One Room Challenge: Week 1 – The Plan

Today marks week 1 of the Spring 2021 One Room Challenge and I am so excited to be a guest participant! Be sure to follow me on Instagram @robynjohanna_  to catch the behind the scenes.

WHAT IS THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE?

The One Room Challenge (ORC) is a biannual design event that challenges participants to transform a room in eight weeks and share the process along the way. Each round, twenty design influencers are selected as ‘Feature Designers’ and anyone is welcome to join as a guest participant. The ORC is not a competition, rather it is a community celebrating creativity and design.

WHO AM I?

If you’re new here, let me introduce myself. I’m Robyn, a fifth generation Canadian farmer, farmer’s wife, mama and the creative behind Robyn Johanna.

My journey began with postpartum depression. What started as a healing journey, has evolved into a fierce passion to empower women to create a home and life they love.

I’m taking you along for the ride as I turn my house into a home one DIY at a time. It is my purpose to inspire you to follow what lights you up, to go after your dreams and to live a life you love. Let’s do this!

THE ROOM

Ok, let’s get to what you’re really here for… the details! What room am I going to transform in 8 weeks? For my first ever ORC as a guest participant, I am transforming our home office. 

Our home office is located in our basement, so I’m working with one small window and a suspended ceiling (keep reading to see why I’m pointing this out). At 11’ 11” by 10’ 6”, it is pretty much a square box with a door and loads of potential!

THE BEFORE

In 2017, we hired professionals to take our basement from a concrete hole in the ground to actual living space. Now that we have walls, flooring, ceilings and rooms it’s time for me to get to work.

Earlier this year, I designed and DIY’d the first room in the basement – the playroom. You can check out the playroom reveal here! 

The office will be the second room in the basement to get some loving and I’m at SO freaking excited!

As I mentioned above, it’s pretty much a square box with loads of potential AND… it’ll be a blank slate once I clear the room.

 

THE DESIGN + DIY PLAN

So, this space will be the biggest transformation I’ve ever taken on in my DIY history. The plan is quite ambitious! In full transparency, it will be me, myself and I tackling this room (with the exception of my husband helping me with the heavy lifting). I will not be hiring out anything.

Not to mention, many of the things I have planned for this space I have never done before and I could even go as far to say some are totally out of my expertise (ahem – cabinets!). But, one of my favourite parts about DIY is the problem solving that’s involved. So, we are about to figure it out!

Here’s what you can expect over the next 8 weeks: 

• Built-in T-shaped Desk
  • Build 3 Cabinets with Drawers
  • Build 3 Cabinets with Shelves
  • Prime + Paint Cabinets
  • Order Drawer Fronts + Doors
  • Prime + Paint Drawer Fronts + Doors
  • Attach Drawer Fronts + Doors
  • Attached Hardware
  • Build Desktop
  • Sand + Stain + Poly Desktop

• Faux Shiplap
  • Cut Hardboard to Size
  • Prime + Paint
  • Install

• Floating Shelf
  • Build Floating Shelf
  • Install

• Potential Slat Wall
  • Cut Slats
  • Sand + Stain
  • Install
• Potential Ceiling Treatment (if my idea works)
• Put Together Reading Corner
• Assemble + Style Open Bookshelf
• Wall Art

So there you have it – the plan! Full disclosure, I always start with a design plan and oftentimes during the creative process new ideas will come to me. Stay tuned!

Let’s get to the design inspiration!

THE INSPO

If you’ve been around for a while, you may remember that I created a design for our home office about a year ago and then life happened and I’m just getting started on it now. You can check out my original home office design here. A few things have changed, a few things have stayed the same and I’ve added a few things.

Check out the inspiration for my home office design:

Source –  Love Create Celebrate

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Ahh! Isn’t the inspiration good?!

I am SO ready to take on this project! I’m ready to transform this empty box of a room into my soul space. Our home office will not only function as an office, it will also serve as the space where I can perform activities that truly light up my soul – think creating, writing, reading and meditating.

Over the next 8 weeks, you can expect A LOT of DIY! And, mostly likely some muffled swear words. This is a huge undertaking and I’m ready! I’m going to do my best to give myself grace through this challenge. My goal is to be present in the process and not get too caught up in the deadline. 

Thank YOU for being on this journey with me ! I’ll catch you next week with some cabinet progress. Until then you can find me sharing the behind the scenes on instagram.

 

Check out the progress the other ORC participants are making on their spaces here.