One Room Challenge: Our Urban Oasis in Jersey City
We’ve officially decided to dive into another round of the One Room Challenge and take on our backyard.
I have participated in the ORC at least three times before as a guest participant, it is standardly a 6 week challenge with host participants sharing their updates on Wednesdays and guest participants sharing their updates on Thursdays, to get a space completed over the course of 6 weeks. You can check out the official site here, and see the host and guest updates here and here respectively.
Our outdoor space has always been treasured, and we’ve always had a master plan for the space. We’ve slowly chipped away at it since buying the house in the Fall of 2018, but it still has quite a ways to go. With Stay at Home orders still in place, and a summer baby on the way, we know we are going to be using this space now more than ever. So, we are taking the opportunity to pour some love into this space so we can really make the most of it.
The overall space measures about 11.5’ x 26’ which is HUGE by city standards, though it may be small by most suburban standards. Ultimately I would love to squeeze in a dining space, a sitting space, room for the grill and a fire pit. P would love to have more grass for the kids. And speaking of the kids, we need to smooth out and finish the “chalk wall” and keep a space for the water table and any other future kiddie features. E’s only request is that we add flowers-I think I can handle that!
Realistically, I know that we can’t fit all of the things on our dream list, so I think the fire pit will be the first thing we don’t include, maybe when the kids are a bit older, but for now, it makes sense to leave it off and focus on creating a space that is truly usable, beautiful and fun for our family.
Note I said beautiful. Outside of basic function and giving us some outdoor space, it really isn’t anything special aesthetically. I know, major first world problems, but for me, if the space looks good, it makes me feel that much better while I’m using it.
So aesthetically, here are some things we would like to tackle: The pavers should be replaced with something larger; the fence needs updating-and at the very least needs for all fence panels to match (no more alternating between stained barn-red and natural); we need to add fencing or create a fix for the area where the fencing panel was removed and block the access under the stairs that our dog, Brantley, likes to sneak through to explore the neighbor’s yard; and finally, the picnic table I purchased last summer needs to be sanded and refinished, the winter got the best of it and it isn’t in great shape, so I’ll also invest in a proper cover for it.
Here’s a look at my crayon sketch for the space, complete with scribbles working out sizes and details:
Here’s the official list:
Clean up and paint existing fence.
Add a clean and simple lattice at the top.
Where the fence is missing between the decking and the next panel- add in a full height of lattice
Add some vining plants there to add a nice focal point and give E some of those flowers she is looking for.
remove the existing pavers.
Bring in larger, natural stone pavers, ideally spaced a few inches away from each other with grass planted in between to add softness and expand the visual appearance of the yard.
Build a planter-bench for the back perimeter space.
Clean up and paint the picnic table- I’m thinking yellow!
Add plants in the planter box portions of the bench
Add in finishing details- additional seating, pillows, plants, etc.
And here we go! We are jumping in about a week late, and even though the ORC has been extended from six to eight weeks this round, I’m still feeling like missing a week is going to take a toll on our timing. So we are going to hunker down and work through as much as possible over these next few weeks. You can check back here every Thursday for updates on our progress, to see what we’ve checked off the list and to cheer us on!
I hope you’ll continue to tag along for the fun! And don’t forget to check out the ORC main page for the other participants updates to follow along with everyone’s progress! I’ll also share behind the scenes progress and updates in my stories on Instagram so be sure to follow along there as well. We truly appreciate your support!