Albie Knows Interior Design + Content Creation

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One Room Challenge Week 8: Reveal Day For The Hygge Ranch Flex Lounge

Albie Knows

WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | WEEK 3 | WEEK 4 | WEEK 5 | WEEK 6 | WEEK 7 | REVEAL

First things first...

A year ago today - 11.17.2020 - Seattle based photographer Ellie Lillstrom came to my home to photograph the first reveal at #thehyggeranch... the living room. That said, it's only fitting that she would be the one to help me get to this point of sharing this space with all of you. If you follow me over on Instagram - why wouldn't you be!? - then you already that the day we set out to photograph this space, there were multiple power outages in my area, along with wind, landslide, and flood advisories.

Fun times... not!

Because of the time crunch you're only getting a quick peak of the completed space - which will still be more than enough for you to see how everything transformed! - and then in the weeks to come, I'll be sharing more detailed pics for you to enjoy.

Now to the business at hand...

Welcome To The Flex Lounge at The Hygge Ranch!

This room was truly a year in the making and to FINALLY be able to say it's "complete" (I'll explain the air quotes in a bit) is something I thought would never come. A year ago, I'd revealed my two virtual spaces as a featured designer for the Fall 2020 One Room Challenge. The inspiration for those designs were my dream spaces I'd hoped to create in my own home one day... and then I bought said home! Earlier this year, I executed the real life version of the media room and decided that this ORC - the anniversary of the design concept - would be the perfect kick in the butt to finally bring the study to life... only it wouldn't just be a study anymore!

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If you've been following along the past 7 weeks, then you know that this is actually a multipurpose area, aka The Flex Lounge... with it having flexibility in terms of its current function, flexibility to change over time as our lives change, and a total flex (as the kids say) because this room is straight from my "must be nice" Pinterest board.

My original vision for this space, as a "must be nice" design, was to create a sophisticated & functional study lounge for all of us - for working from home and for homeschooling. I created different zones for different activities, and introduced color, pattern, and textures on the walls as well as in the furniture. I used the same ethos in creating the now real life space.

Zoning

The 3 main zones for this space, unlike the virtual iteration, are the work area, an activity area for the mini, and a fitness area for me.

Photography by Ellie Lillstrom

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I'm gonna let y'all in on a little secret - our work area isn't complete. To the left of the desk should be a matching cabinet, however, it was damaged. For the reveal, I had to improve to fill that gap... and I gotta say, I'm quite fond of this setup. If I didn't absolutely need closed storage for our printer & filing system, this could totes stay the way it is. I expect to receive the new cabinet in the next month-ish.

As for the finished parts...

I am positively obsessed with how this area came out!

It used to be a hot mess express, with no real order, mainly because we'd outgrown our old desk. Stuff was strewn everywhere & I was constantly having to contend with what felt like a never ending stream of clutter.

The new desk has more surface area, deeper drawers, and better leg room. Plus, it was a chance to work with Apt2B for the 4th time... and they never disappoint. Also from Apt2B - our new office chair! I've had one office chair before - an acrylic adjustable height swivel - and yet this chair feels like my first real adult office chair. The color was inspired by the teal desk my husband swooned over at IKEA. Seeing how enamored he was with the color, I was excited to introduce it into the space in some other capacity. As soon as I saw this gem on the Apt2B site, with its velvet & leather combo, I knew I had to have it! It plays so nicely with the colors in the artwork, as well as other threads of hues from the green family. And she comfy!

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I'm gonna let y'all in on a little secret - our work area isn't complete. To the left of the desk should

Framing the entire work area is a rolling cart to the right and floating bookshelf to the left. While at first thought, it may feel like a lot, the beauty of the cart is that it rolls away! It holds my planner supplies & camera accessories, which means it goes wherever it's needed... which isn't always next to the desk. The floating bookshelf, on the other hand is stationary, however, is designed to have a very subtle presence, allowing the books to be the stars... and so naturally I had to ROYGBIV them!

Being that this is where both my husband and I would be doing work - be in for me as a content creator, him taking care of admin stuff from his job, or just one of us sitting down to pay bills - wed decided to take this opportunity to make some necessary hardware upgrades as well. We've never had a traditional desktop, and instead opted for a Mac mini that we could use with any screen or monitor - this saved both space & money! Problem is, our Mac mini isn't new so it got to a point where it couldn't handle the work we were doing + our previous monitor was not great... like at all. As a result, we spent the past year almost exclusively working from our laptops. With this transformation, we considered getting an iMac . Ultimately, we decided instead to upgrade the Mac mini's hard drive & storage capacity, and replace the old monitor with one with way better specs.

