The Evolution of My Office Renovation

This was taken the first day we began working on the house.

When we bought our house nearly two years ago, we knew that it needed some work. When we toured the house we saw that the house had great bones, it just needed some elbow grease, some paint, a bit of spackle, some fresh curtains, new flooring, and a decorative touch. It also needed imagination, patience, and time. So when we were handed the keys over Labor Day weekend, we couldn't wait to get into the house and start pulling up the carpets and clearing away the debris.

Flynn enjoyed exploring the new space.

The house had enough bedrooms for each kiddo, which was great. The room that is now my office was the bedroom of the oldest child who has since gone away for school, life, etc. We let each child pick out what the wanted their room color to be and we bought paint accordingly. We were on a very tight budget so I actually blended a can of white paint that we already had with a bit f black paint that we got marked down at Home Depot (not sponsored). The walls in the room had been an off-white or cream color with very old wall to wall carpeting. There was also an odd shelving unit built into the wall that had access to the stink pipe. I really didn't want that pipe visible, so we removed the shelving and walled it off. The room opposite to the office is the bathroom and that entire room had to be gutted. I'll post about that another time.

So, as requested by the son, I painted the walls grey and the carpeting was removed and I painted the floor black. He decorated the walls with his t-shirt collection and it was a typical teenage boys room. After he graduated high school and went away to college I wasn't jumping at the bit to redecorate. I wanted to wait at least a year and see what would happen. However, I decided to move along with the process when it was clear that he was growing up and eager to be on his own. His bedroom was becoming a spot for debris to land and was a waste of valuable space.  I decided that it was time for me to make an office, where I will eventually be able to work and keep the spare bed in there just in case a guest needs a comfortable place to rest.

Fearing the raisin would overpowering for a small room, I used it to create an accent wall.

Eventually, the door to the bathroom will be removed and the wall will be finished.

I based my entire design on a California Raisins lamp that my grandmother had made me when I was a little girl. I had recently unearthed it from my parents' attic and wanted to use it in my new office. I chose a color that would closely match the color of the raisins on my lamp. I chose Color Place Rich Raisin in a satin finish. I used black chalkboard paint to paint my floor. This made the floor more durable and doesn't scratch as easily. 

Murr really likes the room. It is a nice space to take a nap.

I made curtain rods with wooden dowels that I found at Hobby Lobby (not sponsored), painted them black, and I made finials using a black macrame yarn/rope and tied them into fishermen's knots. I purchased two sets of thermal/light blocking curtains on ebay (not sponsored) for $10.00/set. I also bought gold vinyl star decals on Wish (not sponsored) for $1.00. If you haven't noticed, I decorated this room on a budget. It took a lot of time to gather all the materials together, but it came out great. I will do a part 2 to this post, showing the decor in more detail. This will be a cozy space to work in. Right now I am waiting for Rory to get a little older and to outgrow his chewing habit. It is very distracting to work in the office with him in it right now. Also, Mildred is currently residing in my office with her litter of kittens that she birthed a week ago-more on that in a later post. For the time being, my office/guest room is a kitten nursery and I likely won't be doing much work in there until September. For now, I just grab materials from there to use for projects that I work on in other places in the house. Stay tuned for the follow-up to this post which should be up next week. Until next time~ Toodahloo!