once the floors were cured, we were able to tape everything off and paint the ceiling and walls. We then added a second coat of paint to the walls and added a chair rail. We have plans to add box trim below the chair rail.
We then gathered all of Doug’s Army mementos so I could decide what I could use for styling the room. That was really the fun part because it took Doug down memory lane. I got to hear some cool Army stories that he’s never told me in our 39 years together and that was so special!
We came up with a great plan to make two artillery shells into lamps. We have the supplies to make the lamps and will be working on them in the coming weeks.
Another little special memento that Doug has is this little bomber jacket that his dad brought him back from Vietnam when he was just 2 years old! We were a little unsure about where it was because we haven’t laid our hands on it in 30 years! I’m happy to report that after a lot of soul searching, I figured out where it was! It is the cutest thing! We were shocked and cracking up over the fact that the stitching on the jacket says “Parat-pooper” instead of “Paratrooper”! We played around with the idea of fixing it and then decided not to. It’s cute as is and we want to keep it in its original form because it has a certain charm, doesn’t it? I still need to clean the jacket before we get it framed.
Doug has cool maps he used on his military deployments and souvenirs he has collected from all over the world. He also has so many awards and certificates so we will be creating a gallery wall of those! I am very excited to pull this together!
We found a gorgeous table that has forged iron legs that we will be using for Doug’s desk. He has been working on refinishing it and we think it’s going to be a beauty! It weighs a ton with the iron legs. Doug was able to take the legs off and sand the top. It had a few big scratches on it and we wanted to change the color since it was pulling a little too orange for us. We left it disassembled so we were able to carry it upstairs. I have to say....it’s a good thing I’ve been working out because otherwise, we would have had to recruit a neighbor!
Doug will stain the desk in the room since we have it all taped off. This makes it perfect because the desk can be assembled in the room. If I haven’t said this before, this room has a little hallway entry and so getting large furniture into the room is tricky. Every piece of furniture had to be able to fit through the narrow entryway.
As we get closer to completing Doug’s new office, we’re both getting more and more excited. It’s been so fun pulling together Doug’s military keepsakes and souvenirs for this vintage military-inspired home office. Our goal is to make this a cozy place that Doug enjoys being every day so that it is a joy for him to go to work. I most definitely think this man has earned it and deserves it!
We hope you’ll come along to see the magic unfold!!!
Even though we have a nice long vacation planned to Europe this summer, we think we can get the room knocked out this summer BEFORE the Fall One Room Challenge!😉
You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest and now YouTube if you’d like to keep up with our project! If you’ve been following along, I hope you’ll stick with us!
Now, let’s all go check out the other participants’ projects at www.oneroomchallenge.com and cheer them on!
Hinkley Harper Ceiling Light
Chris Loves Julia Terracotta Rug
Koala Sofa Bed
The Active Painter's Dream Package: Handy Paint Pail & Liner Combo + Free Paintbrush
Paint Spray Gun
Wooster Brush
Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Earbuds
White Vinegar
Sanding Sponge
Mister Rui Foam Paint Roller
Brown Paper Roll
Frog Tape
Brown Kraft Paper
Canvas Drop Cloth
Disposable Aluminum Pans
DryDex Heavyweight Spackling
Kilz Interior Primer
Plastic Painter's Drop Cloth
Paint Samples
Benjamin Moore Paint
Press N Seal
