ORC Week One

Welcome to the first week of the One Room Challenge! I am so thrilled you are here!

The room I am making over for the next six weeks has a made-up sounding name. In fact, I may have spent the entire weekend sitting in it and calling it by that made-up name so my family could get brainwashed used to the idea. ;)

But, the roots of my room's name date back to colonial days. I'm calling it the "keep," which is short for "keeping room." The pilgrims used this space off the kitchen to gather and to do chores like laundry because of its close proximity to the fire. It is, historically, a warm space. 

In our house, this area off the kitchen near the back door was where the original owners of the house (built in 1959) had their dining room table. Shortly after we got the keys to the house, though, we realized it would not function that way for us. 

from MLS so not our art or cool Eiffel chairs

We tossed our very heavy old brown sofa there and kind of forgot about the space.

Oh sure, I took down the drapes that I broke and re-purposed some colorful Pottery Barn shams for the couch. But, really, pretty much ignored. 

It's where we keep our recycling, and that's about the most action it gets.

Although there is also this large shelf that I salvaged from the previous owner's office (now Bela's bedroom) for additional storage. 

And my grandma's old china cabinet, which I have big plans for as a bar.

My to do list has a lot of little action items, which is good because my budget is tight as a noose. 

1. Style the big shelves better.
2. Add a lamp for reading. 
3. Art.
4. Properly put away things (like the coffee urn, the re-usable shopping bags, etc.). 
5. Get a new garbage can.
6. Outfit the cabinet as a bar.
7. Add some plants. 
8. Window treatment.
9. Replace entry rug.
10. Other decorative touches.

I'm thinking something along these lines. I want it to be a room where I can sit to drink my coffee on a Saturday morning while reading shelter magazines. A place where I can fold a pile of laundry or wait for muffins to come out of the oven. A place where I can cuddle with a melting down kid or re-connect with my big lovey after a long day. 

Now head over to Linda @ Calling It Home's blog to check out the ORC and other linking participants. There are some really great rooms being re-made!