TOUR MY
Office
Our long-neglected guest bedroom was transformed into an awesome office.
I’ve never had a home office that I loved so much. It’s light and bright, with lots of space and a beautiful view. What a wonderful place to get work done!
Topics covered here
Overview
Before & Afters
All the Details
Features I Love
Shopping Links
PROJECT overview
JUST THE FACTS, MAM
Since most of the furniture was purchased in 2015 or earlier, there wasn’t a huge investment to get this room to where I wanted it to be!
COST BREAKDOWN
Wall art: $280
Paint Supplies: $50
Lighting Fixture: $263
Furniture: $300
Window Treatments: $174
Rug & Floor Refinishing: $658
TOTAL: $1725
Money doesn’t grow on trees. So how did we pay for this? Check out my post 6 Ways You Can Finance Your Renovation and I’ll fill you in!
Time to complete: 1 month
We were done with everything but the floors in July, and moved everything out temporarily to refinish the floors in December.
July ’17 Moved the bed into the new guest bedroom and cleaned out the rest. Painted the walls and trim.
December ’17 Refinished the hardwood floors (Northeast Flooring).
Problems & Challenges
The only challenge here was one of timing. We had to wait until the other spare room was done in order to move everything out. Once this room was done, we also had to wait 5 months until we were ready to refinish the floor, then we had to move everything out of this room temporarily while the floors were being done.
For (non-affiliate) links to my purchases, see Shopping Link section below
For a (relatively) small investment this year, my new office came with some big improvements
- This room is a lot larger than my former office, there is room for everything and space to spread out.
- The new room is a lot brighter. It’s also a warmer space in the winter and I even have a view. Love!
Paint
Cost
Since most of the furniture was purchased in 2015 or earlier, there wasn’t a huge investment to get this room to where I wanted it to be!
COST BREAKDOWN
Wall art: $280
Paint Supplies: $50
Lighting Fixture: $263
Furniture: $300
Window Treatments: $174
Rug & Floor Refinishing: $658
TOTAL: $1725
Money doesn’t grow on trees. So how did we pay for this? Check out my post 6 Ways You Can Finance Your Renovation and I’ll fill you in!
Timing
Time to complete: 1 month
We were done with everything but the floors in July, and moved everything out temporarily to refinish the floors in December.
July ’17 Moved the bed into the new guest bedroom and cleaned out the rest. Painted the walls and trim.
December ’17 Refinished the hardwood floors (Northeast Flooring).
Problems
Problems & Challenges
The only challenge here was one of timing. We had to wait until the other spare room was done in order to move everything out. Once this room was done, we also had to wait 5 months until we were ready to refinish the floor, then we had to move everything out of this room temporarily while the floors were being done.
Shopping
For (non-affiliate) links to my purchases, see Shopping Link section below
Improvements
For a (relatively) small investment this year, my new office came with some big improvements
- This room is a lot larger than my former office, there is room for everything and space to spread out.
- The new room is a lot brighter. It’s also a warmer space in the winter and I even have a view. Love!
before & AFTER
What a remarkable difference!
The most appropriate before picture was a picture of the office when it was downstairs (in a crowded, dark little spot) vs. the office space now, which is bright and roomy, with a view!
all the DETAILS
WHAT WE DID AND HOW WE DID IT
Since this room had been our former guest bedroom, we had to wait until the new one was ready before tackling this room. Once the bed was moved, we cleaned everything else out.
While cleaning, I did come across a little gem (quite literally) and wrote about it here.
We prep’d then painted the walls, then washed and prepped the trim. Paint colors are listed towards the top of the page. We then painted the doors and the hardware.
What we did:
- Removed the doors from their hinges
- Stripped and painted the door hardware
- Stripped, sealed and painted the doors
- Re-mounted the now cleaned and painted hardware
- Re-hung the doors
I sanded down then painted every nook and cranny in the tiny closet. We last added a few shelves and it became a functional space.
Here’s everything we did to make this a beautiful spot (see shopping links below).
- Moved the desk from its former location downstairs to its new home.
- Added a much-needed new set of drawers to the desk.
- Replaced the ceiling light with a prettier chandelier.
- Purchased and hung new cordless blinds.
- Hung new linen-look drapes.
- Moved the ladder-shelf unit from downstairs to the new office.
- Added a few art pieces on the large wall across from the desk: one of Dom’s paintings (yup, he paints, too!), a ‘Mountain Man’ art piece that had been in storage and a set of 3 pictures from our last trip to Arizona.
- Added a red office sign and a coordinating Steven Jobs wordart canvas to the walls around the desk.
- Bought a cute little sidechair and a pillow to match Dom’s artwork placed on the wall above it.
- Added a new desk light that turns on with just a touch.
- Mounted the organizer wall unit on the wall to the left of the desk.
- Added a rug to protect the floors.
It would be around 5 months before we were ready to refinish the floor in this room (as well as the guest bedroom), so that did not happen until December, 2017. We had to move everything out of this room to make that happen.
Click here to read my post on our floor refinishing projects. There’s lots of information about how we selected a vendor and the entire process.
features I LOVE
Hover over the images for details (unless you’re on mobile, then tap on the image).
Desk
I invested in my desk a few years ago. I love the look and functionality. There's a place for everything!
Arizona pictures
3 of our favorites from a recent Arizona trip in wall frames I love.
Art corner
I love the look of this corner of the room, and I especially love that Dom painted the picture of the boots.
Wall organization
Fun organization on the wall. See links below.
Ladder shelf unit
Great unit for a narrow space.
Mom & Jay picture
One of my all-time favorites, it's been sitting on my desk wherever that is, for years.
Wireless printer
I love that I can print from any device and anywhere in the house!
Monitor
My Benq display and hood were a super investment a couple of years ago.
Wacom
I could not live without my Wacom tablet and pen!
Paper Clip Head
And a few other favorite knick knacks.
SHOPPING links
Some of my favorite parts of the room follow, with (non-affiliate) shopping links. Click or tap on the image to navigate to the link.
How about you?
Do you have a favorite area or room in your house that you’ve renovated? I’d love to hear about it. Please share in the comments below!