Hello & Welcome!
Week One of the ORC (One Room Challenge)
A Home Office Takes on a New Role
This past December, my husband & I got news that would give me a pretty darn good excuse to do something totally different with our home office space: we found out we were having a baby.
After 15 years of marriage and me turning 40 last summer, to say that we have been wrapping our heads around this new and exciting chapter of life may be an understatement— but we are over-the-moon excited to welcome Baby Claire this August!
The timing couldn’t have lined up better in terms of getting to participate in this year’s Spring One Room Challenge, an eight-week design challenge to makeover one room in your home. I am joining hundreds of DIYers across the country to share my journey as my husband and I turn our home office into a nursery.
Each week, I will update readers with my progress and share my favorite product sources for furnishings, finishes & accessories I encounter along the way. Our office-to-nursery makeover will pull from my core values of using what you have, thrifting when possible and rolling up your sleeves for some good ol’ fashioned DIY fun.
Home office that will become the nursery
The “"Before” Space
Our current home office is an 11’ x 12’ room, the smallest in our three-bedroom house, but the perfect size for a nursery. Though we considered transitioning our guest room into the nursery, we decided the room that has to pull double duty as both an office & guest room should have more space.
A smaller space will also help us set space parameters for the “stuff overload” that I’ve often seen in clients’ homes. In fact, over my years as a home organizing consultant, the number one cause of home organization stress is caused by kids’ toys.
With this second-hand experience in mind, I am planning to be very careful about what we bring into our home and ritualistic about how often we purge! After all, who does the organizer call if she needs an organizer??
Note: Week 7 of my ORC will be all about setting up organizational systems in the nursery, so if you’re into pretty baskets & bins, be sure to tune in!
First things first? Selling all this furniture!
Making room for baby
The first item on my to-do list was to clear out the office so we could start from a blank slate. I started selling our office furniture a couple of weeks ago and have already made about $400 to put toward our nursery budget (more on budgeting next week).
Pro Tip: When selling your stuff, be realistic about how much you will get for it. Amazon and Wayfair are brimming with brand new, very stylish items at a fraction of designer prices, thus people are much less willing to pay you for your old, likely outdated, furniture and decor. Did I spend $800 on a sleeper sofa that we ended up only using a handful of times? I sure did. Did I sell it for $200 even though it was basically brand new? I sure did! And now it is out of our house and being enjoyed by someone who had the perfect space for it.
My favorite place for selling large items is Facebook Marketplace. With Marketplace, you can do a little sleuthing to see if the seller or buyer is legit, and when you live in a fairly small city like Wilmington, NC, chances are someone you know is friends with that person already, which is always reassuring.
For smaller items like picture frames and decor, I use local consignment shops like Primrose Cottage. And of course, I’ve already taken a full car load of donations to my favorite area non-profits Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity ReStore and Vintage Values.
Looking ahead
Next week I will be sharing my Coastal Glam vision for the nursery, where we plan to splurge, where we’ll try to save & some of the DIY projects I will be tackling over the next few weeks—Including an Anthropologie dupe chandelier that I can’t wait to get started on!
Be sure to check out the other Spring ORC projects here.
Until next time,
Valentine’s Day 2024: the day my husband Dylan & I found out we were having a girl!
About the Designer
For those of you who are tuning in for the first time, my name is Lydia Fields and I own a home styling & organizing business in coastal North Carolina. I specialize in helping my clients create spaces they love without breaking the bank. I also do beach vacation rental styling to boost owner profits by delivering quality design on a budget.
My design style centers mainly around beachy hues (think blues and neutrals), natural elements and for my own home, a touch of vintage. I love furniture & accessories with a story, utilizing what you already have & putting in some sweat equity to make each space unique.
Need some design inspiration for your own home project? Let’s chat!