T&N Sponsors the One Room Challenge „¢

Transforming one room in six weeks sounds simple enough, right?

Back in 2011, interior design blogger Linda Weinstein was determined to transform just one room in her house. As a way to stay motivated (and accountable), Linda invited some online friends to join her in the six-week challenge, appropriately named the One Room Challenge™. She made it very clear, however, that this challenge was not a competition, but rather “a celebration of creativity, inspiration, and original ideas.” She and her friends would keep up with each others’ progress and offer advice and encouragement along the way.

Now, in its sixteenth season, the One Room Challenge™ has grown into a biannual event for interior designers and enthusiasts everywhere—taking place in April and October every year—and to date, more than 3400 rooms have been transformed by interior designers participating in ORC (both officially and on their own). The event itself has become widely recognized and receives significant publicity in home improvement and interior design communities, including coverage by its official media partner, Better Homes & Gardens.

This season, Tuft & Needle has sponsored two designers participating in the One Room Challenge™: Nicole Balch of Making it Lovely (IG: @makingitlovely) and Oscar Bravo of Oscar Bravo Home (IG: @oscarbravohome). Read on to learn more about the sponsored designers and the room transformations they have taken on this season.

Nicole Balch, Making it Lovely

Nicole has a background as a handy(wo)man and has always loved decorating, so when she and her husband moved into their first home in 2007, she started the Making it Lovely blog for their families to keep up with all of their home improvement projects. In her bio on the Making it Lovely blog, Nicole explains, “the blog grew quickly and soon took on a life of its own. In 2013, we sold our century-old bungalow and moved into an even older Victorian” where she currently lives with her family and shares the renovation process with her nearly 30k Instagram followers.

This season of One Room Challenge™ is the second for Nicole and, this time around, she is making over her 10-year-old daughter Eleanor’s bedroom in their beautiful, albeit old, house just outside of Chicago. Tuft & Needle provided a new Full-sized T&N Original Mattress, Mattress Protector, Box Foundation, and Metal Base for Eleanor’s new room.

Check out photos of the room transformation below.

Nicole’s daughter Eleanor’s bedroom when the family first moved into their Victorian house

Week 1: Eleanor’s room before the One Room Challenge™ (front view)

Week 1: Eleanor’s room before the One Room Challenge™ (side view)

Week 5: Out with the old! Eleanor’s brand new T&N Original Mattress and other T&N products have arrived. Not pictured: Mattress Protector, Box Foundation, and Metal Base.

Week 6: The final reveal (side view)

Week 6: The final reveal (front view)

Follow the links below to see all the details from Nicole’s six-week project.

Week 1 – My Daughter’s Room

Week 2 – The Design Plan

Week 3 – Adding Interest

Week 4 – A Disagreement

Week 5 – A Lucky Find

Week 6 – My Daughter’s Room Reveal!

Keep up with Nicole’s future DIY projects in her Victorian house on the Making it Lovely blog or follow her on Instagram @makingitlovely.

Oscar Bravo, Oscar Bravo Home

Oscar is a budget-conscious interior decorator who has been in the game for the better part of a decade. He began documenting his interior decorating career on Instagram in 2014 and, soon after, launched the Oscar Bravo Home blog where he covers everything from design advice and holiday decorating, to DIY projects and shopping for home goods on a budget.

“I bring a casual and attainable approach to decorating and I believe that with a bit of creativity and patience a beautiful home can be achieved even with a modest budget.”

Oscar is a newbie to ORC this season and decided to transform his son’s room, which doubles as a guest room when company comes to stay. In his ‘ORC Week 1’ blog post, Oscar made a list of problems needing to be solved for the room to swiftly and seamlessly transition from a kid’s room to a guest room when guests are visiting. The list included needing a larger mattress, larger side tables, new wall lamps, fresh paint, and a few more, plus the bold plan to add a fireplace. Tuft & Needle provided Oscar with a brand new Queen-sized T&N Original Mattress for his room refresh.

We asked Oscar to share any interior design tips he considered during this makeover, specific to getting a great night’s sleep. His response: “Invest in good quality bedding that is breathable to keep you cool at night. Whenever possible, choose to have larger-sized nightstands so you have plenty of room for a lamp, a book, and a small vase of fresh flowers. “I’ve even used console tables in place of a traditional nightstand just to have a lot of room to set things down at bedtime.”

Follow the links below to see all the details from Oscar’s six-week project.

Week 1 – The Room That Gets the Makeover

Week 2 – The Floor Plan and Mood Board

Week 3 – Choosing Art, Wallpaper, and the Perfect Shade of “Greige”

Week 4 – Painting the Room “Rustic Taupe” and “Park