The Dappled Willow

So the ORC kicked off last week and we’ve made some great progress considering its been tough to find the time and energy to dedicate to this project. My husband and I both work full time and by the time dinner and the bedtime routine in the family way is done, we’re both pretty wiped. We knew there would be curve balls thrown our way which is why I tried to give ourselves lots of time before each element’s due date in the room refresh schedule. We may not be very far along but I’m very proud of our progress. BABY STEPS!

Let me tell you what we’ve done so far.

Decluttering

I start every Budget Room Refresh by going through everything in the room and deciding what stays and what goes. Thankfully I’ve been doing that in the living room here and there since I started my decluttering journey. I just have the vinyl records and CDs left to go through. I haven’t quite made up my mind about how I want to store them so I suppose that’s why I keep putting it off.

Editing

The next step in my room refresh is to edit the furniture. Less really is more when trying to achieve a light and airy feel in a space. Keeping that end goal in mind helped me make up my mind about which couch is staying in this room. The beige sleek couch will stay (I still need to figure out what to do about the worn out armrests though) because it has a lower back that doesn’t block so much of the window and allows much more light into the space.

That means our big blue comfy couch is moving to our basement entertainment area and we’ll gain so much more room by having two accent chairs to round off the living room seating.

I typically like to sell things on Facebook Marketplace to help offset the cost of the refresh. I’ve been selling items I’ve edited from this room here and there for a while now – I’ve lost track of how much we’ve made by doing so. It’s crazy to think about how much furniture we had in this room at one point! We recently sold an old rocking chair and I’m expecting more items will go as we progress.

Secondhand Items

Since I’m always trying to do things on a budget I’m going to try to use what I already have on hand and buy secondhand as much as possible. I set up search notifications for myself on Facebook Marketplace for the things that I’m looking for. I’m on the lookout for curtains, a curtain rod, a pair of stylish lamps, and a few other things. So far I haven’t had much luck.

However, one thing I’m looking to buy new is an area rug. Every rug I’ve ever had in this house has been secondhand and I think it’s time I splurge and get one I love. Rugs are pretty pricey though so I’m looking to buy one on super sale and I’m going to try my best to either make/build everything else for the room myself.

Demo

Now we’re getting to the good stuff! You may recall we demolished the front door closet to widen the entryways into the dining room and living room. Well the other entry into the living room from the side door mudroom area also needed some work.

It was super small and made the flow in and out of the room awkward. We knew we couldn’t open it up any further than the floor vent allowed and we wanted the entryway to be centered on the wall and the hallway light fixture. The light switch for that hallway light needed to be moved but once Daniel took care of that we could finally build the archway I’ve dreamed of for years!

Daniel had done all the work on the front entryway but we worked as a team on this one! We used the old pencil on a string method to draw the curve and tried to salvage as much of the drywall as we could. We only had to patch a few spots.

We reinforced the arch with 2x4s between the drywall, screwed in from both sides. Then we cut and scored a piece of drywall for the inside of the arch and punched and screwed it into place. We used specialty corner bead that is articulated specifically for arches along the curves and metal corner bead for the bottom of the entry where its most likely to get knocked up.

Then we did lots of mudding, tons of sanding, never ending sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, and finally priming!

Oh baby, would you look at those stunning curves?! SURPRISE! The entryway isn’t the only thing that’s been rounding out these days. I’m also pregnant and due at the end of July!

Did you catch all the clues in the paragraphs above? I’m so excited to finally share this baby news and I’ll probably talk more about it a bit in stories on Instagram and Facebook so be sure to follow along over there. I’m a mama on a mission to get this room done in time. Here’s where we’re at with the living room right now.

THE PROJECT LIST:

• Declutter
• Widen entryways
• Drywall
• Prime
• Paint walls
• Paint brick fireplace
• Paint window frames
• Build fireplace mantel
• Music storage/station
• Firewood storage
• Replace rug
• Figure out lighting
• DIY Art
• Stage with art and accessories 

I’ll be back next week with another update!

Cheers,

Lydia

Visit each week of my One Room Challenge™ here:

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 |

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