Hello, happy Thursday, and welcome back to the One Room Challenge! If you're just joining us, you can follow along with how we decided to transform our entryway over the course of six weeks by checking out the plans, the stencil, and the progress.

As I shared last week, I'd had a setback or two when it came to finishing this space. First, I broke a coupla mirrors and had to return to the drawing board on that front. Second, I had the hardest time picking out a rug. After my stencil paint turned out a shade more taupe than the gray I had initially envisioned, I nixed my yellow mood board rug and started hunting for something else. I set my heart on navy, but with some pattern, but which would play well with and modernize the Otomi, and not make the whole space feel to costume-y. Dozens of rugs considered and rejected later, I found this beaut at West Elm.

Well, hello there. You appear to be checking off boxes left and right, West Elm rug, you. I was a little exhausted and slightly punch drunk when I stumbled upon this, but it was pretty much love at first sight. And, bonus, it's fair trade! At $169 plus shipping, it was definitely the most expensive rug I considered, by a long shot. And, since I actually wanted one for our kitchen as well, we were looking at some cash-ol-a. Bummer. But, as fate would have it, it was my birthday this week, and between my mama and Bret's mama, I had a very generous start toward these rugs. And so, they were boughten.

So imagine my surprise when love at first sight turned into a bad long-term relationship. Here's another view. For me, clearly, it wasn't the right rug. I think it looks fine in this picture, but fine just isn't what I'm going for. I had some chief issues. Number one: It's too short. At 7 feet, I thought it would work, but it looks silly. (Our old rug is 10 feet and I should have gone that length or longer). Second, I'm not crazy about the busy-ness. Third, the color, although truly beautiful, is just not the neutral I thought it might be. It also seemed to darken up the hallway quite a bit, from the lighter-based rug we had in here before, and I didn't dig that. Finally, I didn't care for the width. On their own, these were all small gripes, but altogether they added up to some serious meh. And for that kind of money, and for this type of overhaul, I want to love it. Looove it. Not meh it. Back to the drawing board. I think I'm actually going to buy a jute rug and paint my own damn design on it, because I have mad gobs of time like that, so stay tuned. Something like this?

I love this look, but it's too short and I can find cheap plain jute rugs at Overstock. Or should I take a completely different direction and try a crazy pattern?

Now that I put this up, it's awesome but so close to what we have in there now that it feels silly. Here's a refresher:

I don't want to shock anybody, but the final decision probably won't look like anything pictured here. In the meantime, I did buy a new mirror.

This guy is the Grundtal from IKEA. AS discussed last time, I wanted something round, a decent size, and in a metallic finish. My initial wood vision was rendered moot by the wood shelf I added to the coat rack; I thought too much wood would look super matchy-matchy and no fun. This mirror is actually a bathroom mirror, and it's about $40, which is a steal for mirrors this size. I wasn't sure if I might try to paint the frame - maybe an aged brass? - but it would be, make no mistake, a huge pain in the tookus, because of how the frame and mirror are connected. There's a little overlap of the frame all the way around the mirror that would be close to impossible to tape off. I think. So, I'm going to do some investigatory journalism into Grundtal hack options. But I have to say, I think it's pretty as it is. I can check my teeth on the way out the door -- and that, ladies and gents, is for the win!

So, that's the update. I always used to laugh when reading One Room Challenges in days of yore, because like clockwork, at week four, everyone is panicking that things haven't gone right, and fabrics are stuck on ships headed from China, and chandeliers are back-ordered, etc. etc. And now, here I am, desperately ordering expediting rugs so I can make the reveal in two weeks' time! Next week, we'll talk a little more about the other side of this makeover: the closet. I'm doing my best to provide as much eye candy as possible.

One more programming note: we're on spring break! We rented a house in Rhinebeck, NY, with Lou's best friend's family (and they are also our friends) and we're just soaking in the country air and slow pace. I may not make it back tomorrow. Thanks for your patience and we'll chat next week! In the meantime, there's plenty more to see with the rest of the One Room Challenge guest participants!