It’s week 4 of the One Room Challenge and if I didn’t have one last secret up my sleeve, I would have told you this is a super boring post and you might as well swipe away or close your laptop. But instead you should keep reading….
Hurry up and wait….
If you look closely at the photo above, you will see clues of what is still to come in the room. A hint at the art that will go behind the desk, some hardware for the antique doors and parts to the secret surprise I am going to tell you about in a minute.
While I worked tirelessly on the antique doors, there is still not much to show for all the effort. Restoration of a pair of doors is painfully slow, especially when you use a product that requires at least a 24-hour cure time and hours of scraping.
In a complete and utter blogger fail, unless you’ve been watching my Instagram Stories, I only have blurry screen shots of the progress of the doors to share. I was so focused on capturing video for a future YouTube tutorial on the paint removal product that I completely forgot to photograph stills for the blog post. I’m so sorry!
As far as the library wall, nothing happened there. The moulding from Metrie arrived on Wednesday afternoon which is thankfully much earlier than I had expected and will be the main focus of the work the rest of the week.
The fireplace surround is still on hold because I am waiting for tile to be located. I shopped at a huge national tile store in town and found the perfect tile. All of their stock, like four boxes of tile, are missing. Not a problem I thought, because I could order what I needed and it would be delivered in a few days. That’s what they said a week and a half ago. They promise I will have the tile by Friday, but I’m not holding my breath.
Thank you for waiting until now for the secret surprise! Since it is not even remotely close to being added to the room, let’s start with a few images that might give you a clue as to what is to come.

Photo by: Cory Holland HGTV

Annie Vincent Interiors

Photo by Francesco Lagnese for Traditional Home
What do all three of these images have in common, besides the books? A library ladder! I was so thrilled to finally find a supplier that sells the components for the sliding ladder that are affordable for the average DIY’er.
I’ll share more about the source once I’m certain I can speak to the quality and not just to the price.
Here is a list of what is left to be done.
- Add moulding from Metrie to the library wall. Paint moulding.
- Finish and hang the antique doors. I’ve actually hired my favorite contractor to help and he should come before the beginning of next week. Hanging doors is a tricky business and these antique French doors will likely be a challenge we know we aren’t ready for.
- Finish the fireplace surround with tile and trim with moldings from Metrie.
- Hang ladder hardware and build ladder.
- Finalize artwork and decide on framing.
- Style the room and turn it in to a library!
Oh, and add in a house full of family starting to arrive on Wednesday for our son’s graduation from college on Sunday! Should be a wild and crazy week ahead! Wish me luck!!
Many thanks to my sponsors, Metrie and Ryobi Powertools! I’ll be sharing more about this next week!
Be sure to check in on the progress of the other participants here. At last count there were 240 guest participants in addition to the Featured Designers!
Can I tell you one more time how much I love the ORC? I’m so thankful to Linda for hosting and House Beautiful and the Home Love Network for helping to make this fun event possible!
Jewel Marlowe says
This room is going to be stunning! Great work on the color choice and the ladder!
laura says
hi leslie
i love the color! so excited to see what happens next. laura
Dian Owens says
Looking good! I can hardly wait to see how you use that yummy fabric! Congrats to your son!
Andi says
The ladder will be the perfect touch! You can pretend to be Belle and slide across the bookshelf. So jealous.
Jessica says
Looking so great so far!
Casey says
Oooh! I’ve always wanted a library ladder!! That’s going to look so cool – Can’t wait to see it in place 🙂
Keki Cannon says
oh! I love what I can see so far. It looks fab. I can’t wait to see the final reveal. good luck
Ruthie says
Love the navy shelves!! I can’t wait to see the final product!
Lisa says
Leslie I’m so excited about the ladder!! YESSSSSS!! This whole room has me so fired up, LOVE the built ins and color, love the fireplace, love the doors! It’s all so good!!
Susanne says
Ohhhhh a library ladder!!! I am so jealous!! I can’t wait to see it all put together.
Emy says
I can’t wait to hear about that library ladder! I dream of lining my tiny dining room with bookshelves.
Dara says
It’s looking beautiful already! The ladder is going to be such a cool addition!
Diane Rath says
Oh my gosh that little sneak peek has me seriously wanting more!! Can’t wait til the final reveal!
Jon says
Amazing and very brief article. I just love all the colors. Thanks a lot for sharing this and got new Ideas from this post. Very impressive.