It’s funny how life works. Â I signed us up for the One Room Challenge to teach Mike Miller a lesson (just keeping it real) but it was me who needed to learn the lesson; and I did just that throughout the course of this One Room Challenge.
To catch you up if you are finding our lifestyle blog for the first time, we build our own houses and move constantly and do the occasional home and RV flip.  We built the house we currently live in and moved in about a year ago.  Ever since then, we’ve had a sad little room right off our kitchen that has remained completely empty.  Several months ago I did a gorgeous modern home design board and took it to my husband.  It was FABULOUS you guys.  Like, seriously fabulous.  He took one look at it—or actually I should say he took one look at the price tag—and gave it an immediate NO.  I’m not going to lie….I was feeling sorry for myself after that and ok, maybe a little bit ticked off.  So, I signed us up for the One Room Challenge and told him if we couldn’t do the sitting room, I was going to use what we already had and redo the room on only a $500 budget, but he would have to help me.  I thought I was really going to show him and he would end up wishing we would have done the original sitting room idea; but the funny thing is, it was me who learned a much needed lesson throughout this process.
What lesson did I learn? Â It’s all about perspective. Â It’s all about how you look at things. Â It’s all about choosing to see what you have and what you’ve been blessed with instead of focusing on what you don’t have. Â This is one of my favorite quotes and I needed to be reminded of it:
“The secret to having it all is knowing that you already do.”
Sure, I could have spent a large sum of money on that sitting room that I thought I had to have, but maybe I needed someone to challenge me to get over myself.  Maybe I needed a major perspective change.  Maybe I needed to realize that I already had it all.  I just needed to be motivated to use it.  Thanksgiving is coming up and I just keep thinking about gratitude.  Like I said, life is all about perspective.  When I was looking at my empty room and feeling sorry for myself , I was mad, angry, and a little bit resentful that Mike Miller said no to the sitting room idea if I’m being honest.  But you guys, look what a simple change of perspective can create.  There is beauty everywhere, if only you are willing to see it.  The secret to having it all, is knowing that you already do. Â
So without further ado, I give you our $500 breakfast nook on a budget. Â And yes, we stayed within the $500 budget AND we used items we already had, either in our garage or my husband’s work warehouse, or from around the house. Â The only items I bought were the fabric to recover the chairs and the clear coat, two more blue plates that I needed to complete the chinoiserie wall collage, and a few potted plants that totaled $33.75. Â Here was my budget breakdown:
- $130 on fabric
- $17 on clear coat
- $300 on chair refinishing (after I stripped one chair and realized I needed to call in the pros which you can read about in Week 1 and Week 2)
- $68 on remounting my Rosemary beach wall art into the bamboo frames
- $33.75 on plants
Total – $548.75
Here is where I got resourceful. Â I sold a piece of decor to a friend and made $50 and added that to my budget which means I actually came in $1.25 UNDER BUDGET.
Here is what I repurposed from around my house for the budget breakfast nook makeover:
-  Stole my Elodie Rug from my study and moved it to the breakfast nook.
-  Stole my kids Ikea table from their homework room and moved it into the breakfast nook.
- Â Used a table I got from a thrift store as a bar cart instead of buying this one from Target that I really wanted (total self control here).
- Used some bamboo frames from a thrift store that I got several months ago that were sitting in a closet
- Used a special piece of art – My Grandma’s painting of a little girl that I have been waiting to use in the perfect space.
- Used a plant stand that I had in my dining room that wasn’t working there so I moved it to the breakfast nook.
- Used chinoiserie plates that I collected from thrift stores over the years that I just had stored in my dining cabinets.
- Used a frame from my daughter’s bedroom
OK enough talk. Â I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Â Sure it’s not perfect. Â Sure I would have loved that bar cart and probably a million other things but did I NEED it? Â NO. Â What I needed was a perspective change. Â Mike Miller, you were right. Â I can’t believe I just said that.
If you want to catch up on our past weeks in the challenge –Â Week 1Â | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5|
Hope you enjoy our $498.75 breakfast nook makeover. Â You can shop my breakfast nook on a budget look here. Â Also, Rosemary Beach wall art in the gold bamboo frames can be purchased through my print shop!
 I still love you after the One Room Challenge Mike Miller.  By the way, I’m signing us up for the One Room Challenge in April too.
If you would like to recreate this breakfast room look, here are some shop ready links for you. Â Just click on the products and buy. Â Don’t forget the Rosemary Beach wall art from the cc+mike print shop with the gold bamboo framing option!
