The Spring 2023 One Room Challenge is here and I’m so excited to be a guest participant this year! If you’re not familiar, the One Room Challenge is a popular bi-annual event that invites designers, bloggers, and creatives to embark on an eight-week room transformation journey. Sponsored by Apartment Therapy, this exciting challenge encourages participants to showcase their design skills and creativity as they revamp a room in their home. Throughout the eight weeks, participants share updates on their progress, DIY projects, and design inspiration, culminating in a grand reveal of the beautifully redesigned space. The One Room Challenge not only provides a platform for design enthusiasts to connect and share ideas, but it also serves as a source of inspiration for readers looking to spruce up their own living spaces.

Dining Room Glow-Up Design Plan

For this round of the challenge, I have decided to give my bland dining room a major glow up. I’m calling the overall vibe of this fun design – bistro chic. I’ve been dreaming of revamping this space for years, so I’m really happy to dive in and get started. I went back-and-forth about the color scheme for quite awhile. But once I laid it all out in the design plan the bistro style just clicked. 

The design plan includes the following updates:

• Lighting – The current fixture will be replaced with the large Studio McGee Seagrass pendant from Target. This thing is large and in charge and I am SO excited to see it installed.
  
• Flooring – Originally we had hoped to replace the existing flooring with new LVP. However, because of some unforeseen issues, that is going to be over budget. I am going to attempt painting our current floors and stenciling a light colored checkerboard design.
  
• Fixtures – The biggest addition to the space will be converting the existing patio door to beautiful french doors. This will bring in even more light and create an indoor/outdoor dining feel that leads directly onto our deck. 
  
• Windows – I’ve found the easiest bamboo blinds to install – more on that to come soon! Those will replace the existing curtains that are not practical for a dining space.
  
• Furniture – Our current dining table has been in my family for generations. Because of that it’s seen better days. I plan to sand and refinish it to give it a more modern feel. French bistro chairs will replace our current metal chairs. Finding chairs that can handle the wear and tear of my kids is always a challenge, so I was really excited to stumble across these. 
  
• Decor – The art prints have been on my wishlist for years and were the inspiration for the entire design. Excited for them to arrive.
  
• Paint – I am still undecided on if I will do one accent wall, or the whole space, but I have been loving Guava Jelly from Behr with Snowbound white by Sherwin Williams. This will really give the pop that the space needs to bring it all together. 

For the first week let’s tour the space before we make any changes. The room is actually one of my favorite spaces in our home because it gets amazing natural light – especially in the evening. Our kitchen is pretty small so we use this space a lot as an extension of the kitchen and an activity space for my kids. 

“Before” Tour:

With any renovation project that we do for our home or rental, I always try to look at it from the lens of what is going to help maximize the future value of our property. I’ll be sharing more about that as we get further into the challenge. 

So there you have it – week one of the challenge. Think we can manage to stay on time and one budget? Make sure to follow along here and on social to see. I’m curious to find out myself! 

P.S. Want to see a roundup of all the other designers participating in the challenge? Check it out here! There are so many beautiful and inspiring designs, I can’t wait to watch them come to life!