I’m so excited to share this with you guys!

Recently, I decided to join the Better Homes & Gardens One Room Challenge. The One Room Challenge is a fun and inspiring online event that started in 2011 when one group of friends decided to create an accountability group to update one room in their house.

Earlier this year when we started looking for a house, I started following a few women on Instagram who were avid and well-known DIYers so I could gather some inspiration. . I watched as these women – often with multiple kids in tow – fearlessly transformed their homes with DIY projects I always thought needed to be reserved for the pros.

They were demoing, rebuilding, and tiling showers, like Cass Makes Home.

They built kitchens in their basements, like Honey Built Home.

They were installing complicated and beautiful millwork in their hallways, like Mysha at Remington Avenue

And they did it all with humor and humility, especially Lindsay at Frills and Drills.

And the list goes on…

There are dozens of women taking on some serious power tools, measuring precise cuts, and making their homes beautiful – all while on a budget and with a crazy schedule and kids by their sides. I can’t stop watching them.

Sometime in May, I started seeing people posting about their One Room Challenges and I was exposed to more and more people who were accomplishing things – huge things. And so I dug in to see what it was all about.

What is the One Room Challenge?

The One Room Challenge is an 8-week accountability group that helps you transform one single room in your home. You chose the one room in your house to upgrade and you are in charge of all of the style and design choices. Your transformation can be a minor update or a major gut and rebuild – whatever YOU chose to create your one room. You can do DIY it or you can have professional help.

Regardless of your choice, every week you blog or post about your progress in the room you’ve selected to transform. During the week, the expectation is that you’ll share about your process and behind the scenes on your social media channels, like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

There’s a number of “featured” designers that the ORC promotes, but ANYONE can join as a guest participant, which is what I’m doing.

Right now, I’ll be starting on Instagram and have created a separate handle to document all of our house projects. You can find me at @homefromacannon. 

The goal is to share ALL of it. The good, the not-so-good, and the horrible that occurs on the way to creating the final outcome.

Why the One Room Challenge

I am choosing to do this for a few reasons, accountability, inspiration, and, well, something to do. I love the community around it and seeing everyone’s progress while celebrating (or cursing) my own. And because everyone else is making so much progress, it keeps me motivated to continue my own project.

I also love that most of the women I have seen participating in previous challenges are doing it on their own with very little help from their significant other – and often with the added distraction of kids.

Knowing my husband, I will 100% be doing this entirely on my own. He’s one of the smartest people I know, but give him any tool and it’s in everyone’s best interest to get the hell away (and that’s assuming you got him to stand still long enough to hand him one).

Needless to say, I’ll be on my own for this – and I’m totally OK with that.

The Room I’ll Be Tackling: Creating The Ultimate Man Cave

For any of you that know my husband, you know he needs a serious TV & screen situation to do his job (the explanation of what he does for work is for another day). The previous owners of our home put an addition onto the back of our house that includes a bathroom, bedroom, and living space. The intent, we believe, was to make this an in-law at some point in the future.  We’ll be transforming the additional living room to be the Ultimate Man Cave and making some minor changes to the configuration of the bedroom and bathroom.

Here’s what we’re starting with:

 

I’ll share more information on the plans in the coming weeks, but they involve:

• Removing a closet and building a media wall
• Closing in a doorway to the bathroom so that we have more wall space for an L desk and possibly some built-in storage
• Rebuilding Kyle’s desk so that it’s larger and not falling apart
• Designing a feature wall & some sort of storage
• Painting the whole room
• Possibly adding crown molding

This particular wall you are seeing will have the closet removed and become a TV wall with four mounted TVs, built-in storage, and some sort of a feature design or millwork (I haven’t decided yet).

It will look something like this:

All in 8 weeks. Is it ambitious? You betcha. Do I think I can do it? Not a clue, but I’m going to try!

I’ll probably call a few audibles into my brother and dad, who are both incredibly handy, along the way. I may even have to “ship” one of them down to help me.

Helping Me Find Our New Style

Another reason I love the Challenge is it gives me one place to find inspiration across a variety of styles. I can see what’s trendy and what’s not. Watching what others do means I’m able to view styles from people who have vastly different tastes than I have. I am also inspired by people whose homes I’d live in.

I had originally started following some women on Instagram (and a few men) to get ideas and inspiration for the style of our new home. Kyle and I both have different ideas of style. At least I think we do – Kyle has a hard time articulating exactly what he DOES like, but he can avidly point out what he does not like (and it’s sometimes what I do like).

The house I grew up in was a beautiful farmhouse, built in 1781, with much of its original fixtures, glamour, and antiques still present. I’m enamored with the antique pieces and unique character. While the warm colors leave something to be desired for me, the historical significance does not. It’s homes like this’ unique stories that add “character” and makes them feel so welcoming and intriguing.

Kyle is not a fan of the design aesthetic he grew up with- a lot from Eastern European influence. He also isn’t great at telling me what he DOES like. He is just quick to say, “no, I hate it,” but then can’t articulate when he does like about homes he says are, “nice.”

The One Room Challenge will give me a way to find styles that will work for both of us. It may also mean some compromise and mistakes along the way, but that is marriage!

Initially, what I’m thinking is below:

I’m so excited for you to join me, starting on September 30, for the next 8 weeks or so as I make this special space for my husband!

How can you follow along on this project? 

Come back each week and check for an update post here on the blog.

Follow me on Instagram at @homefromacannon for the daily work, struggles, and probably laughter.