One Room Challenge - It's a Biggie.

Literally and figuratively.

I'm thinking out of the box on this one.

Again, literally and figuratively.

My One Room Challenge space is not at my house and it's definitely got the "challenge" part covered.

My "room" is in the basement of a church.

It houses the offices of a non-profit that serves the homeless and transient population in our area as well as families that just need a little help to get "back on their feet."

The room I've chosen (or maybe it chose me!) is supposed to function as a client waiting room and gathering spot before classes, meetings or appointments.

But no one ever "gathered" there. 

Wonder why? 

 This is not trick photography.

I'm not trying to make it look worse :)

The floors are dingy "white" and turquoise checks (They are clean-ish just old. Really old.)

and the walls are painted bright yellow with red trim.

What the room does have going for it is that it is big so we can create a couple of useful areas within it. It has a lot of windows and light considering it is the basement of a huge, old church AND they have given me free reign to do whatever I wish.

 I guess they figure there is no way I could possibly make it worse :)

There is zero budget for this and a long way to go. 

I do have access to the donation center affiliated with this program and can pull lamps, frames, possibly a chair or two from there.

I have also already put a couple of things from my house in the storage room over there that I plan to freshen up and use. 

And there is a 5 gallon bucket of WHITE paint.

The blue velvet couch is staying. I'll be cleaning that baby ASAP. 

The matching chair has wandered off since I took these pics but that may not be a bad thing. 

And I have a plan! 

Ans some inspiration pictures, too!!

Rugs are the only hope for the floor. It can't be changed or repaired so I have to work with it or ignore it and cover it up. I'm planning to find a BIG rug and cover as much as possible and hope the eye is distracted from the ugly floor!
A gorgeous warm Oriental rug would be great with the blue "velvet" couch.

via


And a friend from church was downsizing 
and gave me these two amazing, beautiful, family antiques.

                                           

                I have plans for these!

And there are 4 windows so I will use my old trick of turning sheets into curtains.

(Tutorial here.)

 I'm thinking about something like this:

via

And I've gathered some art for a gallery wall, some fabric from Goodwill for pillows and I want to add books and magazines. There will also be a TV with movies that they can watch before or after appointments and meetings.

The plan is to make this so inviting that people will actually use it!

I'm thinking  something like this:

via

via

via Apartment Therapy

Let's see if  this place can be transformed in 6 quick weeks 

(and as usual I'm out of town twice during this ORC!!)

It can only get better! Am I right?