WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | WEEK 3

Its week 4 of the One Room Challenge sponsored by Better Home and Gardens, if you have been following along you know that we are doing a full redo of the bridge to our house along with the beach by the bridge for our summer hangout spot. If you did not know that you can catch up with the past three weeks of progress here or if you prefer video here is the week 3 video update, week 4 coming soon.

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This week did not feel super productive but looking back quite a bit happened. I started working on the beach hut structure and got one full panel finished but still need to complete the second panel this weekend (fingers crossed.) The guys also made a tone of progress on the bridge and it looks like we should be able to drive over it again this next week! I also started receiving a few packages of things I ordered for the beach area through all of that together with some three-digit temperatures and you have one heck of a week.

This is what we had planned for the week:

• Get new bridge beams in place
• Start building the top of the bridge
• Sand Adirondack chairs
• Build beach hut (I got halfway there)
• Pick a color for chairs

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What We Did This Week

Putting the bridge back together

The team that has been doing the bridge work have been machines this week, they also pulled out the big machines to get all of the new steel beams in place and welded in place. It was fun to see the bridge coming back together. The day after setting the beams they brought in all of the new lumber and started drilling the perfectly measured holes to set the first wood layer on the beams.

By next week the top will be complete and they will begin welding the side-rails in place. I am so excited to see the new modern rails and drive across the bridge again for the first time, hello its time for a large grocery shopping trip.

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A beach hut is born

Similar to the way I built the chairs, I went into the beach hut project with a good idea in my head of what I wanted it to look like, however, I did not do a great job of figuring out the specific amount of lumber I needed because I hate over buying. So this past week I dove into the pile of 2″x2″ lumber that I had purchased and got to sanding and staining what felt like a gazillion pieces of wood. Thankfully the girls stepped in to help me get it done.

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I was thrilled this week because for the past two years I have been trying to find a stain color that I liked as much as the color I used on the chicken coop two+ yeard ago. Not sure what I was thinking back then but I never wrote down the stain I used nor did I take a picture. I am happy to say that I think I finally found it!!! Its the Old Masters Early American stain which you can find here.

The color is the perfect tone of red and brown together and this brand gives a brilliant color that will be perfect to see through the trees and blackberry bushes around the beach.

Once I finished prepping the pieces I jumped right in putting the first panel together. My goal is to build two 8′ x8′ panels that will then suspend between the trees. Everything was going great and I attached the first 15 or so pieces to the left side of the panel using a piece of the 2″x2″ wood to create the perfect spacing. BUT THEN… I went to attach the other side and realized I made a rookie mistake. I know that when you buy 8′ lumber its never actually 8′ and for some reason, I did not do my normal measurement and cut before putting everything together, so I had to take it all apart and start over. It didn’t take a terribly long time to fix, I was more so just annoyed I made the mistake in the first place.

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So I was able to get one full panel put together and tomorrow I will be starting on the second panel when I finish up my workday. That is if the weather permits as it is supposed to hit 3 digits tomorrow (eeeeek.)

The other stuff

So besides the bridge and the hut, there were a couple of little things that also happened. First of all, I was super excited to get my orders from Society6! I received the pillows and the beach towels that I designed specifically for this One Room Challenge project and I could not be happier with them. Like I may need to order a few more, what do you think? If you like the designs you can purchase towels, pillows, and all sorts of fun things with this design in my Society6 Shop.

The other thing I accomplished this week was picking a color for the Adirondack chairs that I built last week. I knew I wanted something that was a terra cotta tone so that it will pop on the beach, so I headed to my local Bejamin Moore dealer to get a few samples. Lucky for me they had a B1G1 sale on samples so I may have bought a few extra colors 😉

The truth is I love every color I got, but I definitely know which one I will be using, I am just not going to tell you quite yet. What’s your favorite color in the bunch?

Benjamin Moore (colors from left to right)

1. Casabella
2. Sienna Clay
3. Sweet n Sour
4. Salamander
5. Peach Brandy
6. Terra Mauve

Next Week

Next week is about finishing up a lot of the big projects: the bridge, the hut, the chairs. Once those are doing I may have a few more up my sleeve, I just want to make sure I am not doing toooooo many things and not allowing myself to finish them.

Weekly video update

Coming soon, like tomorrow soon 😉