Oh my goodness, as I’m writing this, there’s dried up paint on my fingertips and my feet are sore from all of the commitment of week 5 of the One Room Challenge. Particularly this weekend! If you’re anything like me, and spending a little money makes you commit deeper into a project, I’m definitely feeling that! It’s actually all happening. And it won’t be JUST the exterior, as I was worrying last week.
Welcome back to my One Room Challenge (ORC) journey! If you’re new here, the ORC is a biannual event where interior designers, bloggers, and DIY enthusiasts transform one room in their home in just eight weeks. In weeks 1 and 2, I shared my plans for my she shed, which you can catch up on here and here. In this update, I’ll be sharing the combined progress I’ve made in weeks 3 and 4 (because life!) The theme of the last two weeks has been “add it to the cart/truck!”
I can’t believe this day is here! I feel like it was a blink of an eye when I first read about the One Room Challenge and decided to try it out. About 1800 shopping trips and five ambitious DIYs later, and the end is here! The One Room Challenge is an 8-week community event in partnership with Better Homes & Gardens. More info in last Thursday’s blog post if you haven’t checked it out. Today I’m so excited for my One Room Challenge office reveal.
If my office looks easy breezy now, just know it took a lot of work to get here. And if you’ve been following me from the first One Room Challenge blog post, I have to be totally honest and say it got messier before it got better. But now that the office reveal is here, I want to snap my fingers and make this happen for the rest of our house!
The first thing on my list was to purchase new storage bins to sort out my Poshmark inventory for all of the concealed storage areas in the new cabinets, since my old bins were too large. Word to the wise, the Dollar Tree is an excellent place to save money on organization bins, but be sure NOT to rely on their online measurements. Bring your own measuring tape to make an accurate call. It took going to three Dollar Trees to find the white bins pictured below and they ended up being about two inches too wide for the shelf. Luckily, I was able to correct this before the big reveal day!
They don’t call it the One Room CHALLENGE for nothing! 🙂
You’ll also see above that I sprung for the matching door for the single Billy shelf unit. I was worried there wasn’t enough space to open it, but I made it work, and the door opens freely!
One of my favorite additions to the new office was this corner gallery wall. The piece of wood on the wall was here before us, and I had a vision to hang a few pieces from it. The gallery theme is watercolor which is something I’ve consciously added upon learning more about the principles of Feng Shui. While some people might include a fountain or aquarium to symbolize the water element in their office, I thought this would be cool to do with the artwork. As noted in the caption below, the sunset piece is by Omar Richardson. The sea turtle is by Marie Holdaway. The monstera plant print is from Target. And the last 4×6 blue piece is actually a water color that I created…TODAY…to further bring in the symbolic element.
The gold frames are from IKEA and I love them. None of them actually came with the chain, so this was a DIY. If you’d like to replicate this in your space, Home Depot didn’t have any gold chain that was fine enough for my vision. I actually ended up purchasing jewelry chain from Hobby Lobby and learned that they are like Michaels with their coupon situation. Although I paid full price, (ugh) I definitely love them! I hot glued the chains to the back of the frame, but actually hung the frames from the wall and tacked up the chain so the chain is not the only support.
So much of this project was reorganizing, unpacking some final boxes and decluttering! As you can see in the photos below, that alone made an impact, but so did my new furniture design plan. 🙂
If you checked out my story yesterday, you saw that I was spray painting with less than 24 hours left to go. I feel like I’m on HGTV’s Design Star! Working down to the final minutes. But I’m really happy with how the wall hook piece and cabinet knobs came out in the gold. The reason I have lots of hooks on the walls is for taking photos and hanging pieces that are part of my Poshmark inventory.
I definitely felt like I was part of a design reality show when I was hemming my curtains also TODAY. I used iron on hem tape which is great for me because I could let the curtains back out later. A great idea for people renting or in a situation where they frequently move. I love how it made the bench area look less cluttered.
Overall, I’m extremely pleased with what I’ve been able to accomplish in my office in under three weeks. I feel like I’ll be able to do better work for my amazing current and future clients from this space. I love how my Poshmark inventory now is arranged more like a store or a beloved closet. It’s definitely not as overwhelming as it once was. I love how the vertical and wall spaces are now more maximized, making my space feel more open. Everything is easier to find and it makes me even more excited to do my work.
