I have been overfilled with glee working on our balcony transformation. And, to be fair, I get excited ANY TIME I'm designing, but I guess because I'm sort of doing this "hand-in-hand" with a gaggle of other designers & with you guys, it just feels like this awesome design adventure. 

So now that we're in the second week of the One Room Challenge, while I already had my vision in place, this was when I really get deep into planning the space & making my concept more tangible. 

For week one, I gave you guys a quick overview and tour of the balcony in its current state. I’d already decluttered & cleaned, but what the balcony is lacking is actual design. 

Decluttering what was essentially an outdoor storage unit for the better part of the Fall & Winter, allowed me to see what was lacking aesthetically. 

The goal is for it to truly feel like an extension of our living area — all the way from the dining room to the balcony. 

During the day, all year round, we keep the drapes open to let natural light in; but during the warmer months, we love to leave the door open as well for fresh air. Plus when the trees are less naked, it really is a great view with lots of privacy.

As part of the recent Spring cleaning/decluttering, I also purged, so pretty much everything that's on the balcony will be staying:

• the chairs, from IKEA, have been on the balcony since we moved in over a year ago and to my surprise, are still in great condition

• both the decorative rug & faux grass rug, while in need of some light cleaning, also held up really well over the past year

• the table, if you saw my IKEA spring haul, then you know it's a fairly new addition replacing the previous table which I upcycled & placed in our bathroom

• I already have string lighting, but it just needs to be repositioned so that the solar panel powering them will actually receive sunlight

• we plan on cleaning & donating my daughter's tea cart, but her trike will most likely stay on the balcony versus keeping it in the house with whatever it's dragged in off the street (yuck!)

Also on the balcony are the rims from my husband's car -- UGH! While 2 of the rims were able to fit in our storage unit, 2 needed to stay out. After some careful thinking, I do have a plan for them so that they'll fit in the design BUT they're also not a priority because they're not permanent. 

So what's the game plan?

It's no secret that I've already started shopping for the balcony so there isn't much to add going forward. 

Here's what I've gotten so far: 

• a second grass rug

• two new candle lanterns

• new throw pillow covers

• a hanging planter shelf

But before I can start styling, my husband and I want to do a serious deep clean to make up for the fact that we can't paint the exterior.

While our landlord has been really cool about updates that we can or cannot make, this being a condo, the exterior is up to the housing association & that's a fight I have no desire to engage in. So to compensate, we're going to see how much of the siding, door, and railing we can get looking spic & span. 

From there, there isn't much else to buy ALTHOUGH I have been toying with the idea of adding some plant boxes to the rails and getting jute poufs for footrests. 

Because this space opens up to the living room, as I've mentioned, I do plan on coordinating the decor. With that, I've also purchased a new pouf for the living room that has the most AMAZING tropical leaf print, in addition to three new plant stands for indoor & outdoor plants. 

I should be done shopping super soon, which means that's when the real fun begins -- STYLING.

WEEK 1

Be sure to check out the rest of the One Room Challenge participants HERE.