One Room Challenge - Week 8 THE BIG REVEAL

One Room Challenge Week – 8 BIG Reveal

Welcome to our One Room Challenge Week 8! Eight weeks fly by when your run an interior design company, and battle through debilitating 2 bone breaks. And then feel the pressure of a deadline circling your brain and you need to complete a room.

The great news is, It’s done. Bada bing!!! YAHOO!!!

We identified a room, set our goals, had a plan, and went to work turning my neglected junky, dump home gym into a brand new experience and space I call the “energy escape”.

If you are just discovering my blog, I’m Karen Post a Tampa interior designer who leads Home Frosting. Being a designer and like the cobblers kids that have no shoes, my house is always low on the priority list.

I changed that.

After hearing about The One Room Challenge from other designers I admire, I committed to participate with talented people from all over the US this spring and transform a room in my personal house.

Follow all 8 weeks of the project progress by checking out the past 7 blogs click here Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, and Week 6 or visit my Instagram @therealhomefrosting.

This week was showtime, the big reveal where the world sees the finished project.

I’m thrilled with how it came out in our One Room Challenge Week 8 results and that my husband who shares the room with me, loves it too.

A few big takeaways

Small rooms are tough. Because you need to keep things simple and be mindful of both practical aspects and as a designer, the aesthetics. This room was only 11 ft x 11 ft.

2) Adding a couple of sconces, sounds easy.
But, in reality, it can be a 2-day project requiring cutting through the next room, doing wall repairs, re-texturing, ceiling repairs, and re-painting.

3) Stuff happens. Plans matter.
A couple of weeks into my project, I had a bizarre accident. But because I was working from a plan, tied to my goals, we didn’t miss a beat.

4) Dogs and their contributions.

I love my dog Lincoln as you can see from his regular presence in my photos, but you have to keep your eyes open when they are in your work zone. They put everything in their mouth. Construction materials and they can pick up a screw or nail. You’ve got to be very careful.

When the organic grass panels arrived at my house I set them on the floor, failing to remember that Lincoln likes to mark and pee on most grass he sees. Fortunately, when his cute back leg went up, I was there to save the wall art and the day. LOL!!

And last lesson from Lincoln is, he does not love for me to be working on my computer all the time. In fact, he has a habit of walking on the keyboard and erasing hours of writing in a few seconds. This happened several times during this project. Setting an autosave preference on your computer will avoid this stressful experience.

Choices I made that I’m very happy with.

Adding dimmers to my lighting.
Updating the recessed fixtures to LED with eyeball movement.
Installing art in a gym. I like change, so I may rotate pieces I love too.

Extra details, I would do again.

Naming the room with a gorgeous custom sign. Especially because this room has a purpose and I don’t want to forget that.
Adding wall and floor storage with baskets. I hate crap cluttering any space, especially modern ones.
3 simple mirrors brought in the outdoor greenery, making the space feel larger, and seeing how you look in shorts keeps you inspired to work out regularly.
Creating an inspiration board that spotlights some of my rock star muses who I so admire and having a place to post my goals.

Yes, this One Room Challenge took an investment of extra time because as a designer participant, you are required to journal your progress every week in a blog and on social media.

Would I do it again, you bet!

I met so many awesome talented new designer friends in the community. I discovered new materials. I built up a new fan base and my room is ready to use and enjoy.

I also discovered who my “good as gold” employees, supporters, and vendors are who contributed their expertise, services, and materials, or went the extra mile to make this project a success!