Welcome to the Fall (or spring here in Perth, Australia) 2017 One Room Challenge. If you are not familiar with it, this is where design bloggers completely transform a space in just six weeks, documenting the process on their blogs, and revealing a brand new room at the end.
If you are new here I’m Jane and I blog at Organised Pretty Home, which is all about the best organising and decor ideas for your family home.
Welcome! This is my FIRST TIME participating in the One Room Challenge and I am participating as an Australian blogger. Does that make it an Australia One Room Challenge?
Gosh I am feeling both excited and nervous. 6 weeks is not a long time!! Are my plans overly ambitious or not brave enough?? Well I did take on the project of renovating my kitchen on my own this time last year. Yes that was crazy!!
The Living Room Before
Ok our family room does need a bit help. This is what it looks like right now!
My thinking was that the chaos and mess would encourage me to declutter all that stuff. Along the lines of… “If I make a bigger mess, I will have less mess in the end!” It’s sort of worked!
After getting rid of some of the stuff.
What I Like About The Living Room
Large Window
I love the huge window in this room which lets in a lot of light. It has a lovely view onto the gum trees in our front yard. Whatever I do with the room I want to maximise that.
Laminate Wood Floorboards
The room was painted about four years ago when we ripped up the carpet and installed laminate floor boards and skirting.
I do prefer floor boards and tiles to carpet, in a home with kids. It is easier to keep clean. It also helps that Perth winters are so mild and our summers are very hot!
Paint Colour
The large white square on the wall (above) was used as a screen for the video projector when we watched movies. It made for an awesome big screen! However the video projector has now been sold so the wall needs repainting.
I plan on sticking with the same wall colour, which is a warm neutral (Dulux Hog Bristle). Oh and yes that brown painted door will get a makeover as well!
What I Don’t Like About This Room
Lighting
It’s a long room and the one overhead light is not adequate. Picture my 10 year old daughter, squinting to see the words of the book she is reading.
As most of us are avid readers in our family, I want to have a few spaces in the room with comfortable lighting and seating to enjoy a book or two.
The Amount Of Stuff In It
One of the main changes will be less storage furniture! Yes, seriously, in my goal to have a life with less stuff, I want to be able to contain everything we have to the one cabinet. Will see how I go with that!
The challenge is then how to fill out the space so that it still feels comfortable and relaxing, rather than empty.
The Plan For The Living Room!
This includes a few DIY projects!
Hubby is hopefully building a barn door to hang over the archway we have in the room. It will be made from pallet wood.
Then I’ll also use pallet wood to upcycle our existing MDF coffee table. See how it turned out… DIY Pallet Coffee Table.
You’ve got to see what the final living room looks like now! Living Room Reveal
