One Room Challenge Week 3: Rained On, But Not Rained Out

This week, I wondered if I’m doing the One Room Challenge or if I’m doing Survivor!

Remember last week when I used words from this song: “I can see clearly now, the rain has gone …”

Well how ironic.

This week, the rains came.

And the ORC got rained on at my house. But as you’ll see at the end, the game is not rained out here yet.

Blissful shopping Saturday

I spent Saturday afternoon running errands, getting painting supplies and decorations for the soon-to-be creative studio. It was so fun! You know how it is! You get ideas, you envision what they’ll look like in the room. It’s a blast!! While shopping, I was imagining the final reveal pictures. I chose a few things to add texture and pattern. I found containers to artfully arrange paint brushes. I was excited to make vignettes like this:

Yeah it was raining all day. But no big deal. I didn’t even carry an umbrella.

I was blissfully unaware of what was happening back at home, in the basement.

The week’s tasks were carefully planned:

And ta-da!!! Today I would have given you a tutorial showing how to make an old crusty, rustic faux brick wall. There are tutorials online, but mine was gonna be crustier and more rustic with heavy texture build-up.

You can guess now that this post isn’t about that tutorial.

CRANK UP The Horror Show

Before going to the basement to paint on Saturday evening, I feed the cats, make a pizza and drink cider. I’m listening to the patter of rain on the roof, enjoying the apple cider, and thinking simple thoughts: I love October. I love cider.

ALARMS GO OFF.

BEE-BEE-BEE-BEE-BEE—BEE-BEE-BEE-BEE-BEE—BEEEEEEEP.

Oh @%$*&!!!! The water alarm in the basement!!!

I run down there.

There’s water all over the floor! Here’s when I first saw it:

Here’s the thing. I put only plastic containers on the floor. NEVER cardboard boxes. But I was painting these cardboard boxes and they were on the floor for a day. That’s it!! Only 1 day! What’s the chance of a flood the next day? It rains all the time and the basement hasn’t flooded in 2 years. Why now?

Thankfully the painter’s drop cloth protected the boxes and all the fabrics in them. Not a single box got a single drop of water, despite a river of water running underneath the drop cloths! Crazy.

Long sTory Short …

The cardboard boxes stayed dry, but lots of other things got wet. Water was everywhere. The night was crazy.

I wound up dropping a shop vac drain cap down into a basement pipe. And made a mad dash to Menards, squeaking in through the doors just before they closed for a new shop vac. I was soaking wet and had mascara running down my face. Which I didn’t realize until later! I wondered why the nice employees at Menards were helpful but they were … cautious.

Anyway, long story short, water came into our basement all day Sunday, all day Monday, all day Tuesday, all day Wednesday, and on and on.

This is what my calendar looked like in reality:

I’m calling contractors to come look at the situation, but everyone is super busy because many houses flooded.

I make a long video, capturing all the visible damage.

Knocked Down …

I would love to bounce back and power through the next three weeks and turn this mess into a gorgeous room. I know these three posts have left an ugly impression of my house. I don’t want to leave that impression of my house. And I wanted to deliver on the DIY tutorials so you can see and do the cool ideas I had in mind.

But that would be the wrong thing to do.

I don’t believe in putting lipstick on a pig. I believe in doing things right.

It’s Tuesday as I write this and wait for a basement drainage contractor to show. Water is still running underneath the walls, like a skinny slithery river. It’s following the downward slope in the floor toward a drain. I know the water is doing its damage to the walls. I can already smell mold, my nose is stuffy and my lungs feel stuffy.

We need to do many things that won’t be done within three weeks, before the ORC ends:

• Talk with our insurer
• Mold remediation
• Identify the problem with the exterior drain and fix it
• Rip everything out of the basement (walls, framing, wood built-ins, etc.)
• Re-build the walls, etc.

… But Not Knocked Out?

I wrote a “dropping out” ending for today. But maybe not. I’m definitely dropping studio plans for the basement, until we fix the basement.

But I can’t keep painting and doing blog DIYs in the living room and dining room. We do have a guest room that isn’t used much. It’s smaller, about 10′ x 10′. The walls would need to be lightened. I can work with it. It would be a much smaller plan, a “really mini makeover,” because there’s only 3 weeks to do it. I might do it. I’m still uncertain because I still must remove 100% of everything out of our basement, so basement waterproofing experts can identify what’s happening. AND the exterior painting of our house isn’t 100% finished yet — I’m still finishing that too.

Come back next week to find out!

Many other rooms are being renovated and decorated during the One Room Challenge. Some of the 20 featured designers are creating textured, neutral spaces like I was planning to do, and I can’t wait to see what they do! The nearly 200 guest participants share many useful ideas, renovation tips and innovative designs. Check them out!

Yeah, cheesy free clip art! This was a rare moment of kitschy fun this week.