One Room Challenge: Week 1 (Hello, Office!)

This is my third One Room Challenge. Enough time has elapsed that I’ve sort of forgotten the worst of the end rush, so here we are going for it again! Twenty of us designers and design bloggers are each doing a makeover from start to finish in six weeks, and sharing the whole process along the way every Wednesday. (A huge thank you to Linda, the organizer of the One Room Challenge, for inviting me back.) I’ve linked to the other official participants at the end of the post, so be sure to check out everybody’s ORC introductions today!

I was torn between two options this time around. The laundry room in the basement, or the office on the total opposite end of the house up on the third floor? I have big plans for both, and spoiler alert, I’ll probably do one right after the other. The laundry room is going to wait a smidge because the 7′ ceiling height and exposed pipes mean it’s always going to look a little like the basement of a house from the 1800’s. Because it is. I guess attics with weird layouts and crazy angles are inherently more photogenic? Let’s find out! Office, you’re up.

It is a finished attic, so it has that going for it. I had set it up as a playroom for the kids initially, but they preferred being close to us on the main floor or in their rooms, and they didn’t spend much time on the third floor. Not enough to justify dedicating the whole room to toys.

Meanwhile, I’ve tried setting up my office in various places around the house. We have the luxury of space in our Victorian with 3,000 square feet (the house feels huge to us) divided up into lots of rooms. We learned that some rooms are much draftier or hotter than others though. What I thought would be a great office turned out to be freezing cold in the winter, so that’s now “the snug”. It’s still on the cold side even after we improved the heating situation, but you can feel cozy huddled up under a blanket to watch a movie, vs. typing with fingerless gloves because you can’t keep your hands in a blanket for warmth and expect to get any work done.

Side note: I’ve talked about my office shuffle before. And every time I bring it up, I feel like I have to reiterate that our house is not a ramshackle freezing/boiling/awful thing. We added a new, more efficient furnace and thermostatic valves to radiators in the troublesome rooms. There are a few window unit air conditioners. The house is now chilly/warm/character-building. Big difference! All part of that old house charm.

I have the tiniest head start in choosing the office for this round of the ORC because I’ve already done some of the painting (black doors, white trim, palest blush on the walls and ceiling) and added a wall of storage. It looked like this last you saw it, while I was waiting for the backordered filing cabinet for the middle to arrive (which did, months later).

Once I got that setup and had my desk up there, I fizzled. The office is functioning! It just isn’t as nice as it could be yet. Think brass, marble, and wood. Old meets new. Black, white, and pale pink, plus green and blue. I’m not anti-ceiling fan, but I’m replacing this one with the prettiest pendant. I’ll be sewing window treatments once I decide between curtains or a roman shade. I’m addressing the layout, making room for multiple people, and tying it all in with the rest of the house.

And you guys. This is the part of the house with the rainbow room! The room that led my kids to name our entire house The Rainbow House. (There’s embossed stationery and everything. It’s all very official.)

See the stained glass window in the top peak?

There’s a closet tucked inside, about 5′ x 6′ and only 6.5′ tall. The demilune window takes up most of the far wall, and while it’s already kind of magic in there, it’s about to get even better. I’ll be painting the trim and adding the most amazing wallpaper, then lining the sides with bookshelves.

The closet is going to be so good. The whole thing is going to be good! I’ll have all the design details for you next week.

Follow along with the One Room Challenge participants!

• Boxwood Avenue • Coco & Jack • Design Manifest • Dwell with Dignity • The House That Lars Built • Little Green Notebook • The Makerista • Making it Lovely • Old Brand New • Old Home Love • The Painted House • Megan Pflug Designs • Pink Pagoda • Erica Reitman • Sacramento Street • Simply Grove • Jill Sorensen • Sugar & Cloth • Vintage Rug Shop • Waiting on Martha • Media Partner House Beautiful • TM by ORC

My One Room Challenge Posts

Follow along from the beginning!
• Week 1: Hello, Office • Week 2: Design and Layout • Week 3: It’s Curtains • Week 4: Putting it Together• Week 5: What Trim Color?

And check out my previous One Room Challenges!
• Spring ’16: Our Bedroom and Den • Fall ’16: Front and Back Entry, Stairs, and Hallways