Dueling DIY: First Wall Painted and Murphy Bed Progress!

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Hey everyone! How ya doing? I feel like it’s been forever, but I know it’s only been about a week since I last gave you guys an update on the ol’ blog. My silence has been WELL-earned, as I’ve been putting 1000% of my efforts into creating a booth for Rust-Oleum at WorkbenchCon 2018 here in Atlanta, GA.

I. Am. So. Tired. But I’ll have more on that for you all later.

Since today is Wednesday and I’ve scheduled for my Dueling DIY update against Charlotte from At Charlotte’s House (as promised when I announced the challenge at the beginning of February in case ya missed it, which also, thanks to my tired muscles, feels about eight years and twelve splinters ago), I wanted to stop in and get you guys caught up in all things guest bedroom!

Just as a quick reminder, this Dueling DIY challenge is meant primarily to motivate both Charlotte and I to work on a room we know we’ll otherwise slack on unless we have some friendly competition. And as I’ve seen in Dueling DIY rooms past, the potential for someone to shame me publicly for watching TV instead of working on my DIY projects is very effective. I asked Charlotte to co-host for this room since she is also doing a spare room in her house, and here we all are. We’ll be updating each other and all of you bi-weekly, and including a monthly vlog/video of our progress on Youtube as well.

Despite the fact that my attentions have been placed largely elsewhere these last two weeks, I HAVE made progress on the room. Charlotte was probably hoping that I would have nothing to share because she knows I’m distracted. She even sent me a sneak peek at what I assume is a new light fixture she bought. She teased me about it on her IG stories, which expires every 24 hours, so I unfortunately don’t have her SMUG FACE to share below, so I used a different picture of her below instead. ?

But as for me? My new ceiling fan was not only bought — it’s installed.

Before:

Progress:

Is BOOYAH even a phrase people use anymore? Oh well… I’m sure if I had a few extra hours of sleep last night, I’d have come up with something more clever. Also, please excuse the less-than-thrilling lighting going on until I have a sec to take new pics (and honestly, until the other walls are painted, it’s not like it’s going to look all that “wow” until I start building the Murphy bed).

Speaking of the Murphy bed: the hardware should be on the way very soon! It should also be coming with a few more pieces of hardware, such as the cabinet door hinges, slides for the slide-out shelves I’m adding, and jigs to help me line up everything correctly. I’ll be learning how to install it all right along with you guys, basically, so let me know of the kind of details you’re really curious about as we go, and I’ll be sure to include them in those posts.

But THAT’S NOT ALL. I got a total of one wall painted. Ha!

I painted the wall on the left (where the window is) the same color that I will be painting the eventual built-in cabinetry that will house the Murphy bed. I want to keep it all kinda seamless on that half of the space, since the other half of the room will be a soothing, sagey dark green. I full expect to have green walls in that room within the next week, post nap-and-post-splinter removal.

Also: I have a new DIY project on the way for you guys! This little guy may look kinda ordinary as a simple curtain rod, but I added in a dowel rod to hold hanging plants! If it all goes the way I’m seeing it in my head, these hanging plants will grow long and lush against both sides of the window (thanks to the bright-but-filtered light that the sheer curtains will eventually add).

So, that — short and sweet — is the first start to a lot of progress that will be unfolding in this guest space. The rest of this week, I’ll be at WorkbenchCon with lots of other bloggers and Youtubers to soak up their knowledge and generally just have some fun (when you have friends that you’ve only really known online for a while, it’s fun to meet in person to actually say hi). Charlotte will even be there too, so I’ll keep you posted if we have any kind of showdown worth sharing. ;)

What have you been working on? Is anyone else redoing their guest room? Please feel free to share a link to your update if you are participating in the Dueling DIY challenge and would like to post about your guest room’s progress! Oh! And head over to Charlotte’s blog to see what her room is looking like.