Office: One Room Challenge Week 1

Tis the season. Lets go Fall ORC 2021! With a hammer in one hand and a wrench in another, we tore down our Laundry Room earlier this year as a guest participant of the One Room Challenge! Boy, was it a mess, but we powered through and finished the job.

The challenge introduced us to a supportive community of talented designers over the course of 8 weeks – many of whom we still connect with today (raise your hand if you’ve followed our summer pergola project through our Instagram stories). It’s this community that inspires us to tackle another room – one that we have been waiting for nearly 2 years to makeover.

Progression: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6

If you came here from the ORC site, hello! I’m Sanju Patel. By day, I work behind a desk, typically crunching numbers. By night, you can find me in a garage. My wife and I purchased a home in Texas 3 years ago – a quick close without costly bells and whistles. As lifelong fans of DIY, we’ve decided to invest into our home as our family grows with an open invitation to see our process from start to finish.

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE! We’ll be making over our OFFICE! Now this one is going to be fun. The pandemic brought our family closer together than ever and introduced a new working environment from home, taking Zoom conference calls, and raising a toddler. It forced us to re-evaluate our lifestyle – ditching expensive gym memberships and working out in the comfort of our home. Spending so much time together also made us appreciate some of the more quiet moments – such as reading, writing, or drawing (and ‘DIY-ing’ hehe).

This transformation will be more than just an office with a desk – it will be a place where all these different elements come together in a cohesive way while still remaining functional. The next 8 weeks will fly, leading us into Thanksgiving and Xmas. Oh what fun…

The Before

Ah, the classic before shot. This room was nothing more than beige walls and carpet. Two striking elements that we’ve enjoyed are the arched windows and glass double-doors. There’s an incredible amount of good, natural light.

A year in, the carpet started to run down real fast. Thankfully we swapped out with wood flooring (the same ones used in our Master Closet makeover) and added a nice rug for color.

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On one corner we have desk pushed against the wall and in the other a stationary bike. It’s DEFINITELY functional, but SO MUCH POTENTIAL to elevate it. Now you’ve seen 3 walls of the room, but there is another wall across from the window (hidden for now – but we’re expanding on a library unit that we built previously).

Design Plan

Plan A: keep the existing configuration with some big updates. Replace existing desk with an L-shaped desk. Hang TV on the wall above stationary bike and create wall storage. Add 2 accent chairs and a table over a circular rug. Of course, the library unit.

Plan B: keep the existing configuration but flip the location of the stationary bike and l-shaped desk. This might not feel so small for the gym zone. Everything else kind of stays the same.

Inspiration & Style

We have some heavy stylistic decisions to make soon and we’ll be crowdsourcing feedback through Instagram votes. We’re thinking light and airy with a hint of bold, rustic, and natural tones. How we tie it altogether will be the real challenge. A few things in consideration:

• Arched Window: should we paint it black? Add curtains?
• Accent wall: paint or framed trim-work (wall directly opposite of main entrance where a large mirror will hang)
• Beam style: Stained oak or maple beams vs. white beams
• L-shaped desk design: (TBD)
• Rug: is there a rug that can double for a workout area?
• Chairs: can the chairs easily move out to create enough of a workout area?

When thinking of arched windows and beams, we immediately fell in love with Alexandra and Michael Misczynski’s design style from Atelier AM. It takes our breath away every time we look at it (and gosh, those tall ceilings…swoon). Who needs a mood board when you have THIS!

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This or That

A quick game of this or that. So many elements to choose from. Of course, this is just a sample. Feel free to drop a comment with your favorites.

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Weekly Play-by-Play

Here’s how we’ll chip away the new few weeks – we’ll aim to follow the schedule.

• Week 1: Introduction, design, and prep
• Week 2: Library build – base
• Week 3: Library build – cabinet + tops
• Week 4: Wall treatment
• Week 5: Gym zone
• Week 6: Ceiling beams
• Week 7: Desk build
• Week 8: REVEAL WEEK!

As always, send us any questions and don’t forget to follow our Instagram stories. By the way, there are SUPERB featured designers participating in the One Room Challenge with Better Homes and Gardens as a media partner. These artists totally rock and will not disappoint. Check it out!

#oneroomchallenge #bhgorc