Tips for Your First One Room Challenge
It’s week 7 of 8 (8 weeks due to COVID) of the Spring 2020 One Room Challenge and the big reveal of our master bathroom is right around the corner. It’s crunch time people. DIY-ers and designers everywhere are pulling late nights, having coffee way too late in the day, and stressing if their items will arrive on time before the finale. Of course I’m not doing that, no, I’m completely cool, calm, and collected, because I of course had this perfectly planned out, and everything went according to my timeline, and actually cost me less than I expected.
WRONG.
Let me share with you all the tips on what you should do to make your first One Room Challenge go smoothly with the least stress possible. Coming from a first-timer, these are the things I wish I knew before I got started.
Tips for Your First One Room Challenge
SOURCE PRODUCTS AND FINISHES EARLY
I don’t necessarily mean start your renovation a month in advance, but I do mean start the planning process. For the Spring 2020 ORC we had 8 weeks to complete our project (due to Covid-19), but usually the Challenge runs over 6 weeks. Create your vision board, and start sourcing finishes. Paint, hardware, rugs, lighting, fixtures, all of it. Once you’ve gotten a general idea of what you want, repeat the process and pick back up options.
I would do this a month in advance – yup, you need it. I ordered my bathroom tile 6 weeks in advance, only to find out that the tile had been shipped to the wrong address and returned to the sender. Once I re-ordered it, the projected timeline for arrival was another 6-8 weeks. This would have arrived a month after the ORC deadline. There are just some things that are out of your control. Luckily, we spoke to our local Home Depot store manager, and he was able to expedite the shipping for us to meet our deadline. He SAVED the project.
REACH OUT TO BRANDS AHEAD OF TIME
Now that you’ve made your list of products you’d like to utilize for your project, it’s time to see if brands would like to partner with you. The One Room Challenge is a huge event, and brands like the exposure if you are able to offer quality deliverables. While the official sponsors of the Better Homes and Gardens will only work with Featured Designers, there are endless opportunities for Guest Designers. But you’re a small account and don’t have many followers on Instagram? It’s ok. When I started the One Room Challenge I had only about 1,500 followers on Instagram and I have 6 companies that I am partnering with. There’s no harm in reaching out to different companies, just make sure you’re prepared, and don’t come across as just asking for free stuff.
When you reach out to brands, you’ll want to be clear about your participation in the challenge, what you are asking for, and what your deliverables are. It would also be smart to have a blog post and Instagram post already in place where you featured products previously (even if they’re not sponsored) that they can reference. You’ll want to start this process early as well, just so you have enough time to reach out to enough companies. For example, if you are looking to source hardware give yourself enough time to reach out to a few companies, that way if the first company isn’t interested, you still have time to reach out to a second or third hardware company.
In addition, make a 1-2 page press sheet (Canva is great for this) that you can send via Instagram or email, telling them about yourself, your audience, IG engagement rate, and any other reason why they should want to partner with you. Be clear about your deliverables (IG post, stories, blog post etc) and deadline. Be sure you only reach out to brands that you truly are interested in working with and would like to endorse. It’s important that your audience knows that your collaborations with these brands are truly genuine.
Also, start with local brands and services.
I found that most of my IG audience was here in Hawaii where I live, so it was more beneficial for local companies to want to work with me. I partnered with Architectural Woods Hawaii to source wood for my cane door and built in projects. Also, if you’re hiring local services like floor or tile install, check with them and see if they would like to be featured, there’s no harm in asking.
PLAN TO FINISH YOUR PROJECT ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE
Ideally you’d like to finish your project a week in advance so that way you have time to take some really great photos. This is especially important if you’re hiring a professional photographer because they will need some turnaround time to make edits. It’s important to take really high quality photos, you want your space to look as beautiful online as they it does in real life. I borrowed a friends DSLR camera to photograph photos of my space, and I’m so thankful I did.
GET CREATIVE WITH YOUR THUMBNAILS AND BLOG TITLES
Look back at previous seasons of the One Room Challenge and see what thumbnails catch your eye. Why were you drawn to that photo? Was it a high-quality, well-lit image? With over 300 guest participants this Spring 2020 season, it’s super important to have an eye-catching thumbnail. For me, I found myself clicking on thumbnails that had action shots. As I am a DIY-er, I was interested to see other people who were tacking big projects themselves like tiling, or framing. You also want to peak interest with your ORC blog title that you upload with your thumbnail. Instead of putting, “ORC Week 4”, pick something like “Primer, Paint and Purple- oh my!”
SET ASIDE TIME TO ENGAGE AND BUILD RELATIONSHIPS
My favorite thing about the One Room Challenge was building community. I was so focused on finishing my project on time that I didn’t spend nearly as much time as I wanted looking through everyone’s projects. Luckily the blog posts live on the ORC website forever, so I’ll be able to go back and visit many of the projects that I missed the first time around. We started off the event right when Covid hit, so it was nice to build that camaraderie as we all struggled navigating a renovation during a pandemic. Set time aside each week to filter through all the blog and Instagram uploads, comment and subscribe. Support one another, learn, and cheer each other on. Everyone has ups and downs, and having your people there to support you helps tremendously when you feel like you won’t finish and just want to throw in the towel.
PLAN OUT YOUR BLOG POSTS AHEAD OF TIME
Have your blog post completed by Wednesdays, with your thumbnail and title ready to go. The ORC blog post page goes live on Thursdays, but uploads happen on Wednesday nights around 10pm EST. I found that I got the most views on my blog posts if I uploaded early, and had an eye-catching thumbnail photo. I usually was able to upload my blog post within the top 100, and I think that helped tremendously.
I had my first couple of blog posts planned ahead of time for the first few weeks, but as the project went on, I found myself scrambling for topics. The last thing you want to do on top of stressing about your renovation is stressing about your blog post. I personally wanted to produce content that would still be applicable in the future and would continue to drive traffic to my website after the ORC was over. Many people gave week by week updates, and there’s nothing wrong with that, I just felt that not many people would find my week by week progress interesting after the ORC was over.
ENJOY THE PROCESS
Overall, I think the key to a successful ORC is planning, and being flexible. If you’ve done any type of DIY or remodel project before, you already know that things usually take twice as long and cost more than you expect. Just remember that the One Room Challenge is meant to be fun, and a process that should be enjoyed. Build relationships and celebrate each other’s hard work.
Next week is the big reveal, so stay tuned. Let me know what things you’ve learned whether this is your first One Room Challenge, or if you’re a Featured Designer- I’d love to hear! Click here to check out all the other great participants in the Spring 2020 One Room Challenge.
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