So this is the feeling that I’ve read about previously from other bloggers and designers doing the One Room Challenge: tired, stressed, feeling behind schedule, and worried that I won’t finish the project in time. And it’s only the end of week 1! So let’s talk mood and where I am at the start of week 2.

First, if you’re just tuning in, my name is Régine and I’m a design enthusiast documenting how we’re making our first house a home (which I affectionately call #thecozycottage) on this here blog. I’m participating in my first One Room Challenge (ORC). You can read my ORC Week 1 post here.

I mentioned last week what I like and don’t like about our entryway and my plans to change it. So now it’s time to talk overall design. I want to zhush up this area without taking away from the stained glass window in the staircase and upstairs landing. In fact, I want to highlight those windows, as well as up the ante on all the beautiful woodwork (original mouldings and flooring), emphasize ceiling height on the stairs and emphasize the glow of the colorful glass on our walls when the sun shines through. All of that is beautiful already, but I feel we can do a better job drawing attention to that beauty.

Here’s the moodboard that I think will do the job:

Safavieh pendant light out of stock but here is something similar / rugs / shelf inspiration

The biggest difference will be the beadboard as it is the one design element that will go through the entire makeover space. Other items you see here are paint color (Powdered Snow by Behr, which we have used elsewhere in the house), a wallpaper I designed that I am having printed through Spoonflower, runner rugs for the stairs, and a shelving situation I plan to make. There are other decor elements I will bring in but these are the major and most time-consuming DIY projects. I’ll talk about each one in subsequent posts, but let’s focus on the beadboard this week.

I am DIYing everything for this ORC (unless something bad happens and I’ll need to call in reinforcements) and this beadboard is the biggest part of the DIY. Considering how much there is to do, all this DIY might make me crazy but if I succeed, I will be immensely proud of myself. Fair warning, my ego will explode!

Adding beadboard brings more character to the space and it felt like a natural move since it’s a classic detail, fits with the idea of a cottage, and is already there!

I’ve read up on how to install beadboard and wood paneling and watched various videos, but this how-to is my main source of instruction.

Perhaps as my first major DIY, this was a bit ambitious. And perhaps I’m just a little too unaware of time because I thought that I could get everything done on Saturday. And then when I didn’t, I felt really down about it all, but perked up a bit when I told myself I had all of Sunday to finish it. And then I didn’t finish it Sunday and now I’m super stressed because that pushes my timeline back and now I don’t know if I will finish in time and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

In addition to this being my first time working on this kind of project, there are many reasons why it’s taken me so long. I got my first sign of how hard it was going to be at the very beginning when I had to use a chalk line for the first time and I broke it. I needed the chalk line to determine the angle for the top of the beadboard. I snapped the line immediately. Like, WTF?! This was after I had already inserted the red chalk into the device so I had to unscrew it to open it up and pull out the line. At least I was smart enough to do this in the sink but now our sink is red.

Sigh. Comical, really.

Then I had to determine the angle for the bottom of the beadboard, aka the angle of our stairs. For most of the staircase, the angle for both the bottom and top of the beadboard is 45°. But guess what? That isn’t uniform! In some places the angle is closer to 40°. That is just SO FUN to discover when you thought you had a nice rhythm going. Old homes, amirite?!

There are a number of details I could share – like how I didn’t know I needed a caulk gun to adhere silicone to the back of the wood paneling until I tried to do it; or how each time the air compressor started filling with air while I had the nail gun in my hand I freaked out and jumped; or how I ran out of wood halfway through and Home Depot no longer sells the wood paneling I originally bought for this project so I had to start using pre-painted particleboard beadboard rather than real wood but it’s actually easier to use and I’m not mad about it; or how, at the end of the first day, I looked so tired and my outfit and hair were so crazy, that Daniel said that, if I were to get on a subway, even if I didn’t smell, people would look at me and immediately change cars – but I think all of these details would be too boring to read about.

Rather, follow me on Instagram because I’m posting all of these mishaps to Stories and have created an ORC highlight.

It’s only been a week but I already feel a community forming around me for this project, even among the unexpected. I am thankful for friends who are helping me out, like friends who have lent me their circular saw, jigsaw and caulk gun. I am thankful for people who have seen me working (and not working well) on social media and have sent me helpful tips. This includes fellow ORC guest participant Kristian Berryhill of the blog Circa 1889. She asked her carpenter for a tip to help me out with a woodworking problem, which I plan to employ this weekend. HOW NICE IS THAT?! I am also thankful for people at Home Depot, both who work there and fellow shoppers, who clearly know better than me and have been so helpful and kind.

Even though I’m nowhere near done with this project, it’s already come a long way from when some really simple entryway DIYs made me happy.

My plans for this coming week are to finish the woodwork, paint everything that needs to be painted and then do all the shopping for everything I need for the rest of the DIY projects and decor. I really hope that next week’s post will have more projects actually completed because time is running out.

If you’re interested in more ORC, check out the 20 featured designers here and my fellow guest participants here.

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and feel free to check out my Pinterest board on all things entryway.