Home & Style

Follow These Local Designers As They Each Transform a Room in Eight Weeks

They're all taking part in the super-popular Instagram event known as the One Room Challenge.

Photograph via Kate Dreyer.

If you’re a big interior design fan (or just follow a lot of design accounts on IG), you’ve likely heard of the One Room Challenge. But for the uninitiated, it’s a biannual event where people sign up to transform a space in their home over the course of eight weeks.

This spring’s event kicked off last week, and participating folks will document their plans and progress via their blogs and Instagram pages. While the One Room Challenge team picks some people to highlight as featured designers each season (one of which is DC resident Dominique Gebru, below), anyone can participate. We rounded up some of the DC-area residents who are doing it this round. Don’t see your favorite designer featured? Let us know, and we’ll add them! 

Dominique Gebru

Where: Petworth
The room: The kitchen/dining room

Ligia McQueen and Matt McQueen

Where: Darnestown
The room: Daughters’ shared bedroom

Jewel Marlowe

Where: Fairfax Station
The room: Laundry room

Michelle Whitener

Where: Centreville
The room: Daughter’s bedroom

Emilie Kyle

Where: Alexandria
The room: Powder room

Jennifer Osias

Where: DC
The room: The living room

Leona Rosenblum and Garrett Berntsen

Where: Capitol Hill
The room: The vestibule

Sarah Gray

Where: Fairfax
The room: Daughter’s room

Kate Dreyer

Where: Fairfax
The room: The dining room

Tara Wyzik

Where: Alexandria
The room: Guest bedroom

Kathy Huynh

Where: Fairfax County
The room: Guest bedroom

Mimi Montgomery Washingtonian
Home & Features Editor

Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. She’s written for The Washington Post, Garden & Gun, Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Del Ray.