I have always admired those participating in the One Room Challenge over the years, and this year I figured, why not join in on the fun? I am excited to announce that I will be taking part of the eight-week effort! If you are unsure of what the One Room Challenge is, twice a year, interior designers, bloggers and interiors enthusiasts come together to tackle one room of their home. The "challenge" is that from start to finish they only have eight weeks to pull everything together. Each week participants link their progress for the week, so we can hold ourselves accountable and follow each other's journeys.

Curious to see what others are up to? You can follow along on the One Room Challenge's blog.

I will also be posting more fun content on my Instagram if you would like to follow along there (watch my week 1 post here)

I have never blogged before, I am not a DIYer, nor am I very handy, so figured this challenge would be a good push for me to act as a starting point. As you can see my website is very much still a placeholder and under construction, so just view this as a quick starting point that I WILL be growing with over time. In order to survive this I am going to need to get one of my favorite quotes tattooed on my forehead:

"Done is better than perfect"

If you are joining me from the ORC page, I am so glad you are here and can't wait to share this journey with you!

Some background

I am a fine artist, professional graphic designer and website designer, and self-taught interior design fanatic who evolved into a freelance interior designer (I will elaborate on this another day!). My husband and I moved from New York City to the suburbs of New Jersey into a beautiful 120-year-old Dutch Colonial bursting with tons of character... and tons of headaches. We moved in with stars in our eyes imagining how beautiful we would make the home one day, but as it happens, the never-ending old house to-do list has taken priority over our 'fun' projects, until today.

Thanks to the One Room Challenge, I have mustered up the willpower to re-prioritize a very important project that was constantly kicked to the back of my to-do list...my office and art studio!

I am fortunate enough to get to call a room in our home fully mine as a place to focus and create, which has always been a dream of mine. It has uneven floors, wonky trim, holes in the walls, and peeling windows, but I have been in love with her ever since I laid eyes on her. Time to transform this unloved room into a creative sanctuary.

My Challenge

I currently work on our first floor of our home where my work files are just stacks on the floor and my art supplies are still collecting dust in moving boxes, so it is about time that I level up. As a creative and professional with so many mediums, passions and interests, my office would need to be an extremely flexible space that functions seamlessly and keeps me organized as I evolve through the years creatively and professionally. But most of all, I want the space to feel inspiring, energetic, and creative. I am a firm believer that the space around you dictates your wellbeing, so I am hoping to design this room in a way where it feels like a safe space for me to play, as well as work. How do I balance professional, efficient, organized, AND playful? ...We will find out!

The "Before"

For some unknown reason that absolutely boggles my mind, someone long ago decided to paint over the beautiful hardwood floors with sad off-white paint. *gasp * Why would someone ever do such a thing?

After some careful scraping (after we did a safety lead paint test) where we saw the state of the wood underneath, we knew we needed to try our very best to salvage it. We decided to call out the pros to bring in the heavy equipment to sand and re-stain the floors.

Action shot of the incredible team at North Jersey Wood Floors hard at work

 After sanding they already looked SO much better, but I decided to stain the wood a darker color to match the rich color found in the rest of the home so the floor would feel consistent and connected on each floor.

After some trial and error with the staining, the results turned out incredible! Already such a transformation, and the challenge didn't even begin yet. To be fair to the rules, the above floor work was completed before the start of the challenge, so these below images will be used as my "official" before photos for the room:

Official 'Before' Photos:

The Plan

I love all of the fancy moodboarding / rendering software just as much as the next person, but I will almost always start every room I design with a sketch. Something about putting pen to paper expresses ideas easily and freely to quickly identify room components before getting bogged down with other design decisions such as color and finishes when making moodboards. Check out my Instagram to watch a fun time-lapse of me sketching these out for 30 seconds of zen)

Goal 1: Storage

As a designer and an artist, there are lots of samples, swatches, papers, books and other physical materials that need to be neatly stored into easily accessed location. The way I am looking to accomplish this is to build two shelving cabinets to fill the majority of the largest wall. While open shelving would be visually prettier, I decided having closed doors to be the most practical to maximize functional "messy" storage inside. Due to ceiling vents and attic access the built-ins unfortunately cannot extend to the ceiling, but with a foot of space to spare I feel that they will still feel grand and will make enough impact.

On the other side of the room I will be building a low storage unit which will a pull out hanging files drawer, a pull out printer drawer for easy access, and counter space for msc materials.

Goal 2: Work Surfaces

As someone who is juggling many different professional and creative needs, the below are the challenges I was facing when selecting an office desk:

1. A surface for my laptop and my monster monitor carried over from my web-design days that I have grown to absolutely love. This is a surface that needs to stay clean and focused. Ideally this has cheerful natural light, and would have a standing desk function to help handle long hours in front of screens.

2. A studio surface. This is a surface that I would not be scared to play on and get messy with various mediums. Most importantly, ideally this surface should be flexible where it can adjust to different angles. If I am painting on a canvas paint best at a severe angle, but for illustration I prefer a subtle angle that is easier on my wrist, or if I am creating a moodboard I need a large flat space to lay out materials.

So what did I decide to be the solution to solving both of these challenges, you ask? There isn't one! I am getting two :)

I already own a standing desk which I discovered will fit perfectly into the window nook, which will be a cheerful place to spend the majority of my office time getting all of my computer work done. A small win for being able to reuse an existing desk and computer chair.

As for the studio surface, I decided I will need to source a drafting table, which will fit within the two built in cabinets. ideally this also would have faced a window, but I figured by placing a pin board on the wall above the desk that will be a canvas for me to display new inspiration and creative visuals.

I will need as much light as possible so without a window I will need to add two task adjustable task lights on the wall above the desk. Task lights add another level of flexibility to the space, and having two light sources rather than one reduces the amount of dark shadows on the surface below, which is important when creating art.

Next steps

In the coming weeks I will get busy making the sketch become a reality. Next week stay tuned for my final moodboard of colors and fabrics (the fun part!) to bring some personality and color into the place.

See you next week! Brielle