Bigger Than the Three of Us

It’s One Room Challenge Time

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I said I wasn’t going to do the One Room Challenge again this year. I knew I wasn’t going to do it. But then, so many of my blogging friends were talking about it and I succumbed to peer pressure. It’s exactly what we tell our kids not to do, right? If you have no idea what I’m talking about when I say the One Room Challenge… let me give you some background.

The “One Room Challenge” is hosted by Linda over at Calling It Home. It occurs twice a year and it’s where bloggers and designers focus on updating or transforming a space real-time over the course of six weeks. Each week, as you follow along, you will be able to see how a room changes. I think over 200 rooms were transformed. It’s such a fun event to take part in and just be able to follow along with everyone who is working their tail off to get to the finale.

Here’s what you can expect from me.

Wednesday, Oct 5th (week 1) – Introduce your space, and tell us your plan. (THIS POST)

Wednesday, Oct 12th (week 2) – Show us your progress. What have you accomplished?

Wednesday, Oct 19th (week 3) – Have you encountered any setbacks? Any happy accidents?

Wednesday, Oct 26th (week 4) – How’s it going? Week 4 is the hardest!

Wednesday, Nov 2nd (week 5) – Did you revise your plan? Hang in there, you can do it.

Wednesday, Nov 9th (week 6) – The Finale – It’s all about the pictures.

The other applicants will mostly go live with their spaces on Thursday, but to stay consistent with my blogging routine I’m going to post on Wednesday in the afternoon.

Before I reveal which space I’m working on, let’s walk down memory lane to the spaces that I’ve done in this challenge.

Our Eat-In Kitchen :

Eat-in kitchen before and after

You can read all about the eat-in kitchen transformation in the reveal post or you can check in on the updated eat-in kitchen that I posted a few weeks ago.

Mid-Century Bedroom

The guest bedroom was quite the challenge for us during the six week timeframe. I’m happy to say that we finished it. Check out the reveal and also the updated eclectic guest bedroom.

When I joined the challenge earlier this year (on our master), I had a few setbacks in trying to complete it. Our flooring install was supposed to be completed with three weeks left in the challenge and it ended up not being completed ’till after the challenge reveal date went live. It was extremely stressful and caused me to not get much accomplished during the challenge.

Mid-Century-Modern-Master-Bedroom-9

If you’d like to see where we ended up on reveal date, you can see the master bedroom here.

Since then, I’ve done a post about adding layers in the master bedroom but I’m not entirely certain that I’m sticking with those either. So, let’s just say the master bedroom is under construction.

Now, that I’ve written a book, let’s actually get down to this week’s post. Drumroll please…

We are taking on the Formal Dining Room. I had to cross out formal because, although it’s meant to be a formal dining room, we don’t host formal dinner parties. Let me show you the real before and then I’ll chat about where it’s been at and where I see it going.

The before of the Formal Dining Room

Formal Dining Room Built-ins

Ok, so those pictures were after we painted the walls gray and thrifted a table and chairs.

Since we lived here, we’ve done quite a bit to this space.

We’ve painted the walls, updated the table, reupholstered the chairs, added curtains, bought a buffet off of Craigslist, painted all trim including built-in, added a DIY Ikat Painting, added a rug and spruced up the chandelier.

Bright and Modern Formal Dining Room  Bright and Modern Formal Dining Room  Bright and Modern Formal Dining Room  Bright and Modern Formal Dining Room  Bright and Modern Formal Dining Room

It’s pretty and so very blue,  but I’ve realized that it’s not MY style. It jives together but it’s not me.

We’ve been working on a kitchen renovation for about two years (yes, two years!) and through that, I’ve finally found my style.

Modern Black Cabinets Open Shelving Kitchen Renovation by Bigger Than The Three Of Us

I snagged that picture from my Instagram so, if you’d like to see more recent kitchen updates… head over to IG.

During the kitchen renovation, we took down half of a wall to open the space up to the formal dining room. Wood flooring was installed earlier this year so that the two spaces could be cohesive.

Here’s another picture from IG:

Open shelving with dark cabinets and a china builtin

So, let’s get on to the plan. I haven’t actually decided for sure what direction I’m going to go. All I know is that I want it to mimic the feeling of our kitchen/dining room.

I’m thinking I will keep the table but do something to it. I’m not a furniture refinisher so I really have no idea what I’m talking about here but the table color isn’t cohesive to the kitchen. I either need to paint it or sand it down and refinish it. Tell me your thoughts on this one! I need all the help I can get.

I think I might try to replace two chairs or just recover the vintage set that I have. It’s all about budget on this one.

Rug? Seriously no idea.

