Week Four | October 29 | What week is it?
For the Fall 2020 One Room Challenge, I am giving my son’s bedroom a hygge-infused makeover. As a not-so-little boy but not-quite tween, this room needs to be adaptable, functional, and a great place for play. I’ll let you in on the inspiration board as well as plans for this multipurpose room where organization and storage are critical and coziness is the word of the day — everyday.
I don’t miss deadlines. That’s just not in my DNA. But last week was a mess, and I missed my ORC post deadline. It just sailed past. The good news: we got a new roof, new gutters, and replacement skylights! But the chaos and noise at our home simply made getting the post done impossible.
So here we are! A very different update than I had planned. I was supposed to be writing about beds and linens this week. Evidently, in a global pandemic, that was rather optimistic, too! But I do have some fun things to show you. Let’s get to it.
First up:
Some ugly Lamps
I have been scouring the Facebook Marketplace for all things vintage and gently used. I always try to buy vintage before new — especially when it comes to furniture and accessories. First and foremost, buying vintage means that we aren’t consuming more resources. It’s a greener way to go. We don’t buy everything vintage, but when we can, it is a great green step. Additionally, I don’t want my home to look like every other home. I am after a unique, individual aesthetic, and vintage pieces are key to achieving that. And, frankly, I work on a tight budget. Buying second-hand or vintage items helps keep things under budget. The Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist are fantastic places to look for gently-used pieces, and I have been able to arrange for porch pick-up with every seller which has made doing so safe and easy.
So what have I found? Mostly, lamps. This room needs some more interesting and thoughtfully-chosen lighting, and I have found a few second-hand lamps that will work. I haven’t found exactly what I was looking for, and if I had more time, I would probably just keep looking, but the blessing and the curse of the One Room Challenge is a deadline. I need to get it done, and waiting around for perfection isn’t going to get the room done. So, I’ll do a little work and attempt to turn these frogs into princes.
Ole loves snow!
The red lamps need new bases.
First up: my red lamps. There are two of them. I like the shape and the color, but the base is Asian-inspired which really won’t work in this room, so I will replace it — and possibly the shades, too.
The ugly frog lamp. Avert your eyes!
And now for one of the ugliest lamp I’ve ever seen… but Bambino loves it! He loves all things frogs, and this was really cheap. So now I have to see if I can turn this frog into a prince. A new shade, some paint, and a little work with the scroll saw should help (I hope!).
I know. I know. It is horrid. But I am hopeful that I can do a little magic and make it better! Stay tuned!
Oh, and while I was looking for the elusive perfect lamps, I found these fixtures! Someday we will renovate our kitchen and when we do, these will hang over the island. They are amazing! They came out of an old jewelry store in a small town not far from here, and I love them! But that will be a project for another time. For now, they will get packed away.
The Cleat Wall
But it hasn’t all been shopping around here. There’s been a LOT of cutting, sanding, and staining, too. We are nearly done with the cleat wall which just makes my heart go pitter patter!
What is a cleat wall?
Why, I am so glad you asked! A cleat wall is a wall covered in French cleats. In this case: lots and lots of them! In the end, we will use the cleats to hang bookshelves and display boxes for Bambino’s treasures. They will be modular and moveable, so the whole thing will be flexible for his changing needs as he continues to grow up.
Is there any way to stop that process, by the way? This Mama really loves her sweet little boy, and he just keeps growing!
Anyway, I will have a step-by-step tutorial for this project once it is done, but here’s the general idea.
Cleats for the cleat wall
Linseed oil cures on birch plywood
First, we prepped the plywood. We cut strips of plywood for the cleats and used full sheets for the walls. All of the plywood and the cleats were sanded and finished with boiled linseed oil before we brought it into the house.
A French cleat
A French cleat has one edge cut at an angle. Another cleat is mounted on the back of whatever you want to hang, and the pieces lock together because of those angles. It is ingenious, actually, and we have hung all kinds of heavy items from the walls very securely using French cleats. In fact, when we lived in California, almost everything hung on our walls was on a cleat — and nothing ever fell off in an earthquake — and we had many earthquakes over 16 years.
I’ll have full instructions for making French cleats. If you can’t wait, check out my post about a DIY Headboard from our Guest Room Refresh. We used a French cleat to hang it, too!
Once all of the wood was cut and ready to go, we hauled it all inside and started assembling. First we installed blocking on the walls — screwed into the studs. This gave us an easy place to attach the plywood sheeting and creates a chase behind the plywood for cords.
Ole inspects our progress.
Next we put up the plywood. It is mounted horizontally and is secured with screws.
While we worked inside, the snow flew outside. Perfect for working on a hygge project!
Once the sheeting was up, we started working on the cleats. Each cleat was glued and secured with nails. The nail gun got a workout!
Eventually, the cleats will go to the floor for a neat, uniform look. But we need to create access to the electrical outlet before that happens — a small project for this week.
Our workshop is an old, converted garden shed in the backyard. It is fabulous, but small, so when we are working on big projects like this, we work outside on the deck. This week it was snowing. A lot. So, the dining room became the workshop. Not ideal. But Romano had precut all of the pieces for assembling the tabletop which will hang on the cleat wall, so he and Bambino assembled it on the floor of the dining room.
And here it is hung in place. It still needs to be sanded and finished — a project for a sunny day outside! But we hung it up to see how it will look. Because it hangs on the cleat system, the height is adjustable as Bambino grows. He could even use it as a standing desk someday. And it can be removed completely if a table is no longer needed in this room.
This isn’t a remote school setup — we have a classroom in a more central part of the house for that. At least for now this is intended to be a place for play, and Bambino has scoped it out as a great spot for his Playmobil guys. It’s up out of the reach of a curious puppy, and is a place where an imaginative game can be left set up for days without annoying Mama! Once we get the table height set for the current configuration, we will also put some drawers or something beneath for storage of little parts and pieces.
The Before…
and After-ish!
There’s lots more to do on the cleat wall, but we have a great start, and Bambino is ready to move his Playmobil dragons into place.
Our goal for this week: to finish the cleat wall and to build the bed. Yes, we are building this boy a bed, and it’s going to be fun! There’s no snow in the forecast this week, so we should have a productive week.
As a reminder, here’s where we are headed…
Two weeks left! Yikes!
Here’s my proposed schedule for the coming weeks:
Week 5 | Nov 4 | Built-Ins & Furniture
Week 6 | Nov 11 | Before & After
I’ll be sharing the how-to for all of our projects along the way as well as my favorite shopping sources for all things vintage and new.
Thanks to Linda of The One Room Challenge for organizing the One Room Challenge! Thanks also to Better Homes and Gardens, the ORC media sponsor. On Instagram, check out #oneroomchallenge and #bhgorc to see all of the amazing room reveals, or visit the One Room Challenge Blog where you’ll find the link-up to all of the participating blogs. There are rooms of every kind, aesthetic, and design. It is an amazing thing to explore and get inspiration!
You can follow me on Instagram or like Mid Modern Mama on Facebook for tips, tricks, and sneak peeks along the way, too.
Ok. Gotta get back to work! Things should look dramatically different by this time next week!
Ciao!
Don’t miss a single update!
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