ORC Week 3 | Prep & Paint
The sun is setting on week three of the One Room Challenge and I’m coming in hot with this week’s update. A big part of this challenge for me is following through on the project and my commitment to myself. I said I wanted to kick this off and see how much I’m capable of, so I’ll be sticking it through. Even though it will be another two weeks until the wallpaper is installed because we still have prep work to do. *Insert tantrum here*
We talked last week about the charming “Gpa-isms” that comes from a house built by Paul’s grandpa in the ’60s, and we found a few more this week. The room is pretty tiny, so having the toilet paper holder recessed keeps it out of the way. The problem? Everything is oversized in 2023 and a 1960 roll of TP was apparently a lot smaller. No big, we cut out the drywall to accomodate a larger holder. The pocket door hardware that I bought was also a little off but Paul was able to trim a tiny bit from the door to make it fit.
We’re finally ready to paint! At first I wanted to pull a color from the wallpaper to do the trim, but with a pocket door there isn’t really a great place to end the color so it would need to wrap the whole door frame. Wrapping the frame means it meets up with the white baseboard in the laundry room which looks weird. So, white it is. I’m always amazed at what a quick coat of paint will do. Also, I have clearly never looked at my baseboards closely enough because why were they so gross and how did I not think to paint them sooner?!
Before and after! It’s amazing what scrubbing with a drill + paint can do. The caulking is still holding on to more than I would like and the linoleum is clean, that’s just what it looks like (promise) but we’re leaps and bounds from where we started. I’ll need you to just pretend that the finished space has the black penny tile of my dreams in it, okay? Because A. we’re renting and B. trying to keep this project simple, remember?
I’m getting ahead of myself because we still need to paint the ceiling, install the paper, and make the shelf…but I started mapping out styling in my head this week. Now I know what you’re thinking: “Styling?! The room is tiny. You have so much left to do.” But I simply do not care. I want this bitty space to be a celebration of pretty things and small makers. From the Milton & King paper, to local ceramics, and art from friends, I’m throwing it all in here. Even if I weren’t, just painting the baseboards and trim, swapping out the hardware, and new fixtures will make this space feel brand new. I can’t wait to pull it together!
Until next time,
Aynsley Anne
