Guys, I have been bursting at the seems waiting to tell everyone about my plans for the Spring One Room Challenge (ORC). The ORC hosted by Linda at Calling It Home happens twice a year, and pushes designers & bloggers to transform a space – start to finish – in under 6 weeks. There are 20 official participants each season //see this season’s here //, and then everyone else (myself included) participate as linking participants in a link-up that goes live sometime in the evening during the wee-hours of the morning between Wednesday and Thursday. You should totally go back and look at all the other spaces // here // Not only am I excited to see what the official contestants come up with, but I’m excited to see what the other linking participants can do.
You can view last fall’s One Room Challenge journey // here //
&
Catch-up on the journey for the Spring 2017 One Room Challenge – The Great Outdoors
// Week 1 //
*HomeSense sponsored this post, but all thoughts are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make PMQ for two possible.
I had originally planned to do a spectacular patio overhaul and build a deck that would be movable. While I’ll be sharing before photos as we go, you’ll remember what our outdoors like like from this post // here //. It was going to be the Transformer equivalent of wood working, I tell ya! But those plans quickly fell through and then the plan changed 2 or 3 times before settling into what it is now when HomeSense came to the rescue and wanted to partner together for a spring campaign.
In partnership with HomeSense I’ll be upgrading, revamping, breathing fresh life into, and creating 4 distinct outdoor spaces that are renter friendly and colourful & eclectic. Basically, my entire interior shtick, but outdoors!
We’ll be doing our front door & step, back door & step, dining area and then creating a backyard lounge – all in under 6 weeks start to finish!
My plan is to complete one space a week and give you a partial reveal, saving the whole kit and caboodle for the end i.e week 6. I’m also hoping that I can get all my other posts to align so that the remaining posts for the month of April are all ORC related. That way I can break-out a project or DIY into its own post and not slow-down the weekly reveal with things that deserve their own posts.
Without further ado, I give you my four spaces and their inspiration boards!
I few years ago I wrote a post about creating curb appeal in the PMQs or in your rental // here //. While I don’t adhere to those styles anymore, the basic principles remain the same – make your place look nice and the neighbours will have to. After a lengthy back and forth the housing association that manages PMQs, it has been determined that I cannot paint my front and back doors. This causes me great distress as the white currently there looks grubby and does no favours to the brown siding. Ugh.
What I can do though, is add tons of different coloured planters and plants, switch-up the house number, maybe the light, and get myself a fancy doormat. This look is easily achievable with a quick trip to HomeSense, so be sure to follow along with my Instagram stories this weekend as I mill about town finding the bits and bobs for the space.
The next space to get a make-over is going to be the pack porch and step. This area will tie-into our dining & seating areas, so having some flowers, a place to sit if you’re putting on or taking off shoes, and some baskets for easy storage will make the space complete.
I’ll be adding some hanging plants, some colourful planters and a space to hide my beautiful lawn care implements. This entire look can also be shopped and found at your local HomeSense, so when in doubt hit the aisles and grab a cart! I’m hoping to do the front and back doors for under 500$ total, so make sure you track the posts to see if I can do it!
The dining area is going to bring a whole lotta vavavoom! A giant deck would have been lovely, but a 10′ x 10′ pergola with a UV screen will do the trick nicely! The pergola – available at The Home Depot – will create a defined space for entertaining. We’ll be able to sit under there at mid-day, or pull back the screen in the evening for a view of the stars. I couldn’t be more excited for snowbanks to melt so that I can get this set-up and enjoy!
We’re still toying with the idea of re-staining our massive harvest table // here // p.s don’t judge me on those potato camera “progress” shots.
I’ll then accent the space with colourful and outdoor friendly accessories from HomeSense, including pillows and tableware. I am very excited to get started on this part and make my hostess dreams come true.
This last space will be an entirely new one for us. We’ve always dreamed of having a little entertaining area off to the side, or just a space for DH and I to sit and read a book with our morning coffee or watch the sun set. The look of this space will depend entirely on what I can find locally, but between HomeSense and I, I think we’re covered. I know that I want to pull the blues and greens from the other spaces into it, as well as some orange throw pillows.
Basically, this space is the least defined but the most exciting, so stay-tuned for that one!
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As always, follow along on Twitter (which I am using more of!), Pinterest (where I’ll be sharing my board soon!) and Instagram stories as I make updates and shopping trips available. We may even have time to build a few things during this ORC, so I’m hoping to get my Ryobi tools out and dust them off!
Which of these spaces are you the most interested in seeing come to life?
