One Room Challenge

I am very excited to tell you about an event I am participating in over the next six weeks!  It's call The One Room Challenge, and was started a few years back by Linda at Calling It Home.  Twice a year, Linda invites 20 designers and design oriented bloggers to transform a room (either theirs or a client's) in six weeks, sharing their progress each week as they go.  While I am new to having my own blog, I have been reading these women's blogs for quite some time, and let me tell you...they're one creative bunch!  I'm always so impressed and inspired with their ideas and creativity, especially when they accomplish their transformation on a budget.

Here are the women participating:

Chinoiserie Chic 

Classic Casual Home 

Cottage and Vine 

Design Addict Mom 

Design Crisis 

Design Indulgence 

Design Manifest 

The English Room 

The Green Room Interiors

Henhurst Interiors 

Little Black Door 

Maddie's Nest 

Mix And Chic 

My Notting Hill 

Pawleys Island Posh 

The Pink Pagoda 

Shelter 

Simple Details 

The Vault Files 

This year, Linda opened up the fun to everyone, and since I was just starting to update my dining room, I've decided to join the One Room Challenge.  We live in a 100+ year old New England home in Massachusetts, which we love for it's character and charm.  But with that comes horsehair plaster walls, sloping floors, (if we drop a marble it rolls to the center of the house!), smaller rooms, and unexpected surprises when doing a renovation. But since this dining room is going to undergo strictly cosmetic changes, hopefully things will go (relatively!) smoothly. 

Here are some before photos of our dining room:

 



Not horrible, but it definitely needs some updating and a little love.  It's all a little bland right now and I've been over my shabby chic phase for quite some time.  I'm looking for something more coastal classic: a natural wood table, wicker chairs, beachy accents. The room has two windows and gets lots of sunlight during the day. It is a high traffic room as we have to walk through it to get to the kitchen.

The opposite wall from the black hutch has pocket doors that lead into the living room, which has been decorated in various shades of blue and gray. (Stay tuned- the living room transformation post is coming soon!)

 

The dining room table I bought from an unfinished furniture store years ago, and they painted it for me.  Unfortunately they used a high gloss paint and I've never been happy with the shine.  And too much white with the matching chairs!  While I love my black hutch, it's not wide enough for that wall, so it's going to get moved into the kitchen and I am on the Craig's List search for a new piece to transform.  I also love my jute rug but the tassels have gotten worn and torn, so much so that the rug is starting to unravel...yikes!!  That needs to be replaced.  The chandelier and cream secretary need to go, and the wall opposite the windows needs to be filled.  I bought this mantle at Brimfield Antique Show years ago, and painted it white. 

 

Hmmm...not sure what to do with this awkward shelving space between the living room doors and hallway that leads to the front door. I also need to paint the walls, and the trim needs a fresh coat. A decision needs to be made on the wall molding that goes around the room- should it stay or should it go?  Here are a few pictures from my inspiration boards on Pinterest to show you the direction I'll be trying to go towards...I love the white walls, wicker chairs, reclaimed wood table and large hutch in the various photos below...

Or maybe I should put some color on the walls... 

 

Love the natural table with the white chairs.  Goodbye matchy-matchy! 



 



 

I would like to find a big hutch like this to fill up that wall.  But perhaps in white or gray...I don't want it to overpower the (fairly small) dining room.  This is gorgeous...

But this gray one is beautiful too...

So these are some of the decisions that I'll be making over the next six weeks.  Thanks for visiting and be sure to check in each Thursday for an update.  I'd love to have you along for the ride!

As always, feel free to leave a comment or ask questions in the comments section below.

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