Eclectic Traditional Great Room Makeover | ORC Week 1

Hello Friends,

After all the weeks of planning, it such a joy to finally fling open the doors to the One Room Challenge.

The One Room Challenge is a giant blogger gathering where 20 featured designers and 100+ guest bloggers come together to share how one room in their home is completely remade in just six weeks.  Each week, hundreds of innovative DIY and home decor ideas will post and link-up for all to enjoy. And yes, you will be able to access all of the links through my blog. At Week 6, all of the bloggers will post a full reveal of their completed rooms.

To get the ball rolling, here’s a little sneak peek of my oddly shaped den with 18-foot ceilings and only two walls. 

Now you know why this is called a challenge. 🙁

Eclectic Traditional Great Room Makeover:

Week 1

What Is a Great Room, Anyway?

A great room is a space in a traditional home that combines several rooms into one. In this case, we are converting the formal living, which is a space NOBODY uses, into an office and shifting all of the family living space into this area. Yes, it is a little small for combined living, but, in full disclosure, there is a sunroom (AKA she-cave) off of the kitchen and a man-cave in the basement. Plus, we are now empty nesters so realigning room usage is practical and long overdue.

So let’s get started.

The Problems

Before I could figure out how to pull this room together, I had to get a grip on the problems. And honestly, I wasn’t exactly sure where to start. Admittedly, the problems had been ignored for 20 years, so finally facing the music was a blessed combination of torture and relief.

Worth noting:

• The space measures 16-feet by 15-feet, but requires furniture to float around two very-wide entrances and a fireplace.

• The room faces north and can, despite having four big windows, struggle to get good natural light.

• Because of the 18-foot ceilings, furniture has to be scaled up in size so that it doesn’t look like it’s in Barbie’s Dream House.

• And my personal favorite —the entire room can be seen from the front door. Got family junk 24/7? If the answer is yes, then I know you feel my pain.

The Disaster

Then, just when you think it can’t get any worse, lo and behold, it totally gets worse.

We had a storm and in the South, we don’t have just ordinary rain storms, we have gully washers. And on this fateful night, high winds lifted up some roof shingles and a huge branch was caught up under them. This allowed water to flood the attic, run down between the drywall in this room and the office, pour out onto the hardwoods, and fill buckets in the basement.

Oh goodie, now the drywall on my one good wall is rippled from top to bottom.

And with this, I may or may not have shed a few tears. 🙁

But in the end, it truly was an “oh goodie moment” because all of the mess literally forced me to get this room repaired and refreshed once and for all. And I cannot tell you how exciting it is to be on the way.

The Canvas

The day the painters finished, I couldn’t help but marvel at the room’s new personality. Everything was so fresh and clean. Suddenly, trying to decorate such a vast, open space didn’t seem so overwhelming.

And, in that moment, I actually found myself thankful for that little storm —and the leaks —and even the rippled drywall. This is because all of it came together to create the perfect motivation I needed to get. this. done.

The Plan

So like any good do-it-yourselfer, I opened my laptop and silently whispered, “Pinterest, don’t fail me now.”

In addition to the structural challenges, the room will retain the big armoire, the tufted leather chair, the outdated hardwood floors, and the light fixture (all seen in the above photo). Like them or not, these are items that simply could not be changed at this time.

So an eclectic mood board came together that represents the basic colors and sizes of pieces that will be brought into the space, but as it turns out, will really just serve as guide. This is because I am shopping the house, buying on a budget, and refinishing accessories to create a traditional eclectic room. I already know that the end product will look more vintage and less global, but at Week 1, all of the details aren’t sorted out just yet.

The Progress

But here’s what I can share. Similar prints to the ones on the mood board have been located at the discount fabric store. This means that ten yards of fabric will unite with about a dozen different paint products (yes! a dozen!) to center the room with an array of greige furnishings and pops of blushy pink, black, and white. A mix of different metals in the accessories may show up, too. 

For our math people, a Venn diagram (remember this from waaaay back?) would show traditional decor at around 70%  and the eclectic group (contemporary/modern, glam, vintage, and farmhouse) clocking in at a combined 30%. But what will surprise you is how much each of these eclectic elements overlap. Let me just say, you’ll have to see it to believe it.

The To-Do List

As for the To-Do list, it is long and grueling as I will be completing every single one of these tasks by my little lonesome. Thank goodness the Hubs is traveling this time of year and pizza delivery is on speed dial. Otherwise, I’d be in a Southern-fried pickle, for sure.

But there’s even more good news. Even though the list is long, in general, I tend to do extremely easy DIYs so that both newbies and veterans can use the ideas for their spaces.

Here’s the list so far:

• Sew 9 over-sized pillow covers

• Sew one throw

• Refinish a farmhouse-style console for the back of the sofa (This task is complete although the photos in the tutorial do not show the console in place behind the sofa. I have to keep this a surprise, but if you’d like to see the super-easy paint plus dark wax technique used to refresh this outdated Pottery Barn farmhouse-style piece, please click here.)  

• Refinish three small side tables

• Refinish the frame on an over-sized vintage mirror to hang over the mantel

• Refinish three pieces of vintage luggage

• Refinish two pieces of over-sized wall art (I will hand paint new colors over the actual artwork. Yes! It’s a little bit crazy.)

• Refinish picture frames, a flower pot, a large tray, and a footstool

• Make tall flower arrangements (36 inches plus) to place on the tray

• Shop for a rug, a small gold side table, a lamp for the sofa console, accessories for the mantel, a throw for the leather chair, large containers for the flower arrangements, and maybe two small side tables

• Rebuild, repaint, and install the muntins for four windows (Muntins are the wood pieces that lie vertical and horizontal over the glass in a window. I’ll explain what happened and how to repair these in a later post.)

Progress Weeks and Room Reveal

Week 1 – You are here 

Link here for Week 2 – How to Make a Discount Rug Work Like A Boss

Click here for Week 3 – 4 Easy Ways to Make Elegant Wall Art

Link here for Week 4 – Mirror Makeover in 3 Easy Steps

Click here for Week 5 – How to Make Custom-Sized Pillow Covers

Click here for Week 6 – Great Room Makeover Reveal

Hosts

Many thanks to Linda from Calling It Home for hosting this event on her blog. Thanks also to the ORC media partner, House Beautiful and to all of the wonderful sponsors. We are thrilled to share this journey with you! #oneroomchallenge #housebeautiful

But –for now–thanks so much for stopping by!