I had my office down in the basement level of our house, but since we all have been home during this isolation, it had become impossible to keep it there. Sean decided that now would be a good time to work on our basement, as we have been wanting to renovate it for years. The noises of him cutting wood, hammering, and loud music was what I was competing with. A couple of weeks ago I was heavily focused, working on some client projects and meeting deadlines. Sean thought that this would be a great time to use a nail gun right behind me while I was sitting at my desk. He pulled the nail gun trigger into a wood beam, that fired a whopper of a pow, and made me jump 5 feet out of my chair. That was it, I was done. My office needed to move.
Now, I am not the kind of person, who just moves into a new space without making it fabulous. So I ask you, friends, can incredible creativity happen without some amazing DIY decor? Yeah, I thought not! My client files, interior decorating books, sample materials, and paint color chips were in pockets all around my house. With no time like the present, I put on painting clothes and got organized.
In this new office, I wanted a fresh space with better storage solutions. Keeping the queen-sized bed in there for guests, maximizing its footprint was key.
Here is the color palette I chose for my office:
I really love the freshness of these colors. Let me show you how I pulled this all together.
Throughout my home, you will only see white walls, so naturally, this followed into my office/guest bedroom. I repainted my gray desk with Country Chic Chalk Paint in Simplicity White, and it really freshened it up. I found a cute shelf that was blue, to hold my printer and books on Facebook marketplace. Two quick coats of the same Simplicity White, I now had two fresh pieces of furniture for the office.
Before pictures.
After pictures.
I wanted to give my filing cabinet a well-needed makeover. It was an old gray cabinet that was sitting in my basement serving no purpose. I needed more storage so I got creative. I purchased some Matte White paint from Rustoleum. Three coats of paint, it now looks brand new. The below picture to the right has only one coat on it.
I needed a place for my purse and bookbag, so I made a cute hook out of some wood that we had around the house and painted in Vintage Cupcake (pink), from the Country Chic Chalk paint line. On it, I mounted two wrought iron knobs I purchased from a local business, The Vintage Junction, in Stirling, Ontario.
As my office doubles as a guest bedroom, I wanted the color scheme to remain consistent. This bedding, a pretty pink quilt that I purchased from Homesense a couple of years ago, still looks great.
I love how pink and gold go together, but after feeling defeated in my search for gold file holders (they were too pricey), I decided to do my own. I purchased black file holders and spray painted them. I picked up some gold spray paint from Rustoleum, which gave them the look I wanted.
Before picture.
After picture.
The now white filing cabinet needed some accessorizing. I wanted it to be higher off the floor, so I purchased some old couch legs from Habitat for Humanity, and spray painted them, as well as the handles and nameplates gold as well from the Rustoleum.
A little fun fact. I only had one nameplate on the cabinet, so I asked my Dad to make me a matching pair out of wood. The bottom plate (photo on right) is the only plastic one I had. The middle one is one Dad made out of wood, not painted, and the top is painted with the gold spray. Sometimes you have to be inventive.
After picture.
My favorite faux boxwood decor, to the cute leafy patterned box (to hold extra files), the green completes my color scheme and my office is ready.
The best part if this office/guest bedroom refresh is that I kept my cost around $175 for the whole project. I used what I had, and made smart purchases on the little extras that I needed. I guess what is even better than the money savings, is the fact that it's my little retreat to create and inspire.
Another fun DIY.
Take care, everyone,
Tracy x