Here we are at Week Five of the One Room Challenge, where we’ve been transforming our guest room into a new nursery/bedroom for baby Marcus! There’s only one more week left of the challenge, and while we only have a couple of things to do, progress has stalled.
The biggest culprit in this is the end of my maternity leave. I went back to work this week and that meant that whatever productive time I usually took at the end of the day when Scott came home and spent time with our baby turned into me just wanting to cuddle Marcus, cook dinner, and sleep to make up for all the baby naps I’m missing!
You can see what we’ve done so far here – Week Zero, Week One, Week Two, Week Three, and Week Four!
This week, though, I did get started on Marcus’s name sign. I’ve been wanting to make something for the room that’s specifically his, and I’m looking forward to getting it finished!
I picked up some inexpensive pinewood letters at Michaels for Marcus’s name. Then I raided our wood supply in the garage for 1×2 pieces to use as trim and a 1×12 piece to use as backing. The backing will be painted Behr Cottage White, the letters stained in Minwax Red Mahogany, and the trim stained in Minwax neutral.
I prepped the letters with a good bit of sanding…
And then hit them with just enough stain to soak into the porous parts, but leave the rest fairly light. Another coat or two would take care of that, but I wanted a lot of contrast in the wood.
Everything is stained and painted and drying, and while that doesn’t make for much of a post, all I have to do is assemble it all and hang it, and I’m already confident that it’s going to look beautiful in his room! I’m excited to show you all!
Okay, so let’s recap. Here’s what we’ve done so far:
- Moved out bed, mattress, linens, blankets, and vertical dresser
- Found homes or tossed {most of} the junk accumulated during second floor renovation
- Assembled and placed crib
- Purchased and hung some artwork
- Purchased and partly assembled closet organizer {Wayfair}
- Purchased rocking chair {Pottery Barn similar, purchased on clearance}
- Placed the rocking chair and added pillows and blanket
- Purchased hamper {Amazon similar, bought smaller one no longer available}
- Assembled changing area and materials
- Installed closet organizer, patched closet, hung clothes
- Begun work on name sign
And here’s what’s still on the list:
- Build bookshelves/toy shelves
- Hang curtain rod and curtains
- Finish and hang name sign
- Baskets or bins for closet organizer as needed
At this point, I’ll be happy if I just get his name sign completed and hung, his curtain rod made and drapes hung, and the rest of the toy bins out of his room! There’s still plenty of time between now and when he moves into his room for us to get the bins for the closet and figure out his shelves. I’m still not sure how I want to do those at this point, as I’m really liking how open the room is feeling and not wanting to clutter it up with more furniture. Maybe the shelves will just go up on the walls.
Are you guys following along with the One Room Challenge invited participants and guest participants? What’s your favorite project so far?
