Today marks week 4 of the Spring 2021 One Room Challenge and I am so excited to be a guest participant! Follow along on Instagram @robynjohanna_ to catch the behind the scenes on stories.
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.
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BUST OUT THE PAINT SPRAYER
I can’t believe we are at the halfway point of the ORC! Gosh, I still have a long way to go!
My goal this past week was to finish building the drawer boxes and get some primer (maybe paint) on the cabinet boxes.
I made some MAJOR progress this week all thanks to my Homeright Paint Sprayer. In two days I was able to apply 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint to all 4 of the lower cabinets! Why didn’t I invest in a paint sprayer sooner? They are SO slick!
This was my first time ever using a paint sprayer, so as always when you’re learning something new you’ve got to ride out that learning curve, which was actually quite smooth. The spraying itself takes a fraction of your time. The prep work is where you put in the work.
How to prep MDF for primer:
- Wipe down raw MDF with a microfibre cloth
- Vacuum off MDF to get any remaining dust and really get in those corners
- I did not do any sanding, but when I do it again I will sand any edges (that are going to be visible) where the saw blade may have caused some chipping
How to get a smooth finish on MDF:
- Sand with a fine sanding sponge. Expect the first coat of primer on MDF to be rough and require some elbow grease while sanding. The following coats won’t require as much elbow grease.
- Wipe down with a lightly damp microfibre cloth
- Wipe down with a dry microfibre cloth. Keep your sanding sponge nearby. If you feel any rough areas, go over with the sanding sponge again and wipe.
- If necessary, vacuum out the corners if you were unable to get with the cloth.
- Spray and repeat!
Dang! They look so good! I can’t wait to share them with you. And, for the record, my DIY spray worked like a charm.
THE DRAWER BOXES
Remember last week when I ran out of pocket hole screws halfway through building the drawer boxes? Well this week, once I had more screws, I finished assembling the remaining half of the drawer boxes! And, in between coats on the lower cabinets I sanded them. They are ready for a coat of poly! If time permits, I’ll get to that this week.
BASE CABINET INSTALL
This was intimidating! I felt confident that I would figure out how to build cabinet boxes, but this… this felt scary. I started with removing portions of the baseboards so the cabinets could sit flush against the wall. I attached the cabinets to the wall by screwing the cabinets to the studs. All the while making sure they were level. And, I freaking did it!!! Sorry, no photo yet.
WEEK 4 RECAP + WEEK 5 PLAN
In summary, this week I finished assembling the other half of the drawer boxes, sanded the drawer boxes, primed and painted the lower cabinets, installed 3 of 4 lower cabinets and picked up the hardboard for my budget friendly faux shiplap (I had the store rip them to 5 ½ inch widths, so that’s done too!).
Up next… my priority is to build and install the floating shelf frame so I can tackle that shiplap wall. If time permits, I’ll poly the drawer boxes and maybe test out a drawer slide installation. Oh, there’s going to be some big changes this week!!
As always, thank YOU for your support and encouragement! I appreciate every comment, email, direct message, like and share. I appreciate YOU! See you next week and until then you can find me sharing all things One Room Challenge behind the scenes on instagram.
Check out the progress the ORC participants are making on their spaces here.
In case you missed any of my Spring 2021 ORC weekly updates, you can find them here:
Week 1 – The Plan | Week 2 – Building The Base Cabinets | Week 3 – Building The Upper Cabinets
