Okey Dokey. I recently decided it was time to revamp our home office. I knew it was getting crowded and that it needed some major organization. My incredibly thrifty husband is very happy to use old boxes for filing and is always eager to hold on to scrap paper to use for miscellaneous printing/notes etc. I am also on the thrifty side and because of these tendencies, our office (and entire home, to be honest) is a bit of a modge-podge collection of hand-me-downs and yard sale finds. Not to speak ill of yard sales! Some of my favorite pieces are yard sale finds.
But our office was looking too much like we are still in college. I decided that since we’re pretty much “grown-ups” sometimes, we should have a home office that reflects that fact. And, since I’m always looking for opportunities to be creative, I decided it was time to take it on.
I started this project a couple weeks ago when I redid our closet. The closet was a test run for the chevron stripes I had planned for the office. I was really pleased with the way they turned out, so I was eager to start the office.
For the last several days, I have been living in complete awe of how much stuff we had packed into our office. With it spread out in the living room, I wondered how it had all fit in one little room!!! But then I took a look at the office before photos above, and was put to shame. I can’t believe how messy that room was!
Actually, after looking back at those before shots, I can see how all this stuff is taking up our entire living room. How embarrassing!
Once the room was “gutted” we got to work. I did my chevron striped wall. DH helped with the plain walls. And we started building new desks.
The desktops were $10 each in the as-is section if Ikea. We bought some 2×4’s and built frames. I broke two drill bits before DH got home from work and rescued me the rest of the drill bits in the box. We painted the frames for the desks. And were so pleased to attach them to the desktops. They turned out great!
These look A's, but not just any A. They look like the A that DJ Tanner made out of an F! We kept calling these the F-A frames.
We moved DH’s old desk (which was a hand-me-down from one of his sisters, I believe) into the closet for a perfect fit. We put up some peg board in the back wall of the closet and now it’s ready to be a craft station. The new desks in the office are going to be used for more businessy type work – computer and paper work type stuff, not mess glitter and paints.
I can't wait to get all my arts and crafts stuff organized here. Currently, it's all stored in random little clusters throughout our house!
So, now we have to finish. We had thought we might put the two bookcases (that are both freshly painted) back into the office. But they just don’t work. I would be open to a long and short book case along the empty wall, but I’m not sure. In the photo, you can see that we tipped one of the bookcases on it’s side to get a feel for that layout. I think it might work okay.
We also have thought about getting one really tall and narrow bookcase to go against that little corner. The space between the end of the new desk and the corner is just under 18 inches. I found this bookcase from Ikea that might work. I’m not sure if I would go with the white, black-brown, or birch.
This is Troy. He thinks this whole office makeover is for him. He approves of the new desks, but not of the mess in the family room.
So, what are your thoughts? What do you suggest we do to finish our office? What would you add to the empty wall for storage and to the corner so the desk ending doesn’t look too funny?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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