First of all, be honest…how many of you thought our big announcement was that we were having another baby? Um, NO. If you’ve met Coco Miller, our youngest, than you know why we decided to stop at three.
BUT our actual big announcement might be just as hard as having a fourth child. We will let you know when the six weeks is up because we have decided to tackle the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE. And doesn’t Mike Miller just look oh so excited about it?! He is just absolutely thrilled especially since it was totally his idea…well, at least in a way it was.
First of all, when I sat down to write my first One Room Challenge post, I immediately started falling into the comparison trap. “What will everyone else post on their first day? What are we supposed to post? What details are we supposed to include” Then I snapped out of it. Whatevs. I’m not a rule follower and I suck at following suit. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do or how this works so I’m going to do what I do best…play it by ear. And playing it by ear means that I’m going to share the story of how this all happened.
So in case you are meeting cc+mike for the first time, we are high school sweethearts who build and flip houses together in the Midwest. We have lived in 12 different places in our 14 years of marriage. We have built and moved A LOT. We designed and built our current house and moved in a year ago and alas, there are still a few unfinished rooms—our breakfast nook being one of them. Currently, it is a sad, empty little space that I have to stare at daily.
SO…I had this brilliant idea that I wanted to make the breakfast nook into a sitting/coffee room. I put together a gorgeous design board featuring some of my Rosemary Beach Wall Art (my sister and I have a print shop where we sell our photography for design), four amazing Lulu & Georgia chairs and a rug, an Anthropologie coffee table, and some bookshelves that were to die for. It was going to be GORGEOUS, and the price tag was definitely going to reflect that. I showed Mike Miller the design board and waited for the dreaded questions.
“What is that going to cost?”
I reluctantly told him then I got what I like to call the “Mike Miller air of disapproval.”
So…we had a heated argument, I mean, a loving discussion where we used nothing but positive words of affirmation, and we came to an agreement. No high dollar sitting room. I would like to pause this story to now tell those of you who don’t know me well that nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, is more motivating to me then being told that I can’t do something. OK, resume story. So I have now been told I can’t do something (in a silent disapproving type of way) so I immediately my wheels start turning.
“OK…no sitting room? Well then I will sign us up for the One Room Challenge and we will do the entire room for under $500 and I will pay for it myself by selling other unwanted items around the house.” That’s right. I have no sponsors lined up as of now. I have thrift stores and a warehouse full of some treasures that I’m dreaming up a use for. I am going to use some old, forgotten items I already have in storage and repurpose them. I’m going to kill some local thrift stores. I’m going to make some things by hand, and I’m going to turn this empty, drab, BORING room into FABULOUS in 6 weeks.
Who wants to come along for the ride?!?! So that’s how the Miller’s are going to do this One Room Challenge. And Mike Miller is SO excited that he said no to the sitting room idea because now he gets to help me with all my amazing DIY projects like re-staining and recovering some thrift store chairs.
And at the end of all of cc+mike will tell you the verdict…does he wish I would have paid for all the fancy sitting room items or does he love my DIY, repurposed, breakfast nook on a budget? We are cc+mike…and this is how we do the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE.
Cue Rocky Balboa music babe. You’re gonna need it Mike Miller. #eyeofthetiger
So here was my original sitting room idea. Wasn’t it so pretty? It also had a pretty price tag and Mike Miller shut that down. Challenge accepted Mike Miller.
Here is the before picture of the room we will be doing. It’s empty and BLAH BLAH BLAH right now. I can’t wait to show you guys the after pictures in 6 weeks!
So here are my inspiration pictures for the breakfast nook that I will be doing instead using DIY items, thrift store items, and items from storage that we already had and will be repurposing. I really want this room to be minimalistic, simple, and natural but you know me, I have to incorporate some pops of colors so you can guarantee there is going to be some BOLD colors in the room somewhere. I love these inspo pics because I feel like they have captured the essence of what I’m wanting to do perfectly. They are simplistic and natural yet incorporate little pops of color in the perfect ways..
- Love this design by Pink Peppermint Designs. The way she uses that turquoise on that beaded light fixture to add drama and color to the room in a small dose of perfection is SO GOOD. The use of those Serena and Lily chairs in this room is perfect as well and I love the simple white table. That is the exact type of table I am wanting to use in my space.
2. This Breakfast Nook from the Chinoiserie Chic is speaking to me for inspiration too. Those BAMBOO CHAIRS and that brass light fixture, oh be still my heart! Paired with the simplistic table and all that natural light with those pops of color, it is absolute perfection. You know this entire room is calling my eclectic glam loving name.
3. I’ll save the most minimalistic for last. Those white wishbones chairs are calling to me. Like I wake up at night and they are speaking to me, telling me I have to use them in this breakfast nook. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not. You can ask my friends….things speak to me. I will be at a thrift store and look at my best friend and say, “I swear that painting over there is talking to me.” It never fails, if I don’t buy it when that happens, it will haunt me in my sleep until I go back and get it. Oh the horror when I go back and it isn’t there. That happened to me just this week and I still haven’t fully recovered. But anyway…back to the wishbone chairs. I love the white bamboo chairs and I love the Serena and Lily bistro chairs but I think it’s these wishbone chairs that I’m going to have to go with in some way. What else do I love about this room? The gold light fixture paired with all the white then the pops of colors on the pillows. This is what I’m going for in my One Room Challenge breakfast nook….simple, clean, minimalistic, cool chairs, white table, brass light fixture, and oh YOU KNOW I’ll have to find a way to get some BOLD color in there somehow. Because that’s how I roll.
We would love if you want to follow along with our One Room Challenge journey! We will be doing daily updates on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest
Stay tuned next week for my mood board and updates on our progress. I was going to share the mood board this week but I thought nope, I’m going to make them wait until next week for that one!
Peace Out!
cc+mike
Please make sure to visit all the other participants of the One Room Challenge here.
