One Room Challenge- The Reading Nook

Hey friends! Today is the first day of the One Room Challenge! I’m seriously SO excited about this One Room Challenge.  If you’ve been following for a while, you’ll remember that for the Spring Challenge I completed our master bedroom. If you’re new, I’ll explain. Linda from Calling it Home hosts a six week challenge that anyone can participate in. Everyone chooses a space and completes their room re-do in the short six weeks. For the challenge I’ve decided to complete the reading nook! It’s in our upstairs hallway and is too big to be JUST a hallway, but too small to be a room. Hence, the “hallway reading nook”.

I have to be honest with you though, and state that the “before” pic was actually taken about a month ago. We’ve been working hard on getting the bones of this space “One Room Challenge” ready. After painting, flooring, and building a laundry closet, here is how the space stands today:

OK, so to explain what we’ve been working on I need to start with the laundry closet. Originally, we had this linen closet on the right, and our laundry was in the basement. This meant that I was hauling laundry up and down two flights of stairs, and this linen closet was being under-utilized.

We tore down the linen closet, exposing the 2.5″ vent line that was hidden in the closet wall. It’s positioning complicated our plans, but we ended up hooking a laundry drain line into it, and hiring an electrician to fish a line through two floors and add a dryer plug. Because the bathroom is behind this closet we were able to hook into the water lines from the bathroom.

Then we framed and drywalled a new closet, changed the opening direction and created enough space for a stackable front loading washer and dryer. We chose to get started on this part ahead of time because it involved being on the electrician’s schedule. It also took me about two weeks to get it drywalled, mudded, sanded and primed.

Next we tore out the old carpet, and replaced the flooring with the same Oak laminate flooring that we installed in the Master Bedroom. Although Oak isn’t modern or trendy, it suits our house well and matches the Oak throughout the main floor.

So one more time, here was the sideways linen closet “before”:

Here is where it stands now: 

One of the things I love about changing the direction of the laundry closet door is that it created this “nook” under the window. I’ve got BIG plans for this little nook! It’s going to involve some built in bookcases, a built in bed, a new light fixture, and some other fun stuff!

Even though we got a little jump on the reading nook, I’ve still got a TON of work to do in the next six weeks. My plans include:

• Paint the stair spindles
• Construct built in bookcases and a built in daybed
• Install a door on the laundry closet
• Build a removable cabinet in the space next to the washer/dryer
• Move the light and install a new fixture
• Add trim
• Decorate with art, textiles, decor, and maybe some wallpaper?!

Oh and you might be wondering about the fate of the orange couch… sadly I’ve never been able to get the faint scent of smoke out of it. You can’t smell it from a distance, but I feel like any throws or pillows on it pick up the scent. The couch has been banished  to the basement playroom. If I ever can get it REALLY clean I’ll paint it and you’ll see it make another appearance. 

Next week I’ll be back to share our progress, along with a moodboard of some of my design selections! Thanks so much for stopping by!

If you just CAN’T WAIT to see the reveal, here are some of my favorite past room reveals:

Scandinavian Modern Dining Room

Neutral Modern Shared Boys Bedroom

Modern Living Room

Bright Vintage Modern Girl Bedroom

Black and White Bathroom