The One Room Challenge has rolled around again. Last spring, as a guest participant, we restored and renovated the pantry. That project served as a warm-up for the gut kitchen renovation which happened over the summer. Participating in the One Room Challenge (ORC) was such a great experience that I immediately put the fall date on the calendar.  I like the short timeframe of this challenge which is six weeks. It keeps me focused and on track. This is especially helpful in the fall when my dread of winter threatens to send me down the rabbit hole of excessive coffee drinking and binge-watching shows on Netflix.

For those of you who have just started following along and are unfamiliar with the One Room Challenge, I offer a brief explanation. Linda, from Calling It Home, started this design challenge ten seasons ago. The challenge, which takes place every April and October, features twenty design bloggers as they transform a room in only six weeks. The challenge is extended to guest participants like us. During the last challenge, over 200 talented people took part in this event. They transformed everything from giant bunkroom-style bedrooms to tiny hall half-bathrooms. Their creativity and talent amazed me and pushed me (in all the right ways) to do a good job on our pantry.

The Dining Room

For the fall challenge, we are renovating the dining room. It is currently in quite a state:

Prior to covering the woodwork in plastic sheathing, and after Andy removed the wallpaper, it looked like this:

During the summer, it housed most of the construction items and cabinetry for the kitchen renovation project.

The Plan

Since this year’s home improvement budget is close to zero after gutting the kitchen and having the exterior of the house painted, we will have to be very creative. The dining room stays quite dark throughout much of the day, especially in the winter. Our chief goal is to create a bright and warm space full of texture and to keep the gorgeous original chandelier as the focal point.

We will be painting the woodwork in Woodmont Cream by Benjamin Moore. It is the same woodwork color that we used in the living room last year.  Woodmont Cream is a clean white with a touch of warmth. Coincidentally, it is almost exactly the same shade of white as Citilite by Sherwin Williams. We used Citilite in the Kitchen. When I hold the paint chips side-by-side, there is almost no difference.

For the walls, I waffled between going dramatic with a dark navy or keeping it light and airy. After much thought, I decided to keep it bright. I chose Agreeable Gray by Sherwin Williams. (I know what you are thinking. It’s blogger greige. Stay with me, please. I have a plan.)

As far as decor goes, we will be adding a bunch of artwork to the walls.  Above the fireplace, we will be installing the free mirror that I picked up on the side of the road last winter. Yes, I am an occasional trash picker. Typically, we keep a lot of plants in this room. I would like to spruce up the pots somehow without spending a fortune. I have some ideas.

In addition to paint and artwork, I plan to reupholster the seats of the chairs. In a perfect world, I would replace the table with something much larger. The scale is off. However, I live in my world which is one of compromise and a legit budget.  Putting new fabric on the seats of the chairs will be a great improvement. Getting a new rug, wall sconces and window treatments will also have to be set aside for a later date.

So, that’s the plan. For my list-making friends, it all boils down to these tasks:

• Repair the plaster walls
• Paint the woodwork
• Paint the walls
• Reupholster the chairs
• Add artwork
• Hang the mirror over the fireplace
• Spruce up the houseplant pots
• Bring in seasonal decor

I look forward to sharing the next six weeks with all of you. No doubt, it will be a rewarding and sometimes bumpy journey.

Now, do yourselves a favor and pop on over to see all the other talented guest participants of the One Room Challenge. I cannot wait to read about their projects and choose my favorites.

This post is also linked at Thoughts of Home on Thursday.