Please go visit my amazing friends who also did this challenge with me! Â I couldn’t have done it without them and these ladies are SO TALENTED. Â Trust me, you are going to see what they created during this six week challenge
CC! Omg you crack me up every time. I love it. The breakfast area came out so beautifully and congrats on being under budget too! I love the updated chairs and the plate wall is perfect. Great job on displaying those pieces. Honestly, your whole house is a dream. If you hear someone at the door tomorrow, that’s just me and my suitcase moving in! Loved getting to know you and going through this crazy process together. You are insanely talented my friend! I love that you got that awesome perspective too. 😉
Thank you so much Yuni! Pack your bags and come on over girlfriend. We would have way too much fun!
Well, I’m glad Mike Miller taught you a lesson! Or wait, did I get that wrong? Lol. It’s beautiful CC. I adore your plate wall, rug and all of the furnishings. I still can’t believe you found those chairs! And your photography…..there are no words! Except maybe I’m sooooo jealous! The shots from the kitchen are everything! Gonna need you to fly down here and shoot my April ORC for sure! xoxo
Seriously, so, so good! The whole space is stunning and I love how you brought in the blue. Although I must say, the black window frames are my favorites. Amazing!
Thank you Brit! I appreciate you taking the time to check out our ORC room reveal so much!!!
CC it’s SO pretty! Your whole house is amazing (those windows!!!) but I love everything you did in here. Seriously all so perfect.
Thank you Lizzie!!!! I appreciate you following along with our little breakfast nook on a budget ORC challenge so much!
I love it! So simple, yet beautiful!
Thank you so much Besa! I appreciate you following along with our ORC journey so very much!
I just love everything you do! So pretty! And I adore that quote.
Thanks for all the support Julia! Appreciate it so much!
Carissa – you NAILED this room! I love everything about it (and you)! It reflects your style perfectly, and I love that you kept it within your budget and proved that more isn’t always better! Perfect!
Thank you Kathleen! Appreciate your support so much!
first of all, you guys are the cutest! second of all, this is a stunning room- love how bright and clean it is! thirdly, what you said in the beginning nailed it for me. we have a very low budget for everything, and it’s hard to remind myself sometimes new isn’t needed… i can rework and relove what i have already. thank you for the beautiful reminder!
Cassie you are the sweetest!!! Thank you so much for supporting us and checking out our little ORC breakfast nook on a budget!!! And I completely agree. This whole journey has reminded me of the importance of being thankful and using what we have and making the best of it!!!
You guys are serious rock stars!! I’m absolutely loving the blue!! What a gorgeous reveal and amazing transformation!! Congratulations!
Jen THANK YOU! Means so much to me that you followed along with our little ORC journey!!!!
This is the cutest little nook. I’m obsessed with those chairs!!
Thank you so much Bre!!!!
Gorgeous space my dear! I’m crushing on those blues.
Kyla thanks so much! I’m kind of starstruck that you are commenting on my blog to be honest. LOVE YOUR style and your feed 🙂
I love this space and will be officially on the hunt for a chair/ fabric combo like you’ve done here! What a chic and bright/ cheery eating nook for you!
Thank you SO MUCH Charlotte for checking out our ORC. Good luck on the chair front! Hoping you find some good ones! If not I linked to some target ones that are really affordable and similar!
I LOVE those chairs! And the art! Holy smokes
Thank you so much Ariel! That art is available in our print shop if you are interested. It’s from my Rosemary Beach collection!
Fabulous! I’ve been anticipating the reveal all week! So inspiring, your quote about realizing we already have it all!! Thank you for that and just in time for Thanksgiving! So true!! I think the chairs are my favorite. That fabric is the best. Bought some to cover office chairs instead of buying new ones that my husband wouldn’t even consider. So I have already done what you did and I love my “new chairs”!! Lovely work!!
Kim thank you so very much for following along with our ORC journey. I am so glad to hear you are feeling inspired to use what you have and I would LOVE to see a picture of how the chairs turn out!!!
Thank you, Carissa. I will definitely send you a picture.
Please do Kim! I would absolutely love that!
Wow, I am so impressed! You did such an amazing job! I can’t believe you had a $500 budget. The blue and pink colors and patterns are so fun and fabulous! Great job!
Thank you so much Kristine! I appreciate you checking the blog post and the room reveal out so very much!
I love everything! The chair fabric may still be my favorite, but your grandma’s painting is pretty amazing too. And the pops of pink flowers on your thrifted bar table are perfection. And I want to swim in those photographs!