What do you think of my One Room Challenge Office Reveal? Let me know in the comments and be sure to tag me on Instagram if you try any of these little DIYs.
Also, if you want help in 1-3 areas of your home that you’re stuck on or want design guidance on, I’m currently offering Virtual Design Strategy Sessions through the end of the year. This consists of a style assessment, a concentrated strategy discussion on three areas of concern, a prioritization roadmap, and linking you to relevant resources with a summary PDF at the end. All totally remotely by the way. And in as little as three business days. If this sounds like a fit for you, click here to learn more.
Hope you enjoyed today’s post! Stay tuned for part two. 🙂
Kaitlyn Loos [loh-s] is one of the newest designers for interiors and events in the west-central Florida area. (Tampa, Ocala, Gainesville, and everywhere in between.) She brings over seven years of graphic design, project management, and event planning experience to create amazing spaces and experiences for her clients. She is one of the only interior design companies in her area who offers modern, fresh, pattern and color-savvy designs. From styling an event to designing an entire home, Kaitlyn Loos Design is a full service company that delivers style for nearly any investment level. She also enjoys sharing her ideas and projects through her new blog which reaches over 325 people monthly.
For more information about Kaitlyn, check out: About Kaitlyn: Interior Design, and About Kaitlyn: Event Planning.
You can also subscribe to the blog and contact Kaitlyn directly here.
So we’re just one week from the finale of the One Room Challenge and I’m proud to report progress! The One Room Challenge is an 8-week community event in partnership with Better Homes & Gardens. More info in last Thursday’s blog post if you haven’t checked it out, but I’m doing my office! Week 7 for me was focused getting all the new furniture pieces in.
Last week, I had a big breakthrough when I decided to treat this project like a client’s. In the past, I might’ve done more “winging it” for my own spaces. But I came into Week 7 with a plan.
I pinned the image below a few weeks ago before I started the One Room Challenge. I thought this was an aspirational piece for my office – especially for the Poshmark items. To be honest, I didn’t think this would be accessible for me now. I had no idea at first that these were IKEA Billy bookshelves with the Oxberg door attachments! IKEA and I are longtime friends – if you didn’t know – so this was an exciting find.
Originally I wanted to upgrade the fabric storage cubes and hang new floating shelves above my Kallax units. (See last week’s BEFORE photos and the original sketch.) Both the Billy bookshelves and Kallax cube-style shelves are signature IKEA styles. But the inspiration image with the doors looked much more luxe and grown up to me. It’s an added bonus that they’re about twenty inches taller.
I took my measurements and determined that the Billy and Oxberg doors approach could be both more sleek and affordable. But I wanted to check myself before I took the room apart. So next I entered my measurements into my 3D planning software. While this doesn’t show the new furniture pieces to total accuracy, it’s built to the dimensions. It’s a great exercise to help further visualize the space planning of the space – especially one with so many functions.
Treating myself like a client was immediately paying off! With this plan feeling good, I made a list, and hopped in the car for an epic IKEA trip. Since my Kallax shelf was purchased in the last year, IKEA Tampa let me return it for store credit.
For whatever reason, normally all of my IKEA trips are on a tight timeline. I made sure to go early this week and allow plenty of time for a change. And thank goodness! Everyone and their mother seems to have flocked to the Tampa IKEA since its recent reopening. Even on weekdays, it’s been packed the two times I’ve gone. I was 17th in line for my return! Whatever time you think you need at IKEA normally, double it. FYI – returns have also gotten a bit more strict.
This gave me two days to build them, which ended up being perfect with balancing with my other design projects. While I’m no IKEA assembly expert, I was very proud of what I was able to accomplish all by myself! Photos of my progress below.
Walking into my office at this point already feels totally different. The new shelves sit a little more flush to the wall and the height feels really right in the room. Not unlike my 3D rendering! I’m so happy with this progress on this One Room Challenge office. I’ve also bought some additional decor items that you’ll have to tune in next week to see!
