One Room Challenge Week Five: Reality Strikes

We're finally in the home stretch for the ORC and I'd like to say it was easy....but I'm not a liar :)

This week, we had a few changes to the plans. One of these changes was due to planning/installation problems and one was due to budget constraints. Due to splurging on the gym equipment, I started to get a little more frugal with other choices. It is a gym after all and the budget was starting to get out of control.

First thing on the chopping block was the wall of mirrors behind the ballet barre. When I got estimates for this a few weeks ago, the estimate came back at $1250!!! I was flabbergasted considering that the wall is only 6' high. I kept it in the budget but as the expenses mounted, it seemed like the easiest thing to give up as I don't think we really need that much mirror. Instead, we've decided to go with smaller individual panels that we mounted earlier this week. I think it looks fine and totally gives us the feeling that we need.

The other big change is that we're no longer going to add the slat wall to the back. The slat wall served two purposes - (1) to mimic the railing outside on the deck; and (2) to hide a sliding mechanism (that I haven't discussed yet :)). I thought it would be a relatively easy DIY but getting the wood at a reasonable rate proved to be too difficult. The pricing was all over the map with the types of wood that I would be comfortable with. And by the time I found something that would work - or convinced myself that I needed to do it anyway despite the price - time was simply not on my side. So I've decided to scrap the wall so that we can simply focus on making the rest of the space sing. Maybe one day I'll revisit it but I actually don't think it will take away from the space because the black wall will work to ground the dozen colors in the floor and accessories.

But all is not lost - significant progress has been made. As you see, the mirrors and ballet barre have been installed. The Peloton and Tonal gym unit are on site.

We have a few more things to do but then this lovely floor is going in:

Test run before installation.

Lastly, we've purchased all of the fun accessories (or work out equipment as they call it) and are finalizing the artwork and motivational images/quotes.

Let's hope for a very productive weekend because the photoshoot is on Monday afternoon...

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