And seriously, you should have called me for a bar cart. I’m drowning in them over here. I may have 5. Seriously. And two are exactly the same because I bought one at Target and then found the same one at Goodwill for $20 and couldn’t leave it behind. Then, I’ve done 3 sponsored posts for different brands that all involved bar carts. I also might have been REALLY close to buying #6 at Target last week, but decided I liked being married.
I CAN NOT WAIT to come see this space in person! So excited the One Room Challenge connected us!
Oh my goodness, I am laughing so hard at your comment. “I liked being married.” LOL
Love the black window frame and the upholstery fabric you picked.
Thank you so much Ashley!!!
This room is absolutely gorgeous! Every detail is stunning. I love it!!
Thank you Lauren! I appreciate you checking out our room reveal so much!
Lauren thank you so very much!
With every decor post of yours that I read, I am more and more obsessed with your house – so much so that I either need to stop reading your blog (not gonna happen!) or I’m basically going to recreate every room so I can pretend to be as talented and cool as you! Cannot wrap my mind around the fact that you did all this under $500. It’s like I want to share this amazing fact with the husband, because under $500?! But at the same time I’m like… yeah, no. Otherwise he’ll use it against me come April. 😉
Oksana you are cracking me up! I have of course decided that I should have an unlimited budget for the April ORC since I did it on such a little budget this last time! 🙂
What a beautiful, crisp, airy, eclectic and light filled space!! I absolute love it!!
Krista thank you so much!!!!!
Well this turned out awesome, budget and all! Looks magazine worthy!
Thank you so very much!!!! magazine worthy is quite the compliment. I appreciate the kind words!
Such a beautiful space. I love the pops of blue and white. They are so impactful in the neutral space. Fantastic! XO, Amanda Louise
Amanda thank you so much for your kind words and for checking out our ORC room reveal! I appreciate it so much!
WOW. I suddenly feel the need for my own coffee bar.Love how you paired the old and the new. It’s just fantastic. All of it.
Heather THANK YOU! And yes the coffee bar is a total necessity. 🙂
Every time I read your posts I love you more and more. Your words speak right to the soul! Love your positive outlook and perspective my friend. I think this room turned out absolutely FABULOUS and I loved reading how you repurposed pieces within your home.
xo
Shauna this means the world to me! So glad to have found you in this crazy insta design world and appreciate you SO VERY MUCH!!!
P E R F E C T I O N . Every inch is a delight to the eyes! You (and Mike) did a wonderful job! The chandelier. The table. The chairs. The espresso maker…..I need that in my life. What time is coffee? I am coming to Tulsa… we need to hang out. Well done! Cheers! xox
Emily! Get to Tulsa. I have a feeling we would have way too much fun and can do some shopping together. There are some great thrift stores in Jenks! And I will totally make you an espresso. And a mimosa. How about both now that I think of it!
So simple, fresh and stylish! I LOVE what you’ve achieved on a budget. Thanks for keeping it real! It was my first ORC, what a great motivation it’s been to get a room done!
Karen thank you so much for checking out the room reveal! It was my first ORC challenge too. What did you think?!? Will you be doing the April challenge too?!? I’m seriously considering it!!
It’s spectacular!!! Just perfect! The buffet table is sooo stunning! You guys did a wonderful job!
Keila thank you SO MUCH!
Love the room, but love your message even more!!
Jodi thank you! That means so much to me!
Simply beautiful! Love the colours, so fresh
And that ceiling light… Wow!!!
Congratulations
Thank Nadia! I appreciate you checking out our Reveal so much!
Such a stunning space. I love the bold color against the crisp white backdrop!!
Thank you so much Jessica! I appreciate you checking out our room reveal so very much!
love the clean lines and mid century flare of this space, Looks Fabulous!
Thank you Maggie! I appreciate you coming to check out our room reveal!
Great transformation! We also did a budget room (under $200) and it was a fun challenge to see what I could repurpose from around the house. Congrats on your finished room!
Ah, the champagne taste and beer budget conundrum. So many of us live there. I actually really love that you worked with what you have around your house to create this space. That makes it feel so much more personal and less commercial. The new fabric is gorgeous, btw. Congrats on a job well done!
CC! My favorite thing is that you sold off a piece to net under your goal. You are amazing and I can’t believe you killed the result under budget; what an inspiration! It is gorgeous!! So glad we will have each other again in the spring. Mike Miller, get ready!
Saved as a favorite, I really like your blog!
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much Jen! So happy to have this reveal over and head to Stilly this weekend. And girlfriend you don’t need my help, your interior shots are perfection. I would love an excuse to fly down there though for some girl time! 🙂