With the final week, I’m excited to ride on this positive momentum! My plan is to load my Poshmark Inventory into the new shelving system and finish organizing my supplies. Then it’ll be all about accessories and finishing touches – which spoiler alert, there will be a LOT of. (This designer is not afraid to go a little EXTRA.)
I’m excited to have this room feeling more like a reflection of my creative personality. I already see a palpable change in how I feel working in the space. Which is great for future clients and projects!
If you had to do the One Room Challenge, what space would you tackle? Let me know in the comments below.
Be sure to come back next Thursday for the grand finale reveal of my One Room Challenge Office! If you are enjoying following along, be sure to subscribe here.
I hope you enjoyed this progress update. Thank you for being a reader and supporting my new career!
In my daily Pinterest-ing I noticed a few interior design photos with “One Room Challenge” noted in the title, so I looked into it. Turns out it’s a biannual design event over the course of eight weeks that’s open to guest participants. In partnership with Better Home & Gardens, it’s a community event that celebrates the process of completing a room. I’m a little late to the party, as they’re in week six. But I decided I’m all-in for it. I’m trying the One Room Challenge for my office!
Am I being a little too ambitious? I think we all know the unwavering answer to that is YES. But I’m excited for the challenge. I feel like I totally overthink my own spaces. And this one is exemplary of that! This room has so many uses for me. I use it as an office, extra shoe storage, a cardio fitness zone, a photo studio and a storage unit for over 250 items for sale on Poshmark. Yikes, right?
By the way, if this is your first time reading my blog, I just moved to a mini-farm in a new city a few hours from Tampa. This happened the same time as kicking off my new career, no less! Check out my first blog post for the full back story if you’d like to hear more.
So I hopped to it this week and created a plan for bringing this space to its full potential. After hours of going back and forth about some of the decisions, I finally had to say to myself: “What would you recommend to a client?”
It sounds crazy, but this was a game changer.
I would tell my client not to settle for a plan that they’ll have to change later. If they love something but it costs more than they wanted to spend, look at the scenario 360 degrees and decide what would truly be best. Turns out after taking every role of this office into account, that the Plan A and Plan B that were competing so hard in mind, were both not the answer. Plan C has emerged, and it’s going to take some major decluttering, streamlining and putting together new furniture. But in the end, I think it’ll be worth it.
A lot has happened in this little office in the right direction since moving here, but I think this event is a great push to get it done. Here is where I’m at today!
Again, I’m very lucky to have this space in the house. I’ve never had an office before. But with the clutter right now I feel like I don’t even deserve it, and I know that’s not the attitude to have! I’m the type of person who can stay neat-ish if there’s a system and it looks good to me. With the mis-matched fabric storage cubes, it never felt right! And, to top it off, I can’t just order more of the ones on the left because the two shelves from IKEA have different inside cube dimensions! Ugh, you would think they, of all stores, would have this streamlined, but this was not the case. But hey, that’s what I get for buying them piecemeal.
Today, an official plan has been born to finish this project, and you get to watch it all happen, too!
I purchased this cute little plant from our recently reopened IKEA to get my positive Feng Shui going as I dive into finally finishing my office.
I also had some success creating a little custom foot rest from a West Elm pillow and an IKEA children’s wooden stool. Check out my Instagram stories for the full DIY on that.
Below are the objectives I’m trying to achieve in the process of finishing the work I’ve started on this office. I hope in two weeks I can come back to this and say I’ve got it all down pat!
1. I want to have an office that feels as put together and stylish as the spaces I create for my own clients.
2. I want all of my Poshmark inventory concealed and organized. And I want my packaging products to remain easily accessible when I make sales.
3. I want to better utilize the vertical space of my office for much needed storage.
4. I want to be able to look up from my desk at my pin board hanging on the wall with inspiration images attached.
5. I want a system of organizing paper and tech pieces so that it’s not cluttering my glass desk.
6. I want my elliptical space clear and ready to use at a moment’s notice.
7. I want to create one shelf of interior design references.
8. I want everything in the office to have a place.
This feels so crazy to me to post something that I haven’t finished! I’m excited to see where I can take this space in the next two weeks. Check back on my blog next Thursday for the next progress report.
Thank you for reading and I hope you’ll wish me luck!
