Transform Your Office

THE HEADLINES:


Find your STAR

Follow it.

Change what's bugging you.

Today. 



Sometimes you look up and find a guiding light... it will shine brighter than you knew possible.  And make a simple dream become reality.  This is true with anything... even a room!

An office is a big deal.  This, may not occur to you since most people think about kitchens and bathrooms first.   Or if you go to someone else's building and do work this will not pertain to you.  This is for the person with the home office.  Because if you have one and use one, there's a good chance you spend most of your days in it.

Therefore, an office needs to be 2 things:  functional AND cool looking.  Promise, you'll work better in here.

Let's take the 3-2-1 approach.

Like you're blasting off, into greatness.  Below was what I had to work with.  Not much.  We had already painted this room and put in new wood floors.  So at least there was that.  Everything else was... bad.  This desk was my husbands old work desk from when he first put his home office together in let's say the ripe old year of 1998.  It had to go.  We also had the chair that we rocked our kids in for like 4 -5 years, maybe more, I'm not sure.  So... we had a clean slate.

Countdown begins...
THREE - Define It.  As I always say when decorating.. first you have to Define Your Style.  See that full explanation by clicking HERE.  Basically, you just decide: What's your style?  What do you want your home to be?  Modern-Minimalist?  Rustic-Romance?  Desert-Farm-Cottage?  Beach-Casual-Chic?  You need at least 2 to 3 words to describe what you're aiming for.  Typically this is done for an entire house but sometimes... it's just one room.  As in my case.  My house is very light and white - for which I have coined the term - Desert Cottage.  But for my office I changed it up a bit.  It's the only room painted an, obviously, different color. I wanted it to be warmer, more masculine and highly functional.

Therefore, my Defined Style here became Rustic Ranch (w/ color).  Now that I've got "Defined Style" it's time to get moving!

TWO -  Gather it.  Clear out your current room and shop for your new one.  On-line, in stores, look for what will fit your above plan.  Gather all of it up, sell it, buy it, give it away... whatever means you need.

***TIP  Get especially friendly with your tape measure - bring it everywhere with you!

I bought two desks so I could wrap around the room.  I contemplated making desks (which shouldn't be that hard) but knew my husband would never get around to that...  the key here though was making another work space and opening up the room.  The way the desks hugged the wall accomplished that as opposed to the old huge desk that took up the whole space.

What else did I gather?   I found a comfy leather (leather always screams office to me) chair to watch some TV if someone needed a break!

I looked for fun accessories like in the form of this side table.  I just love the (fake) cowhide look.  It works in so many "defined styles"!!! 

I also housed all my office pens and paperclips in jars to bring some flair while adding practicality.  I'll need those things often and they'll be easy to find now!

We put up some wood shelves (found on Etsy) held up with pipes and added a lot of boxes (Ikea).

I run my household and business out of this room.  I practically live here.  So lots has to be stored.  All those Boxes allow me to do that,  But I also wanted some extra pendants to shine, well, more light on the writing spaces.  Plus, add to the look...

 ***TIP set up pendants in already existing canned light spaces to make install easier!

Now, the super fun part...
THREE -  Set it.  Sometimes this takes a day, sometimes 4 weeks.  Depending upon how efficient your planning is... this is also where some mistakes can be made.  Like... something might not fit.  Or doesn't sit well with you.  Then it goes back.

***TIP Check the return policy before you buy,  sometimes there's a re-stocking fee or no returns at all.

If you don't take it back... it gets re-purposed.  That's what happened here...

I love this rug.  But it just didn't work at all with this room.  The room needed more texture and warmth.  And the return policy on the rug stunk.  Therefore, I had to Plan B it.  In this case, I knew if I couldn't use this rug here I could use it outside or where it ended up...

in the dining room.  This is where it belongs.  And when I'm done with it... it can head to the patio!

P.S.  Note the new large light fixture over the dining table - I happen to love that new addition too.

Finally tonight,
Getting rid of that rug made me look for what became the clear STAR of the show.  You know, whether you're choreographing a dance, putting together a company or decorating a room you have to have one STAR - to shine!  This often happens when you start a project.  An old heirloom, a special piece of art, something that just makes the place.  Then, all decorating centers around that one STAR! But sometimes, like in this case, it comes later.

When I got rid of the striped rug I found the one that belonged...  it brought everything together.  It was the STAR and it made the room sing.  The new rug also gave me some colors to play off of and add to the room... which is why I brought in the flowers and candies.

It was a perfectly well priced, colorful, low pile, large piece that my chairs rolled over while my heart "swooned"...

And the STAR takes a bow... Now blast off!





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