Spring ORC-The Loft No. 3

Hey! I hope you are having a great week. After 11 weeks of quarantine and home school I feel like my DIY time has been limited, but that's how it goes! And today we are officially done with school!!! Some projects are hard to start given that everyone is home all day everyday and I can't send them anywhere LOL!! I am making it work. This weekend I had to switch gears and work on my patio because the weather was too good to let it pass by.

During week 3 I hung a lot of items on the walls. I used everything I had previously purchased or found around my house for this room. I had enough to keep me busy all week.

There are still things I need to source to finish up the desk and "classroom" area (to play school not homeschool... this is temporary!!!) , but I wanted to get what I had on the walls. I bought a lot of this for the girls last Christmas, so I had a vision going.

I had these two prints from the target dollar section. The frames were sitting in my spare bedroom. (I can't even tell you how long this took me to get these two level and spaced right... I don't know what the heck was going on with me that day LOL quarantine brain!!!!

I wanted the desks to look symmetrical so they look cleaner and not messy and cluttered. Whatever system you use in a playroom, it has to be EASILY managed. What works for my house is simple, one step clean up and organization. Each desk has a little wicker basket that fits workbooks, notebooks and a few random trinkets that end up in this area.

*For example: put crayons in a an open container that is sitting out or on a shelf. Kids won't (1)get container out of a cabinet (2) put them in the container and (3)put it back in cabinet. That AIN'T happening. It's too many steps. Dropping them into a cup on the table they do art at is ONE STEP! Perfect!

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So, here is what I have going on so far. I gave each girl a bulletin board for artwork and photos they love. (I love this for clutter control and limit the amount we keep in a period of time.) I installed a metal rod that has removable, hanging containers from Ikea. They no longer sell these exact ones, but here is something similar. Each side has three containers for colored pencils, sharpies, makers and twist crayons. (FYI these can stand on a table alone.) They each have a 3 tiered pen holder from Target a few years back on top of their desks too. (They might stay they might go!)

I hung a marker board I already had sitting in my basement home gym. This giant ornate frame from Stella's nursery just happened to fit around it perfectly. I will show on stories later how I made it work. (spoiler: just chisel off the inside edge of the frame) The girls and I split this Target dollar spot ABC banner in half and hung it above with clear command hooks.

I brought up an old locker that I used in my salon for years as storage. It's super bright but I'm undecided on what to do with that wall and if its the right storage. I plan on painting the marker board frame and the locker too!

I waited all week until Thursday afternoon to get cracking on my big projects I had been putting off. Two huge goals for the week were swapping out the four track lights for 4 recessed LED lights and then changing out all of the light switches and plug-ins/outlets for new updated ones. Below are a few messy snaps of what they looked like before!

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If you followed along in Instagram stories, then you know this was a messy dry wall dust project, but so glad I did it anyway. If you have a similar situation in your house that you want to change, I just want you to know I had NEVER done this before and I figured it out, so that means you can too! Research, research, research and then go for it! (It always helps to run it by someone who does know how to do it to make sure you have a good plan.)

Ummm yes, do this during the day or you will be borrowing your kids headlight to finish during sunset! LOL Sometimes you just have to finish the project before you call it a night!

I can't even tell you how much I love having those black track lights gone. I see this view when I wake up in my bed and I LOVE how clean it looks now.

I have a fan picked out ordered and I'm working on a top of the stairs light to coordinate. (The same flush mount light is above the stairs and two more in the adjoining hallway.)

In the next week I am hoping to patch and paint the ceiling and stairwell. For some reason, the previous owners painted this room's ceiling a yellow tint and the hallway white. Gotta love that! Hope you all have a great remainder of your week and weekend! Hang in there!

Source List items that weren't linked in the post:

• Desks-Opalhouse @Target
• Copley Chairs
• Cork Bulletin Boards
• SKVALLRA Clear Desk Pads
• RASKOG utility cart
• Horizontal Bookcase
• Vertical Bookcase

I can't go without giving you my updated checklist. Did I add more items or check more off?!?!!

Loft To Do List: 

• clean out all excess books/toys/games/supplies
• paint room
• paint baseboards
• paint connecting stairwell 
• paint baseboards and door trim
• desk chairs
• hang bulletin boards and storage above desks
• replace all plugs and switches
• trim out windows
• update window treatments
• add chalkboard and map
• add framed marker board 
• ledge for markers/chalk
• makeover kids table
• update seating/couch 
• storage for craft/school supplies
• finish AG Doll House
• replace fan
• remove track lighting for can lights
• add task lighting above desks
• artwork/plants/decor
• fill holes In ceiling*
• paint ceiling*
• paint framed marker board*
• tv wall feature*
• put recessed lighting on a dimmer*
• paint locker*

1. *added on projects
2. projects finished in the last weeks

Thank you for reading! I'll be back next week with another One Room Challenge update!

While you wait, check out other talented bloggers participating in the ORC- One Room Challenge Blog

Anna