Week Five – I’m equal parts stressed about next week’s reveal but also looking forward to the madness finally ending! Haha! Up until this week, I felt pretty good with our progress – that was until we decided last minute to tack on one more really laborious carpentry project – and while I’m so happy we came to this decision, the amount of work we still have left to do is daunting! If you’re new or found your way here from the One Room Challenge link up page:
Hi! I’m Danae! This is our first time participating in the One Room Challenge and we’re transforming our daughter’s former nursery into her “big girl” room. If you missed the last few posts be sure to check out Week One (before photos + mood board), Week Two (furniture sources), Week Three (all things paint), and Week Four (ceiling fan install)! To stay up-to-date on everything behind the scenes, be sure to follow along on Instagram where I’m sharing daily updates of our ORC successes and frustrations!

ALL THE SMALL THINGS (name that song)
We made good headway this past weekend in our One Room Challenge space like I predicted in my Week Four post so let’s jump right in and see how things are shaping up!
The past week was spent working on both the big and little components that are going into this space – because even the little things matter at this point! I spray painted some hardware for the closet and two lamp options to sit atop the dresser:
I wanted to re-use the existing curtains to save on cost but also wanted to give them an entirely new look so I experimented with Rit Dyes (my first time ever using dye) and had so much fun concocting different color formulas. I learned a lot about dye over the two evenings I spent dyeing curtains and fringe trim – mainly that dyeing requires lots of math (which I’m clearly no good at) and that synthetic material cannot be dyed in large quantities – a lesson I discovered early on but still chose to ignore nonetheless. Call it ignorance or call it genius – you can decide come reveal day!
Any guesses as to which color combo I decided on?
THE BIGGEST OOPS!
All day Saturday was spent outside working on the closet doors – at least the weather was nice!
Leave it to me to measure incorrectly and buy the wrong sized doors. Oops! Sikmon was/is so annoyed at me over the whole thing but at least he got a table saw to cut down the doors out of the whole ordeal. I think that makes up for my inability to read a tape measure, right?!

We purchased just your basic hollow-core bi-fold closet doors and then after lots of math, we trimmed our doors down to size, and DIYed the heck out of them by adding moulding and beaded trim. When we’re finished with them, they’ll be unrecognizable and an affordable way to customize plain closet doors.

I’m planning a separate blog post with all the information on what we used and how we did it, but here’s just a little peak at what we accomplished this weekend. I’m so happy with how they turned out and can’t wait for you to see them!
MY AH-HA MOMENT
We worked on the closet doors until we ran out of wood and then switched gears and started on the panel moulding for the walls. Adding panel moulding to the walls was always, always the initial plan – but I waffled so much on the actual design and profile of the moulding that I decided not to move forward until I had a more concrete game plan.
At the end of Week Four, I felt like the room was missing something and wouldn’t have the impact that I wanted it to have so I circled back to the idea of adding panel moulding to the walls and here we are!

I’m so glad we pushed ahead despite the last minute decision and our shortened timeframe because now that the panels are up – I realize it was exactly what the room needed.
I won’t share much more than this but like the closet doors, I’m loving how it turned out and can’t wait to put away the miter saw, clean out my paint brushes, and get my house back in order. Soon!

UP NEXT
Tonight and all day tomorrow will be spent finishing up the carpentry, paint, and install and then I’m hoping to photograph everything on Saturday. I’m crossing all my fingers and toes that everything goes as planned and that my toddler allows me enough uninterrupted time to photograph her room on Saturday. I just may need to call in reinforcements!
As always, thank you for being here and be sure to check out all the other amazing progress that the featured designers are sharing here as well as what the 350+ guest designers are sharing here!
