One Room Challenge: Week One

Hello Everyone! Today the One Room Challenge Spring edition officially starts! It’s been a minute since I’ve participated in the One Room Challenge, Spring of 2020 to be exact. Back in Spring 2020, I gave my Cottage She Shed a full makeover, I’m still in love will all the updates completed during the challenge.

The thing I love most about ORC is the timeline pushes you to get creative, think on your feet when your original design plans don't as planned, and, most importantly, finish your space. I also love following everyone's spaces as they come together in eight weeks. Trust me when your working on a project regardless of size for ORC challenge the eight weeks goes by so fast! Read more about my last One Room Challenge project here, from the beginning.

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE // THE PROCESS  

OCR is a bi-annual challenge taking place every Spring and Fall, ORC is hosted by Linda Weinstein of Calling it Home with media partner with Apartment Therapy, so its a kind of a big deal!

Every Wednesday for eight consecutive weeks, I will be sharing my progress on the blog and sharing lots behind the scenes details on Instagram Stories, please follow along on Instagram too! On Instagram stories, I’ll share details about the design process and taking everyone along with me as I shop of elements to bring my space together to create my design vision.

ABOUT KATRINA BLAIR

Welcome to my blog! Before sharing the space I'm tackling, here's a little about me. My name is Katrina. I live in Sacramento, California, in a small charming 1950's ranch house with my husband and our two sons and chocolate lab Oliver. I'm a lover or small old houses; old homes have that built-in charm.

I consider my style California Modern Casual, I love a mix of clean lines, paired with classic elements and a dash of mid-century vibe is a must in every room I design. On my blog, I share design ideas for small home dwellers, sharing how to maximize small spaces, along with DIY Projects and Design Inspiration inside and out.  

One Room Challenge Project // KITCHEN MAKEOVER

For the Spring One Room Challenge, I’m giving my kitchen a makeover! I’m so excited about this project and looking forward to giving our kitchen and update, while its not going to be a gut job, since our cabinets our 11 years old and good condition, but they can definitely use a new coat of paint!

It’s still going to be a major update with new appliances, fixtures and hardware and paint! I’m most excited and nervous about the paint, I’m heading to a few paint stores this weekend to pick up paint color samples, sharing those deets on Instagram. Fortunately I love our kitchen layout and it fits of small space perfectly, in addition to design updates, I also want to make the interiors of the cabinets more organized and refresh kitchen ‘decor’ elements and get new cookware, pending budget! Here’s a look at our kitchen.

Week Two, I will share my design plan, I’m still getting a few pieces of my design solidified and can’t share in detail my design plans. In the meantime, please follow me on Instagram I will share all the behind the scenes details, the good and the bad! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the space I’m giving a makeover! I’m so excited to breathe new life into our kitchen!

My Review Nespresso Creatista

For my birthday I treated myself to my dream coffee maker. For me, it was one of those close-your-eyes order purchases, because this is an investment type purchase. I personally love enjoying lattes while out with my hubby or friends and I especially love making them at home!

There’s an art form to making a really good latte and of course making latte art! I’m a Nespresso girl, I love the ease of using coffee pods that make incredible coffee, lattes, and espresso to name a few. I also love that the Nespresso pods are recyclable! I always add the Nespresso recycling bag to my pod orders.

My previous Nespresso U (a gift from a good friend for ages, it recently moved to my backyard cottage), and I was ready for Nespresso with more bells and whistles and the ability to stream milk with a wand. I don’t drink dairy, I’m lactose intolerant, and do my best to avoid adding extra milk products to my diet. For that reason, I switched to Almond milk and then finally landed on oat milk, it just works better with my system. I love the following Barista blend oat milk: Oatly Oatmilk Barista, Califia Farms Oatmilk Barista, and Good & Gather Oatmilk Barista (this one is a new fav at a really good price!)

The Nespresso Creatista is a dream, the machine is beautiful and easy to use! Now that I’ve had it for almost two years, I thought I’d give a review. The water tank holds lots of water and takes a little to get used to in terms of placing it back on the machine for a refill.

Nespresso Creatista

Beautiful and easy to make lattes, flat whites, cappuccinos, espresso and more and steams milk! Nespresso Creatista

I love being able to make a variety of drinks, with the touch of a button. Cleaning the steam wand is also easy, I wipe it after each use and the machine notifies me and walks me through the process of cleaning the wand. The pods are very easy to place inside and they drop down in a hidden compartment, which is easy to clean.

My coffee station set up in my kitchen just feels good, I recently added a beautiful acacia wood cutting board to bring some warmth into my kitchen and help define my coffee station. I’m so in love with my coffee station! Below are a few of my favorite coffee must-haves!

Gold Tea Spoons

Perfect for elevated your everyday at home latte experience

Double Wall Glass Coffee Mug

These are beautiful and add to the experience of making a latte at home

Nespresso Peets Coffee Pods

Peet’s Nespresso Pods

I’m in love the Medium roast Peet’s Nespresso pods! They’re so good and pair with milk.

Let me know if you have any additional questions about my Nespresso Creatista, I love using it every single day! It looks beautiful on my counter and makes amazing lattes!