Since it's completion, we've used the space and there's a noticeable difference in our productivity. While it's nice to have the mobility of a laptop, it's nice to have a "home base" for getting work done. The new arrangement has personally reinvigorated me, without it feeling stuffy or dull. I wanted to make sure that our space would be as vibrant & inspiring as the mini's, and mission accomplished.

Speaking of the mini's area...

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This corner of the room was so much fun to create... so much so that I am starting to think that I subconsciously created something for my inner child, as much as it's for my actual child. If you read my week 5 update then you already know what all went into bringing my vision to life for the mini. I made sure to pack the design with tons of storage for easier clean up & just as much color to nurture her creativity. Just as I've noticed a difference with my husband & I using the work area, there's also been a difference with the mini. She get's excited to come in here and work on whatever has sparked her interest in that moment. The structure she's become accustomed to at school, she's now able to implement at home.

Additions such as the magazine rack that I'm using as a standing sorter, make her feel like she's working like mommy & daddy... while allowing her to memorialize her years of schooling by way of her back pack collection gives her a sense of growth and "big girl-ness". Everything has a place and every section tells a story that reflects her interests of reading, writing, coloring, and building. She can be completely autonomous in this space, making it easier for me to focus on what I'm doing, be it work or working out.

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Four weeks ago, I shared my hopes & plans for the fitness area in the flex lounge, which I purposefully do not consider a home gym - that's not the time I'm on with this. Already having exactly what I need for this leg of my fitness journey - no pun intended - this was the easiest section to wrap up, just needing some inspirational touches by way of artwork. The wall unit from iDesign paired with baskets from The Container Store provide all the storage we need for hand weights, resistance bands, yoga mats, and towels.

Like both of the other zones, I am certain this area will continue to evolve as my rhythms and needs evolve. In the present tho... I am totally looking forward to crushing my finish goals right from home!

Photography by Ellie Lillstrom

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There's no denying that there's a lot going on in the flex lounge, and so I had to be really careful to not cross the line from optimizing the square footage into just creating a mess because multipurpose spaces can easily go array if not done with intention. It would've been easy to have chosen a "simpler" rug design, however, as soon as I saw this one on the Ruggable site, it immediately reminded me of the refined whimsy that I had envisioned a year ago. The colors in the rug are threaded throughout the entire design without competing with the other bold elements, like the Tempaper Coffeewallpaper.

I have always taken pride in my space planning skills, specifically my ability to decode spaces - assess all of its deficiencies and opportunities before having to touch a single piece of furniture. I imagine this is the result of studying architecture in school and then going on to become a retail visual merchandiser. While there are times I would beat myself up for not having completed this space sooner, I now know that it had to happen exactly this way, in this timeline, for me to get this final result.

In the coming weeks, I will be sharing more details on this space, including how works with the other spaces that we redid here - the media room and the launderette - and future plans... because when I am I ever not plotting & planning. LOL. But for right now, I am actually enjoying the latest completed space in our home & I consider it a personal achievement since this project was hella easy to put off. Now I am one step closer to having more control over my days, more clarity in my goals, and more boundaries overall.

It's the little things!

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Shopping List

General Items

Zone 1: Work From Home

Zone 2: Home School

Zone 3: Fitness

Sponsors: Minted, Tempaper, Apt2B, Ruggable, Hudson Valley Lighting, Formica, Sherwin Williams, Build with Ferguson, The Container Store, RYOBI, iDesign, H&M Home, Wexel Art

Now that you've seen the first part of my reveal - more to come all month + over on Instagram! - be sure to go see all the magical transformations my desigmates also revealed today...⁠

At Home with Savvy | Beth Diana Smith | Eclectic Twist | Erika Ward Interiors | From House to Home| G. Lebron Interiors | Goldalamode | Home Made by Carmona| Impeccable Nest | Jeweled Interiors| Joyful Designs Studio | Joy Street Design | Our Fifth House| Peony & Honey | Pinch Plate Party | Rebecca Propes | Reem’s Design | Saudah Saleem Interiors | Whitney J Decor

Media BH&G | TM ORC

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