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Ay yai yai! It’s a big one: One Room Challenge Week 1

It’s One Room Challenge™ time again.  High fives all around! The One Room Challenge™ is hosted by Linda of Calling It Home and media partner House Beautiful.

In 2016, we had so much fun joining in as guest participants of the challenge that it is now a permanent date on our renovation calendar every spring and fall. For our first challenge, we restored the kitchen pantry. Last fall, we tackled the dining room. Although we looked forward to this day, I have never been more excited or more terrified about our One Room Challenge™ room. We are going to have to work really hard to get the room done in six weeks.

Yesterday, on Instagram, in preparation for the ORC, we played a little game called “Which Wallpaper Are We Removing?” Surprisingly, of the four choices, almost everyone picked the one that I named Rosebud Bouquet. It is time to tell you that Rosebud Bouquet (Top Right) is here to stay for now. I almost feel like I should apologize for that.

Just for fun, here is a picture of the room with the Rosebud Bouquet wallpaper:

That is the master bedroom, and clearly, it could use a design intervention. Perhaps I will put it in the One Room Challenge™ queue. It would make an excellent ORC project.

Let me get to the point. The room we chose for this One Room Challenge™ is…
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.
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the library!

For those of you playing along on Instagram, that is the wallpaper that I named Revolutionary Pride. (ETA: Thanks to our reader Andrea for coming up with a better name for this print: Patriotism in Mustard. Hilarious!)

The library, located at the top of the staircase landing, is arguably the hardest working room in BHH. The kids do their schoolwork, play games, read, and create art here. This room also serves as our home office. Since the library is bathed in natural light almost all day long, it has a wonderful warm feel. Everyone congregates here, and it is a family favorite.

At a glance, the library looks like it is in decent shape. When people see pictures, more often than not, they tell me that they cannot see anything wrong with the room. So, why am I blathering on about how difficult this will be? Let me explain.

The Good

The library has beautiful bones. Although not original, there is a ton of built-in shelving.

There is also this gorgeous, curved leaded glass window and built-in window bench. The window opens out to the staircase landing.

The Bad

Before we bought BHH, something terrible happened in here. We suspect there was a major roof leak. Water seeped down the walls and caused a lot of damage.  (Side note: We had a new roof put on BHH in 2015. Leaks are not an ongoing issue.)

There is water damage on all four walls. We expect to find an abundance of plaster cracks after we remove the wallpaper. There are plenty of exposed cracks behind the shelves.

The Ugly

All three windows need restoration.

We have to remove, strip, sand and repaint them following hazardous materials protocol. Some of the panes of glass are cracked, and I will replace them.

The storm windows are not much better.

The floor needs to be refinished.

Lastly, acoustic tiles cover the ceiling.

Those have to come down, and we have included a new ceiling in the overall budget. It may sound a little pessimistic, but when I see ceiling tiles, I assume they are covering something bad. I sense that we could be heading down the renovation rabbit hole.

Soooo…it’s a biggie, right? We have to do all of these things just to get the room back to square one. Then, we can decorate. There is so much potential here, though. I am equal parts energized and terrified. Six weeks sounds like plenty of time, but it goes by in a blink. When this challenge is over, our library will be organized, beautiful, and full of function for our family of six.

Right now, my head is in demolition and restoration mode. Behind-the-scenes, I am still making decorating plans. I have some must-haves on the list, and I will write about those next week. We are working without sponsorships, so Andy and I are still hashing out the final budget. I will happily share those details with you when we know more. For now, I have all the work I can handle, so I better log off and get to it.

Please head over to Calling It Home to take a look at all of the One Room Challenge™ projects from the featured designers and the other guest participants too. It is going to be an inspiring six weeks!

PS: If this is your first visit to Blake Hill House, welcome! BHH was built sometime between 1800 and 1885. This blog chronicles the ups and downs of three years’ worth of restoration and renovation. We look forward to getting to know you, and we hope you fall in love with Blake Hill House just like we did.

