One Room Challenge: Week 1

October 2, 2019 Carmeon Hamilton

Guys, I know I wrote this correctly and I know I can read, but I still can not believe this! Not only am I embarking on my very first One Room Challenge, I’m doing it as a featured designer! Well, technically speaking, this is my second One Room Challenge. More on that in a sec. LOL!

If you aren’t familiar with ORC, its a design event in which a select group of featured designers completely makeover a room in 6 weeks. Each designer has the opportunity to work with official ORC sponsors, like The Tile Shop, Hudson Valley Lighting, Emtek and Behr Paint,and each week of the challenge, the designers share their progress in a blog post (uploaded every Wednesday) and via social media promotion.

OK, so now, I’ll explain my participation technicalities. Just in case you’re new here, my best friend and design partner, Shavonda Garnder, was selected as a featured designer in the last fall ORC. She set out to completely make over the one bathroom in her home in Sacramento. I watched every update and waited with baited breathe every Wednesday to catch the latest in the makeover progress, but as time progressed and I listened to my friend and her renovation woes (like installing her shower tile in the wrong direction), I knew my bestie could use an extra set of capable hands, so I hopped on a plane from Memphis, TN to Sacramento, CA to help my friend finish her bathroom. It was week 5 of the challenge and I was there for 3 days trying to help her get across the finish line. During that time, her shiplap was installed, we painted the shiplap, ceiling and bathroom door, stained the wood shelves in the new niche, installed the hex tile flooring, installed the new vanity, sconce lighting, over-sized mirror.

I didn’t get a chance to style anything, but I did get to create this flat lay for her. It was a great way to take a break from the madness.

But by the end of my visit, the bathroom still wasn’t 100% done. I hated to leave with her having so many small details to finish. She was already under a lot pressure with the deadline, but to have so many wrenches thrown into the plan, I knew she was super stressed. Once her week 6 post was up, she’d basically sworn off doing any more ORCs ever again. And although, at the time, it wasn’t 100% what she had originally designed, her bathroom turned out incredibly! I was so proud of what she was able to accomplish is such a short time, but really just wanted my friend to get some rest.

BUT…here we are! A picture with both of our names up there on the list of featured designers. Why? Because we’re both in this ORC together! Apparently, we were pretty entertaining together, so Linda of Calling it Home, the organizer of ORC, asked the two of us to do it again…together!

We never turn down an opportunity to work together, so we gave Linda and immediate YES!

Now, typically, week 1 of ORC is all about revealing the room that’s being made over and the design plan, but if you can’t tell already, this will not be your typical One Room Challenge. This one has cross country design friends taking on one project with both of us blogging about it from two different perspectives! We love every opportunity to work together, but this one is super special! I won’t give it all away, but I will tell you…it’s happening here at my house!!! You’ll have to come back next week to see exactly what space with get the special #Carmonda treatment and the full design!

In the meantime, be sure to check out week one for all of the other featured designers! I’m so excited about what they’re cooking up this season!

At Charlotte’s House | Design Addict Mom | Erika Ward Interiors | Erin Kestenbaum | Girl & Grey

Nicole White Designs | Old Brand New | Oscar Bravo Home | Place of My Taste | The Rath Project