It’s week three of the One Room Challenge, and here’s what we have done so far. We’ve ordered everything that we need to finish the project and can’t just pick up at the hardware store or lumber yard; we’ve measured, floor planned, taped out, and revised our design ad nauseam, and I’m (reasonably) confident we’ve locked in our final design. We’ve finished demoing the fence and have power-washed every possible surface. Here’s what we still need to do: absolutely everything.

I did not account for how much the weather plays a factor in choosing to work on an outdoor space on a tight timeline. Especially when you are working with wood. Last weekend we had big plans to finish the deck, and when we woke up on Saturday, everything was soaked. The wet weather was followed up with the windiest week in recent memory, so our plans were tabled once again.

One thing that we did manage to accomplish between the wet and the wind was sampling colors for the deck and finally honing in on the one that we are going with. It was a lesson in how different colors can read between a sample on-screen and IRL, how subjective colors are when you swatch them next to one another “It’s blue, no it’s gray! No, it’s definitely blue…” Blue versus gold dress, anyone? And after swatching five different shades, followed by a botched color matching job which turned out to be just what we needed, we’ve finally got two gallons of stain ready and waiting to be applied.

I’m going to be completely honest here; it can be a bit discouraging to see everyone else seemingly lapping you in the progress department. I’m watching as these amazing bloggers single-handedly pull off some very impressive-looking projects, then post cute little Reels with slick transitions, and I feel a slight pang of, “Why am I so far behind?” But if there’s one thing that I’ve learned this year, it’s that I need to give myself grace, and I push through, especially as a parent in a pandemic. Some weeks we struggle through, and some weeks feel pretty great. As long as we’re moving forward, however slowly, then we’re on the right path. Check back next week for another update, and if you want to see it unfold in (mostly) real-time, follow me on Instagram.

Thanks for following along; you can check out what the rest of the participants are up to over on the One Room Challenge blog