31 Comments

  • Andrea Matters
    Posted April 6, 2017 at 12:09 am

    Oh, old windows! So wonderful and worthy of cherishing, but such time-suckers and headache-makers. I know you will do a wonderful job.

    When do you think that wallpaper was installed? It reminds of the fabric of a dress I wore in kindergarten (1957)!

    • Andrea Matters
      Posted April 6, 2017 at 12:12 am

      And just to be clear, I’m talking about “Patriotism in Mustard,” not the cute rosebuds, which might seem more like a dress for a five-year-old!

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 6, 2017 at 7:04 am

      I cannot imagine getting rid of these windows in favor of replacements. They are just so unique and worth saving. That said, the amount of time it will take to restore them is a bit daunting.

      I got a good laugh at the name “Patriotism in Mustard.” It’s perfect! 😀 Right now, I do not have a guess about when it was installed. As we are working on a library, I will look for clues. We have unused rolls of it in the attic. Perhaps they are dated somewhere. If I discover anything, I will let you know.

  • Chad
    Posted April 6, 2017 at 8:04 am

    I presume you’re at some point getting new storm windows?

    And the wallpaper in your bedroom brings back early childhood memories. My parents put up similar papers in their first house and took them out of the current one. It at least looks fresh and clean.

    The library paper reminds me of old photos of my grandparents’ house. They had an FHA mortgage, which at the time required wallpaper in every room so that the house was “complete.” That meant they had just this sort of pattern on un-sized drywall in just about every room. Then they painted over all of it later because there’s no way to strip that.

    I like the other 2 papers.

    And did I tell you that my living room had the same kind of ceiling with new drywall nailed up to hide it? I pressed my hand against it to regain my balance on a ladder and it squished upwards and made nail pops for like 3 feet in every direction.

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 6, 2017 at 10:12 am

      Someday we will get new storm windows, but it is a long way off right now. Currently, I take them to the hardware store, and they put new glass in them. It’s a good interim solution.

      I love it when you comment because I often learn something new. I had no idea about the early requirements for an FHA loan.

      You did not tell me about your ceiling, but I am not surprised. Ugh! I can just imagine the scenario you described. I pulled down the tiles yesterday, and the ceiling is in rough shape, unfortunately. At least I expected the problem.

      • Post Author
        Stacy
        Posted April 6, 2017 at 10:14 am

        Excluding all of the decorative windows which do not have storm windows, we have 36 double-hung windows with triple track storms.

      • Chad
        Posted April 6, 2017 at 1:55 pm

        Maybe a good cleaning and new glass will do the trick.

        As for my ceiling, I thought I was going to get off the ladder, pretend it never happened, and move in as planned

        • Post Author
          Stacy
          Posted April 7, 2017 at 8:01 am

          We have been cleaning them and then giving the aluminum a good scrub with steel wool. It works well. The paper/paint/paper scenario sounds like my nightmare. 🙂

      • Chad
        Posted April 6, 2017 at 1:58 pm

        Oh and one more thing – in the living room, dining room, and hall, they had a candle-drip textured paper installed, which was subtly colored and similar in texture to my banister before I stripped it. They painted over that and it looked like textured plaster. Then in the hall they papered over that, so the new paper only adhered to the raised drips. Hopefully the new owners didn’t have to gut it to the studs when they took the paper down.

  • Christine
    Posted April 6, 2017 at 8:46 am

    This is going to be a really exciting One Room Challenge to follow! I’m really looking forward to seeing your progress.

    That wallpaper is really something else. I hope the walls and ceiling aren’t hiding too many surprises for you. I agree with you that acoustical tile always seems ominous.

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 6, 2017 at 10:17 am

      Thanks, Christine! I am glad you are excited. I would also describe that wallpaper as “something else.” LOL

  • mkcubed (formerly harper)
    Posted April 6, 2017 at 12:46 pm

    Exciting! I’m looking forward to following along. I especially like the restoration part of the challenge. It will be rewarding at the end to know you fixed the room instead of just making it look pretty.

