I am so excited to be jumping right into the One Room Challenge! I have followed along with the challenge for a couple seasons, and instead of dragging my feet again, I’m doing it!!

The room I chose is a small space, just off of our kitchen. On the house plans it is called the pantry, but the previous owner set it up as an office with a built in desk. When I worked from home a lot I used it as my office too, but I couldn’t deal with the lack of natural light so I moved my computer to the guest room. Since then this space has just become a catch all/broom closet.

Lately I have been feeling like my girls need a space where they can color, be creative, and for my oldest to do her homework. There are literally crayons and coloring books spread all over my kitchen -ALWAYS, and it drives me nuts! I thought that with the right structure, the little pantry/office would make the perfect space for the girls to get their creativity (and homework) on!

Here are the pictures of what it looks like now… A MESS.

Here is some inspiration for what I plan to do…

SOURCE: https://sincerelymariedesigns.com/our-home/laundrypowder-room/

SOURCE: http://www.almafied.com/a-closet-turned-modern-chic-space-saving-office-nook-reveal/

Here are my plans…

The color palette stemmed from the vintage painting that I had hanging in our last house. I love the rich greens and the pop of cream in the painting. The room where it hung in our last house was painted with Martha Stewart Living Sultana - a gorgeous muted yellow-green, and the painting looked beautiful against that color. To my dismay, Home Depot can no longer provide Martha Stewart paint colors, so I am challenged with finding a similar color. I have a few in mind, and I will probably decide today.

For use and function, I am going to replace the current laminate desktop with a butcher block counter. I really wanted something textural in there to replace the “blah” desktop, but I realized that it will also have to be fairly smooth for the girls to draw and write on. I can’t tell you the number of times my daughter poked through her homework with a pencil because she was writing on one of my rough vintage tables! Not good!

I also plan to install two shelves over the desk to neatly hold some supplies (and for good “shelfies”!) I’m going to add board and batten the entire length of the wall too to give it some visual interest.

As for lighting, I’m going to replace the current “boob light” with a star shaped flush mount that I had in our last house. It’s a dark bronze color now, so I will spray paint it to match the pharmacy style wall lamps that I plan on installing over the desk. I haven’t decided if I’m going to buy hard-wired wall lamps or if i’m going to do the Nesting with Grace Magic Light Trick yet.

The Redsmith Dining Chairs from Anthropologie I already own, so they will act as the seating in the space. No shortage of chairs around here! Haha!

I also plan on tracking down some wood filing cabinets to put under the desktop for additional storage (aka 375 coloring books).

Let me know what you think! I would love your input!

Be sure to follow along with my progress on Instagram and see what other One Room Challenge Guest Participants are up to here!

Thanks for reading!

Dana