ORC Week One – My Legacy Project

Well, well, well, here we are again. It’s One Room Challenge time. First, let me point out the elephant in the room. Long-time readers may notice everything looks different around here! The look and function of BlakeHillHouse.com as been upgraded–I think. I say that tentatively because the process has been fraught with behind-the-scenes drama with my host, and you may stumble upon some issues as you are poking around the new website. If that’s the case, please let me know so I can fix the problems.

The second elephant is that we are still here in BHH! The idea was that we would put the house up for sale in March, but that did not happen. I am not ready to talk about all of that yet, but it’s safe to say that life is chugging right along.

The third elephant in the room (How many elephants are there?!) is the grand staircase adorned in painter’s tape and missing balusters. Andy pointed out recently that I started work on the foyer four years ago (rude!), and it’s been a running joke around here that finishing the staircase and the foyer will be my legacy to BHH. So, guess what we’re doing for the One Room Challenge?

Welcome to the Fancy Foyer

To say this room has good bones is an understatement. It’s the jewel of Blake Hill House, so it makes sense that I would tear it apart and leave it looking awful for four years. Nothing says “Pride of Ownership” quite like neglect. There’s a story behind the unraveling of this project over the past four years, and I will share that story over the next eight weeks.

The Project Plans

• Redo the Stair Treads Again (ugh!)
• Prep, Prime, and Paint every bit of the woodwork
• Repair all of the broken balusters and reinstall them
• Tighten up the handrail
• Install various bits and pieces of missing woodwork
• New Rugs (hopefully!)
• New wall sconces
• Install a rug runner
• Miscellaneous soft goods and pretty stuff

Right now, you know as much as I know about what this room will look like at the end of the One Room Challenge. I’m putting the mood board together now, and I will share it in the next couple of weeks. Until then, the only person I trust to sand my floors, Brenden, will be here next week to do the stair treads.

When you have a chance, take a look at all of the other One Room Challenge participant projects. Be sure to choose a few to follow for the full eight weeks. The talent pool always blows me away.

Thank you for reading!