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 7, 2017 at 7:58 am

      Thank you. I also appreciate the support for the restoration. I know some people think I am crazy, but I feel like so much of BHH is irreplaceable.

  • Susie
    Posted April 6, 2017 at 12:52 pm

    O My, I love this house! Things to be restored everywhere, which just totally makes the space. I get that also totally makes it stressful, but if it was the place for the family to hang before, it will be so much better after you are done!

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 7, 2017 at 7:58 am

      Thank you, Susie!

  • SH
    Posted April 6, 2017 at 2:28 pm

    So glad you are doing the ORC once again. The library sounds interesting and very worthwhile. I will be following faithfully and cheering from the sidelines. Rah, rah, BHH!

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 7, 2017 at 8:01 am

      Thank you so much, SH. I’m going to need a cheerleader!

  • Shelley
    Posted April 6, 2017 at 3:04 pm

    Oh wow! This room is going to be stunning! I have some serious window envy. Good luck with the restoration/renovation. Looking forward to seeing the end result.

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 7, 2017 at 8:03 am

      Thank you, Shelley! 🙂

  • Homespun by Laura
    Posted April 6, 2017 at 3:07 pm

    Wow, what a beautiful old house! Good luck with the renovations! I’m looking forward to hearing how they go and seeing how the room turns out.

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 7, 2017 at 8:12 am

      Thank you, Laura. It’s great to have you following along. I am following your project too!

  • Kelly
    Posted April 7, 2017 at 8:51 am

    I always give a big side-eye to all of the big bloggers who get sponsorships. I am being hypocritical when I say “I wish you were getting some of the freebies”, lol!!! If you ask me, your family deserves them. I can’t wait to see how it all turns out!

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 7, 2017 at 9:04 am

      Kelly that is such a kind thing to say. Honestly, it would be great to have some sponsorships. I would be lying if I said otherwise. 🙂 That said, we will be ok. We took on the massive project of BHH without expectations. We entered into this big old money pit willingly. LOL

  • Brittany Goldwyn
    Posted April 7, 2017 at 9:09 am

    We lived in an 1800s building that had been converted into apartments. All original interior brick and windows. I loved the character, but holy crap those windows sucked. I don’t know what I would have done if we had owned it…replaced? Maybe. I ended up making little draft stopper covers for them in the winter because they were little heat sucks! The joys of old construction…but they were so beautiful!!

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 7, 2017 at 10:51 am

      Draft stoppers are a great interim solution. 🙂 The apartment sounds like it was full of beautiful character.

  • Lucille
    Posted April 11, 2017 at 12:32 am

    Our library is at the top of the staircase landing, too!!! My husband put in a new hardwood floor after we pulled up the carpet and painted the walls after we stripped the wallpaper. The problem with our Victorian library is there aren’t any built-ins and I can’t find bookcases I like that I can afford! I’m hoping I’ll be inspired and motivated by your progress on your ORC! I should be! Your dining room and pantry really turned out great!

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 12, 2017 at 10:36 am

      I would love to see your library! Have you considered modifying standard bookcases in order to make them look more Victorian? That might be an option.

      Thank you for following along! I am glad that you liked the dining room and pantry. 🙂

  • Sarah In Illinois
    Posted April 12, 2017 at 12:28 pm

    Those windows are just amazing (especially the curved one!). I am so glad you are going to repair and not replace. I can’t wait to follow along with your ORC!

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 12, 2017 at 2:15 pm

      Thank you, Sarah! 🙂 The windows are my favorite. I could never part with them.

  • Norma | The House that Will
    Posted April 14, 2017 at 12:02 pm

    Oh, this room has so much character and potential! Can’t wait to see what you do with it.

    • Post Author
      Stacy
      Posted April 15, 2017 at 7:44 am

      Thank you, Norma!

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