And so the One Room Challenge madness begins again! If you caught my post on Instagram, you'll know that I'm honoured to be one of the 20 Featured Designers for this round of the ORC. A huge thank you to Linda of Calling It Home for creating this event (now in its 13th season!) and asking me to be a part of this talented group.


If you're new to Rambling Renovators, welcome! My name is Jennifer and I've been writing this blog since 2007. I live with my husband and daughter in Toronto, Canada and we moved into our current and second house (you can see our first house here) in December 2016. This house is a centre-plan, colonial style house and we aim to update it in the traditional, preppy style we love. We love to DIY our renovations and have a fondness for architectural details, built-ins, and classic decor. Our living room, which we renovated for the spring 2017 ORC, is a perfect example of our fresh & traditional style:


See the full transformation of this room HERE.

THE ROOM

So what room are we transforming for this ORC? The Master Bedroom! Our goal is to create a calm and neutral master bedroom. Now if you like photos of pretty rooms, you're going to want to avert your eyes because the Before of this room is definitely NOT pretty...



Whoa. There is a lot going on here. Let me break it down for you.

Our master bedroom is a fair size, 15'x12.5'. It has two windows, an ensuite bathroom (which we won't be renovating for this project), and a large closet. Like every bedroom in our house, it also has a ridiculous partially coved ceiling which means it has a curved edge where the wall and ceiling meet. That ceiling makes it difficult to decide where to stop and end paint treatments - a problem I will need to solve for this ORC!



The previous owners dealt with that ceiling by painting three of the walls a dark blue, and the joined wall and ceiling a light blue. About six months after we moved in (so almost a year ago), I couldn't stand the paint any longer and decided to find a new paint colour. Hence, all of the paint swatches above the bench, around the headboard, on the ceiling...

And then life got in the way. We also have a cottage and spent lots of time last year redecorating that property, so sadly this house got neglected. Which is how we ended up here today with year-old paint swatches on the wall. #truth



The bedroom also has other issues, such as the closet and ensuite doors that are three inches too short. UGH. We suspect there was carpet in this room that was ripped out which is why the doors are so short. For a detail oriented person like myself, those too-short doors are something I notice every.single.day.



And then there's this. Let's just call this the wall of wayward furniture. We've had each of these pieces for at least a decade and while they worked in our old home, they don't work here. The vanity is too frilly, the bench has tufts that need repairing, and the dresser... well, we're just tired of it. I don't really feel you need or should replace your furniture all the time, but we've had good use of these pieces and its time for them to go.

The room layout also needs to be reconsidered. The view into the bedroom faces this front window and a row of mismatched furniture doesn't really give you the feeling of calm and serene master bedroom.

But not everything in this room is a travesty. We bought the bed and side tables when we moved in so they'll be staying. The chandelier is also new though I'm debating moving it to the dining room. And the rug is new too but I feel something lighter might work better here. I can always move the rug to the guest bedroom - yet another room we haven't redecorated.




If you couldn't tell, this is our room in its natural state ;) The bedsheets are rumpled, the diffuser cord is always getting in the way, and I've decorated my bedside table with faux flowers I won't forget to water in a paper mache vase made by my daughter for Mother's day two years ago. I think my ho-hum decorating is really a product of not liking how this room feels right now. I do hope that will change over the next six weeks and I'll end up with a room that looks and feels well-loved.

So that's where we're starting. Next week, I'll share my design plans but you can follow me on Instagram where I'll be sharing progress and sneak peeks along the way.

Now, head on over and check out the rest of the featured designers. I can't wait to see what rooms they'll be working their magic on!