One Room Challenge – Week 1

Whoooo! I am so excited, and so nervous at the same time right now. I decided this past winter to join the One Room Challenge for this Spring as a guest participant. We’ll be remodeling our master bathroom and I can’t wait to show you all what we have planned for this space!

If you’re unfamiliar with the One Room Challange (referred to as the ORC), it’s a bi-annual event that takes place every April and October. It’s a 6-week challenge where designers transform a space. Basically, it’s an awesome online event where the design community comes together! We’ve seen some of our Instagram friends participate in this challenge in the past and it has been super inspiring to see how they transform their spaces.

However, there has already been a little bit of a change with this Spring’s ORC. With everything that is and has happened with the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was pushed back a month and extended. With that being said, this Spring’s One Room Challenge will actually be an 8-week challenge, instead of the 6-week (better for us!).

So! I’ll be documenting the entire process on our Instagram, along with writing weekly blog posts discussing what we’ve been completing for the transformation, sharing all our sources, and of course, the DIYs! 

The Plan

Not going to lie, just looking at this list, I’m already exhausted! Haha. Here’s what we have planned for the One Room Challenge featuring our master bathroom:

1. Convert our bathtub into a shower. We’ll be using Schluter’s Kerdi Shower Kit (Really excited to give the kit a try!)
2. Install plumbing for new shower system
3. Add shower niches.
4. Install our GORGEOUS new black window pane shower door. Eek!
5. Paint! We’re going bold… Bold as in black.
6. Tiling basically the entire space. We plan to do stacked white subway tile for the walls and hexagon mosaic tile for the floors (we have a little trick we’re going to do to achieve the pattern we want on a budget-friendly cost!)
7. Install new lighting – including a recessed light in the shower
8. Use our existing vanity and give it a major facelift (fingers already crossed for this DIY!)
9. DIY wood bath mat
10. DIY bath bottles with labels
11. DIY wood shower stool (if we have time!)

Exhausted yet? 😉 Like I mentioned earlier, we’re going to need all 8 weeks!

As you may know, bathroom renovations are not cheap. We’ve been saving and purchasing some of the bigger ticket items for over a year now. The black window pane shower door – yeah, bought that in March of 2019. Other items we’ve already purchased: the vanity top, vanity light, mirror, faucet & shower niches.

I’m thankful that we’ve built up our DIY knowledge to take on this project. Outsourcing the work would cost us probably $8-10k. However, for all the work that would need to be done, it’s a reasonable price! As for plumbing for a shower/bathtub, that will be something new for us. But, we’re up for the challenge & YouTube will be our best friend!

The Space

I don’t know if you’re ready to see what this space currently looks like. It’s a doozy. This bathroom is the only room in our home that has not been touched from when we moved in 5 years ago.

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From day one, I knew we were not going to keep anything in this bathroom. I didn’t even paint the trim! It’s still that orangey wood trim from the 2000s. The blue color is OG. We painted every surface in our home when we first moved in, and by the time I looked at this bathroom, I said “nope.” Not going to waste my time.

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So, did we live with a blue bathroom for five years? Yes. Am I ready for a change? Definitely yes!!

Shop The One Room Challenge

Just in case you’re interested in any of the items I listed on our mood board, you can shop from the pictures below.

If you’re looking to get the play by play for our One Room Challenge, be sure to follow us on Instagram since I’ll be sharing most of the progress on our stories! Or, subscribe to our blog to get notifications for any new posts we have.

Also, if you’re looking for more inspiration, check out what the other participants of the ORC will be transforming. There are so many talented designers participating this season and we can’t wait to see how their spaces turn out after the 8 weeks!

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