Welcome to Week 4 of the One Room Challenge Office / Studio makeover! If you missed my last updates, check out my blog posts for Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3.

I can't believe we are already halfway through the challenge. it is going to be a mad dash to the finish line but I am feeling positive about the progress so far.

I am going to keep things brief in my blog post this week but if you want to see more behind the scenes check out my reel that I posted on Instagram.

Goal of the week: Room Prep

While I wish I could just dive into the fun painting part, unfortunately, there were a few steps that I needed to complete first to prepare the room properly.

The first step was to remove all existing blinds and any miscellaneous pieces items still hanging on the walls. (Shout out to my husband's handy drill skills for this part!)

The next step was to spackle the holes and the molding. The room's existing crown molding has a strange intentional indent before it meets the ceiling, which was an intentional design element back in the day. I find it visually distracting and it acts as a large dust trap, so I figured it was time to go.

I decided to use Patch n' Paint lightweight spackle which is an airy mousse texture and was easy to manipulate into tight corners, which made it perfect for the job. I pushed it into the cracks around the top of the crown molding and then sanded it down for a smooth finish, and I am very pleased with the results. Highly recommend this product!

After the spackle dried, I did a thorough sanding of all existing trim, base, crown molding, and doorway to buff out the existing gloss paint so the new gloss paint color can adhere well. I used 100 grit sandpaper which took lots of elbow grease but was fine enough that it did not leave large scratches that will show through the new paint layer. I was careful to wear a mask and only sand the top layer of gloss paint as I suspect that there is lead paint along the base layer (many, many layers down) given the 120-year-old age of the home. This was a painful and dusty process, so I hope this paid off where the paint will now apply as it should!

The room was now covered in dust so I wiped down the walls with paper towels and a soft cloth and was able to vacuum up the rest. I taped out the trim with painter's tape and covered the floor in brown paper, so we are now ready to begin painting the ceiling next week.

Thanks for being here - stay tuned for more progress!

Check-in on the other participants' progress on the One Room Challenge website for more updates.