The One Room Challenge continues this month, and I’ve been inspired to revisit some of my previous ORC rooms.
I still love all of the spaces that I did through the ORC. But with any space, time can take a toll. Maybe your needs change, things get worn, or you can add something to make the room new again.
Here are my tips on easy ways to freshen up a room.
Clean
The laundry room was my very first One Room Challenge. The black and white colour scheme and shaker cabinets still feel pretty current. The pipe drying rack and towel bar work really well. I love the style and the function of the whole space.
But there’s some lint gathering on the floor, cobwebs in the corners and detergent drops on the counter. A good cleaning will make the room feel fresh and make me like it even more.
I’ll also be spending some time in the guest room (aka my sewing room 2.0). My original office/craft room was the ORC project, not the guest room where my sewing machine has lived since Ellie arrived. But I need an excuse to motivate me to sort the paperwork that’s been piled on top of the filing cabinet.
Repair
The master bedroom was my second One Room Challenge. The DIY headboard, wallpapered closet doors and repainted dresser have all held up really well. But a few fixes are needed.
The guide fell off of my nightstand drawer, so now every time I pull out the drawer, it drops and will crash to the floor if I don’t catch it. Hammering the guide back onto the drawer should be a very simple repair.
The second repair comes from not doing things properly the first time. When I hung the Audubon prints on either side of our beds, I skipped adding a picture wire across the back of the frame, and instead simply hung the frame itself from nails tapped into the wall. The picture frames have bent from the weight–it’s not a good look. I’ll be adding wires and rehanging the pictures, and hopefully the frames will return to their rectangular shape.
Also on the list? Rebalancing the washing machine and a paint touch-up in the laundry room,
Tweak
Sometimes after living with a space–even one you love–for awhile you realize there’s something missing. Our dining room is our most recent ORC, completed just this spring. I hoped to build doors for the upper section of our china cabinet during the makeover, but ran out of time.
The ORC goes so fast that there are often parts of a makeover that don’t get done. Even though I’m not participating in the ORC, watching everyone’s projects motivates me to return to the dining room and maybe finally build the doors.
I also have some other ideas for simple updates. In our bedroom, I’m going to freshen up our bedding with some new pillow cases. And in the laundry room, I’d like to sew a faux roman shade for the window.
One of the best parts of the One Room Challenge and other room makeovers is that you end up with a new beautiful space. These simple updates can ensure that you continue to enjoy your space for years to come.
Are you revisiting any room makeovers that you’ve done in the past? What tweaks do you want to make in your home?
Home on 129 Acres 
Are those original or current photos of your spaces? They all look lovely. You are right, sometimes the simple fixes can make a huge difference. We had two drawers not working on a big dresser which I inherited from my parents. Not only was it a pain to have to catch the one and retrieve the other (which went too far in when you closed it), it was also constantly unsightly because the drawers were never evenly closed. I didn’t know how to fix them, so I asked my students’ dad, who is a carpenter, to take a look, and he fixed it in 10 minutes! That makes me a much happier camper (after only a year or so of it being broken…oy!)
They’re a mix. The laundry room is an old one, but it still looks the same (albeit a little dusty). The bedroom was a more recent update.
I love those 10 minute fixes. I find they often come after relatively long time of frustration and I often think, “Why did it take me so long to deal with this?”