WOW!  It’s time for the ORC spring 2021 edition.  Even though it is a little late this year, it still snuck up on me!

In case you have never heard of it, the One Room Challenge is a biannual event conceived by Linda Weinstein in 2011 as a way for a group of designers and friends to encourage each other to finish a space in their own homes in a dedicated 6 week time frame.  The idea was to challenge and support one another to finally actually accomplish a redecorating or renovating goal of their own.  The One Room Challenge (ORC for short), now in its 19th season, has grown into an event with brand partnerships and hundreds of participants, and has resulted in the transformation of thousands of spaces. 

It is now sponsored by media partner Better Homes and Gardens and each round has 20 featured designers that partner with brand sponsors, as well as hundreds of guest designers and bloggers, (and now instagramers too).  Each week the participants write about their process, progress, and pitfalls and link the posts to the One Room Challenge website HERE where you can follow along and be inspired!

This will be my 3rd time participating in the One Room Challenge.  It IS a great way to get stuff done!! Last year I completed the Vintage Diva Glamour Den bedroom makeover in the spring and the Overdue Office Overhaul in the fall.  This spring, I’ll be tackling the Pocket Patio Project to transform the entrance patio to my newly refurbished home office.  

The current state of affairs is grim, to say the least! 

The wood deck that was originally laid over dirt (not the most stellar plan, as it turns out) largely rotted and was home to a robust colony of chipmunks.  About two years ago, a handyman ripped out the rotten decking and filled it in, sort of, with pea stone gravel.  The chipmunks relocated to the flowerpots on the back deck…

And then there is the door to the office.  It is a double door with windows in the top half - nice enough, EXCEPT…it is wood and years of neglect and old age has resulted in cracks IN the door panels.  As in, I can see daylight though them.  And while I empathize, this is not optimal. 

The patio is surrounded on two sides by a retaining wall and what should/could be shade gardens.  The third side is the house with the entrance doors, and the fourth is the driveway.

As this is the view from my office desk, where I spend a great deal of time, I would VERY much like it to have more of the garden-in-the-woods vibe of my back deck instead of the abandoned-parking-lot vibe it is currently sporting.

The Pocket Patio Project Brief

Issues:

• Currently questionable patio flooring

• Underwhelming office entrance 

• Ugly foundation wall and cable/fios box

• Lackluster view of the driveway

• No real garden plantings

Assets:

• Exterior double door office entrance

• Shade from existing trees and shrubs

• Wood retaining wall is salvageable

• Okay…I’m digging deep for assets here…A bird feeder (added last fall :))

Wishlist:

• New fiberglass doors with more window to let in more light and view

• New exterior door trim to zhuzh up the entrance

• Planters/plants to screen the foundation

• Some sort of movable planters or lattice to screen the driveway view

• New plantings in the gardens behind the retaining wall

• Comfortable small seating area for 2 to 3 people

I’d also like a duck pond, but that isn’t going to happen, so I’ll have to be content with the one at the nearby arboretum, where Mr Mallard strenuously objects to the paparazzi.

Follow along here and on IG for the next 8 weeks to see how far we get with the Pocket Patio Project…