One Room Challenge: Week 6 Reveal

It's finally time for the reveal week of the One Room Challenge!  If you haven't heard of the One Room Challenge before, it's a six week challenge where bloggers participate in a room renovation, providing weekly updates for the full six weeks.  I've been hard at work on the final touches for this room, and it's finally ready!

If you're just stopping by, here's a little glimpse of what the room looked like six weeks ago.  Covered from top to bottom with blue and white striped wallpaper and a coordinating border.  If you were in there for too long the stripes would start to give you a headache.

I chose to go more of a masculine route with the room.  Every other room in our house is bright, white, and feminine, so with this one I decided to go a little darker and more manly.  After all 50% of our house's inhabitants are male, so I guess it's only fair.  So without further ado, here's a look at our new guest bathroom.

Sources:

Wall Color- Valspar color match for Ben Moore's Solitude

Mirror- At Home Superstore

Hand Towel Bar- Home Depot

Light Fixture- Similar on Amazon

Faucet- Amazon

Vanity Knobs- Amazon

Switch Plate Cover- Amazon

Bath Towel Bar- Amazon

Shower Bar- Amazon

Shower Curtain- Pottery Barn

Monogrammed Towels- Wheaton & Whaley

DIY Shelving Brackets- Home Depot

Wooden Shelves- 2x8 wood cut and stained with Minwax Early American

Mini Topiary- Little Letter Shop

Apothecary Jars (used for flower vase and cotton balls)- Amazon 

Black and White Print- Minted

You can also see my progress along the way through the links below: 

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4- No post

Week 5

One Room Challenge- Week 5

It's week FIVE of Calling It Home's One Room Challenge!  In case you're just joining, the One Room Challenge is a link up with other bloggers where we take on a room to re-do in just six weeks.  Weekly updates are provided along the way.

There's no way to sugarcoat it, the week 4 update just didn't happen.  I contemplated bs-ing my way through a post making what little progress I made that week sound like more, but in the end I figured I'd just skip the post all together.  The good news is, we worked our little hineys off this week, and now there's some real progress to share.

The biggest progress: we finally tackled the beast of prepping the walls and painting.  I love the color, too. We went with a Valspar color match for Ben Moore's Solitude.  A very pretty dusty greyish blue. We also installed the shower rod, shower curtain and a few of the new knobs on the vanity.  And there's a little sneak peak at a very manly print that T picked for the space.

The most challenging part of this week was the lighting situation.  I had the bright idea to go ahead and take the existing fixture out so we could paint, and didn't even consider the fact that we'd have zero light in the room after that.  There is a small recessed light over the shower, but the bulb is out and the whole fixture will also need to be replaced.  So we worked in the room several nights after work with a spot light and a floor lamp in the room as makeshift lighting.

I'm really excited about this last week.  I really enjoy all the little details that go together to make a room look complete, and this week I'll finally get to focus on those.  I already have the majority of what we need to complete the space, it's just a matter of getting it installed.

• Remove Wallpaper, Repair Walls, and Paint Room
• Replace Mirror
• Replace Light Fixtures 
• Replace Hardware and Faucet
• Hang Shelving for Storage
• Clean and Repaint Tile Grout
• Hang new shower curtain rod
• Purchase New Towels and monogram
• Purchase Items for Shelving

 You can see the before and during shots of our bathroom here: 

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4- no post, I got lazy

*affiliate links used

Sayonara, Nine to Five

Well, it’s been pretty quiet over here for the last few weeks.  I wish I was one of those bloggers that could consistently post great content, but when my life gets busy my blog always takes a back seat.  So, the reason life has been pretty busy for me lately is that I’m preparing for my last week at work.  It still feels weird to even write that. 

Photo Cred: Will Crooks

Am I leaving my job to be a stay at home wife?  Hell no.  I wish we could afford that, but that’s not even close to being in the cards for us.  I’m leaving my 9-5 to pursue my jewelry business and hopefully grow it into the well-oiled machine that I think it can be. 

A little over a year ago, I started a little jewelry business, making necklaces for friends and family, and over the last 8 months, it’s become much bigger than that.  My jewelry is now sold in stores in five different states, and I’m still continuing to grow.  It’s become more than just a little side business for me, and if I ever want it to grow into something bigger, I have to take the time to devote to it.

Am I scared?  Hell yes.  Terrified.  I’m worried that I’ve left a secure job that I love to pursue a risky business with nothing to fall back on.  Not to mention in an industry that’s already completely over-saturated with businesses that make products very similar to mine.  But, I’ve weighed my options and at this point it’s worth the risk.

T and I heavily rely on my salary to pay our bills.  I’m not the breadwinner, but my income is needed to make things work for us.   Several months ago, I set some goals for myself.  I figured out how many necklaces I’d need to sell per month to still bring in enough money for my end of the bargain.  Three months in a row I almost doubled my goal amount.  That made me realize that ready or not, it was time. 

I put in an 8 week notice at work, the last thing I wanted to do was screw them over.  After all, if people suddenly stop buying necklaces, I may be crawling back to them asking for my job back.  And, I also hope to help them with some freelance work on an as-needed basis in the future.  ( I’m an HR Generalist for a local advertising agency, so they may need occasional admin support that I’d be happy to come in and help with. ) 

So, what are the next steps from here?  Step number one is to just make it through the Holiday season.  This is my first true Holiday season, I was just ramping up this time last year.  I have goals to fully stock my Etsy shop, do a few Instagram flash sales, and attend several Holiday shows around town.  And after the Holidays are over, it’s time to really get down to business.  Setting yearly and monthly goals, finally having organized finances, creating a business plan, and developing a strategy for what I want my business to become. 

I assume we’ll have a few tight months here and there.  We’ll probably be eating PB&Js for dinners some nights.  But that’s nothing that we’re not used to.  T and I lived on very small salaries for a few years after graduation. Our combined income was still less than a lot of my friends’ starting salaries, and we somehow made it work.  We know how to scrimp, we know how to save, and we can do it again if we have to. 

I've always dreamed of being a stay at home mom once we have children, but since we rely on my salary now I know we'd definitely need it once we grow our family.  Being able to run a business from my house would give me the perfect combination of making money for the family while still being able to stay at home with children.  And getting a good head start on this makes it even more possible when I have a while before kiddos enter the picture. 

What does this mean for your blog?  I still plan to continue to blog, I actually hope to have more of a presence on here than I’ve had in years past.  Don’t worry, I won’t just use this as a platform to shill my goods.  I really don’t plan on doing that at all, actually.  I do plan on sharing some small business tips that I’ve learned along the way, as well as continue to share what’s going on in my life.  From a business perspective, I think it’s cool that customers get an inside peek at who I really am, and how that influences my brand.

So that’s all I’ve got for now.  I’m so excited for this season of my life, and can’t wait to share the good bad and ugly with you along the way.  Have a great week!