Welcome to week 2 of the One Room Challenge! This spring, I am taking on our guest bedroom and bringing it to its full potential by hiding the guest room inside of a home office. Stick with me as I build or refinish everything in the next few weeks. This week, I take you inside my most challenging build to date – building a Murphy bed.

Have you ever heard of the term “stretch opportunity”? A stretch opportunity is something you take on – whether a project or a task – that is beyond your current knowledge/skill level. These projects – literally stretching you beyond what you thought was possible – help you grow!

Growing can be uncomfortable, even scary. However, when you reach the light at the end of the tunnel, you find yourself at a whole new level. Plus, the level of pride you feel in yourself is unparalleled.

For this round of the One Room Challenge, the Murphy bed build served as my stretch opportunity. I was SO intimidated by this. As I looked at the plans, (which I planned to modify) I would just sigh. There was this level of anxiety that I have never experienced with a build before. It just seemed so over my head. But, I went for it.

Week 1 | Week 2

Taking On the Bed

It all started with the biggest Lowe’s trip I’ve ever made.

Going off the plans that accompanied the bed hardware from Rockler Woodworking, we put in an order at Lowe’s and drove off with our trailer to pick it up. Then, pretty anxiously honestly, I got to work.

Lola, always sticking around for my projects!

I started with the supports for the bed and worked my way up from the actual bed frame to the vertical cabinets that were to hold the bed. Like the saying goes – you eat an elephant one bite at a time.

The end result? I amazed myself at how I could successfully build a complicated Murphy bed!

It’s not beautiful yet, but it works you guys. I am so excited! The lessons I learned from this experience go beyond the build – they really can be applied to any stretch opportunity you see yourself facing. Whether in your career or in your garage, here are some tips I recommend for succeeding in your stretch!

How to Succeed at Stretching Yourself

Success
  1. Chart Your Course
    Pull together a plan of action and identify what you need to get things done.
  2. See yourself as a beginner.
    Seriously. You go at it too hard, you’re going to mess up somewhere. Allow yourself to be new at whatever you are doing so that you can learn to do it right. Let yourself ask questions.
  3. Ask the questions!
    I know I am guilty of this big time! I’m nervous about asking questions and seeming like I don’t know what I’m talking about. But I’m getting better at it and I can tell you – it’s worth it to learn from the experts (on Youtube sometimes) haha!
  4. Trust yourself and bring it.
    While you accept your limits, also trust your knowledge and skills. You got this! Chances are if you are being considered for a stretch opportunity at work – or are handing yourself one – you have what it takes somewhere in there.
  5. Use what you learned to keep moving.
    Stretch opportunities can be really important stepping stones to propel you, both personally and professionally. Take what you’ve gained from this project and look at where you want to go from here.

    You know where I went? I decided to build a luxe chicken coop from scratch in the middle of the One Room Challenge. It’s possible I got a little ambitious.
Chicken coop

I also can tell you this probably wasn’t my best idea. But, I’m in it now, so I’m going to finish it!

The To Do List

Speaking of making a plan, I suppose I should do that already. So, here is a list of everything I have going in the guest room.

  • Replace the floors
  • Build the Murphy bed
  • Finish painting the Murphy bed
  • Build the built-in cabinets
  • Paint the cabinets
  • Decide on what color to paint the walls
  • Paint the walls
  • Replace the baseboards
  • Add crown moulding
  • Stalk FB Marketplace for cowhide rugs
  • Sell the existing dresser
  • Replace the dresser with something low and long
  • Find a painting for above the bed
  • Omg buy a mattress…
  • Buy bedding
  • Decorate
  • Take a million pictures
  • Reveal day!

Seeing as I have not been working on my guest room the first two weeks of the actual challenge, this should be interesting.

Follow along with all of the amazing featured and guest participants at the One Room Challenge blog – there are so many great transformations going on!

Also, be sure to check out what I’ve tackled in past rounds!

Spring 2019 | Fall 2019

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