Window treatments – I’m losing them. I think I’m going to rock some amazing bare windows. Let that light in and enjoy it.

Are you wondering if there’s anything that I do know about? I’m using wallpaper and I’m stoked about it.

I ordered samples of these: Shibori Earth Grey Brick and City Scape in Indigo. Luke and I have never wallpapered. We aren’t scared of DIY projects, but would you DIY this or hire it out? I’m on the fence.

Now, that I’ve talked your ear off.. I’m going to go and start actually working on my space. I’m hoping to have some progress to show you by next week and possibly even a design board!

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Comments

  1. I was hoping you’d be ORCing it thing fall…me too!!! I can’t believe you’re making over this room. I love it so as is but if anyone can make it better, it’s you girl! Can’t wait to see more!

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  3. I absolutely love your dining room – I’ve been obsessed with those cabinets since the first time I saw them! Cannot wait to see what you do with the room!

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  4. The room looks awesome as it is, but I see what you mean about it not jiving with the kitchen and eat in dining space. Whatever you end up doing is going to look amazing.

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  8. Can’t wait to see what you do with it, although it’s lovely now! Where are the curtains from? I hear you on something looking nice but not being your style. For a brief, fleeting moment a few years ago, I painted everything in our apartment like I was Joanna Gaines. Took me a while to find my style and to realize that that WASN’T it!

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  12. I vote you do the wallpapering, its not hard, just tedious. It really depends on the pattern in the wallpaper and how much lining up is required.

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  13. Wow Ashley! It’s going to be amazing!!! I’m so impressed with all of your transformations. Glad you decided (got pressured into) doing it again! xoxo

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  14. Your dining room has such a great starting foundation! Your wallpaper samples are gorgeous. We did removable wallpaper in our dining room, which was easy to install, but the prep was time-consuming since we had to put up luan panels to get a smooth surface (our walls are slightly textured AND wonky). Not sure if the same would apply for regular wallpaper. Looking forward to following your makeover, Ashley!

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  15. Excited to see this room transform! With as little wall space as you have doing the wallpaper yourself is totally doable. But that being said, since it’s such a small area it might not be that expensive to hire out. I think the table would look great refinished like the open shelves in the kitchen, but painted would be pretty too.

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    • I’m kinda leaning that way because there is so little wall space. I have tried to get a few quotes and am having the worst time getting people to call me back. I bet Luke will end up installing it… he’s really good at projects that take patience. You are spot on with what I was thinking about the table!

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  17. That’s funny – I also didn’t think I was going to join in again this time, but I couldn’t resist! And besides, the busier I am, the more I get done. Can’t wait to see what you do with this space.

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  19. I love your guest bedroom, that rug is to swoon over, so warm and comfy. your dining room ideas are very contemporary and I love that. My decor is very similar look forward to the progress.
    Maria

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  21. I love that you’re taking a room and redoing it because you’ve found your style. I mean, sure, the dining room looks great now, but YOU need to be happy with it! I personally love your kitchen (I’m also doing dark cabinets, brass accents and open shelving in my own kitchen this month), so I can’t wait to see what the dining room will turn into!

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  23. I found you on Insta–so glad! I love the cabinetry! Is that what you found on CL? I would hire out the wallpaper, especially if you haven’t put it up before. I put up one wall by myself and it was pretty difficult and doesn’t look fantastic 🙁 I’ve also had issues with a “professional” who did a poor job so get references and photos! There’s a lot of prep that’s involved and then the repeat and or texture of the paper…I think it’s definitely worth saving yourself the stress. Your dining room is already beautiful! Can’t wait to see the progress 🙂

    Reply

    • Well, welcome from Insta! =) The cabinets are actually built-in. Most of our furniture came from CL though. I have a few calls out on the wallpaper so we will see on that one. Thanks so much for stopping by!

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  25. I LOVE your kitchen! So, if you’re going in the direction with this space, it is going to be beautiful!!! I have absolutely zero advice on furniture painting nor wallpapering, but I bet you can do both on your own. I was thinking about doing wallpaper once and watched a lot of Youtube videos… Then ended up painting instead 🙂

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    • Thanks Erin! I think it will end up feeling like an extension of the kitchen space or at least thats the look we are going for. I need to go watch some YouTube videos… still can’t decide on whether I can do the wallpaper or not.

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  28. My house wouldn’t mind if someone peer pressured me into doing the One Room Challenge, too ;). Maybe in the spring! Love the wallpaper samples….I would probably DIY it….and then regret the decision about a million times during the process 😉

    Reply

  30. You have such a great space to work in, and I love the dark cabinets in your kitchen; can’t wait to see how you pull the two rooms together!

    Reply

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