ORC Week 5: Denial is One of the Stages

First off, please excuse the look of my blog - I am in the middle of updating it but it's not quite finished.  Second, how is this the last full week of the ORC?!? For those of you just joining in, the One Room Challenge (ORC) is a blog program in which almost 200 bloggers, designers, etc. commit to changing up a room in 6 short weeks.  I have learned that pacing yourself is EXTREMELY important - at the beginning, it seemed like we had so much time, and now that we are down to the wire, I would say we are still just barely over half done with our projects.  Eeek!!!

My sweet, supportive husband (aka contractor/handyman/electrician/plumber) has been working his tail off this week.  In the past few days, he has installed the beadboard & trim in the laundry room, framed out the desk area, put in a new sink, and installed more lighting.  I know I am going to owe him big time after this.  And don't even think about telling him that I've already got plans for the Spring 2016 ORC up my sleeve ;)

Finding a wall-mount utility tub with the faucet on the sink instead of mounted to the wall was a challenge.  See all the open floor space? Now the dog's bowls can go under the sink instead of in the doorway.  Hooray for small victories! :)

Speaking of lighting, that has been our challenge this week.  I think I've mentioned before that the lighting in our oldish home is quirky at best & downright dangerous in some areas.  Luckily, I have a a great team of electricians on speed dial, & they have benefited from dozens of hours and thousands of dollars as we bring our home up to code.  Our biggest snafu this week was when the junction box in the laundry room shattered into a dozen pieces while my husband was putting in the last screw of our new light.  And while hubby is a super handy guy, installing a new junction box was something he didn't feel comfortable doing.  So we had a last minute visit from the electrician today, and after he took a look at it, we were very glad we called in the professionals.  It might have set us back in both time & money, but at least now we don't have to worry that old wiring will cause a fire.
I really liked the old schoolhouse light we had in here (see above photo for reference), but when I realized the laundry room light was directly behind the new glass & brass light we hung in the hallway, I knew we needed a more similar light for a cohesive look.  HomeGoods did not have a second of my hallway light, so I found this one from Home Depot.  It's actually huge (I thought it was a small pendant at purchase), but I think it works.  Unfortunately, all that electrical work left a huge hole in the ceiling, and there's no time to fix it, so instead we slapped a coat of Urbane Bronze on an old ceiling medallion & it covered the hole perfectly.  It wouldn't have been my first choice as the light fixture is simple, & the medallion is a bit much size-wise, but when you're in a time crunch, sometimes you just have to go with it.

Excuse the poor quality.  This room is so hard to get a photo of, as there are no windows nearby.

I also scrambled to find new lighting for the office nook after realizing the picture light I had purchased previously was too formal for the space.  Luckily, we snagged the last 2 of the sconces I found at my local World Market, & I also ordered these beauties from Lowe's.  I think I will be going with the World Market sconces, but may have to find a different place in my home for the Allen & Roth sconces - they're just too great to give up! ;)

We still have yet to start on the mudcloset, and the desk & entry are only about 10% complete..  Yikes.  It's time to up the coffee intake.

Let's look at our to-do list, shall we? Or maybe we shouldn't.  Sometimes denial is a beautiful coping mechanism.

Laundry:

Install beadboard & molding // Paint & stencil walls (Praise the Lord I can cross this off) // Install hooks on molding // New utility sink // Pulls for cabinets // New lighting ? // Replace drying rack // Install shelf above washer & dryer // Install shelves above drying rack

Entry:

Paint walls // New rug // New lighting  // Install beadboard (added to the list this week)

Mudcloset:

Repaint // Lower top hooks so shelf is more accessible // Add shoe storage // Add more hooks

Office nook:

Floating desk // Install outlet // New printer // Cubby holes/storage for mail, office supplies

Chalkboard or pinboard // Lighting (purchased but not yet hung)

Don't forget to check out the progress of the other participants!  We can do it!