Welcome to all of you stopping over from Savvy Southern Style today! Christy is over there sharing her “favorite room” {which is her outside porch!} today. We’re so glad you stopped by!
If you follow us on Instagram, you have seen sneak peeks of the transformation my home office has been going through. I recently accepted a job where I often work from home, so in the weeks leading up to starting work, I spent some time making my home office a nicer space since I knew I was going to be spending MUCH more time in it.
This room is the formal “living” room in our house. Frankly, I find that use of the space to be a waste–we don’t entertain “formally,” but we do need “His” and “Her” offices in our home since my husband also works from home. If you’re curious, my husband’s office doubles as his “man cave,” so it’s not a space you’ll likely ever see on this little blog–you might say his space takes decorating with “antlers” to an extreme! 🙂 So, we’ll stick to showing off my spaces for your sake!
Anyway…typically when I redo a room I start with a new paint color. In this case, I decided to work with the paint color that was on the walls when we got here. Since we may only be living in this home a few more months, I just couldn’t see taking the time to repaint. While moss green wouldn’t have been my first choice in my home office, it worked OK with my existing black furniture. {You can see my office in my last home HERE}. As we’ve adapted to living in a rental for the last few months, I have certainly been glad we’ve invested in neutral furniture.
Here is a BEFORE picture of the space:
And, because we don’t believe in delayed gratification around here–is the AFTER!
Above is the same view as the “Before,” and here is a picture of the skirted desk area on the right:
You may recognize this desk from the Italian Goodbye Party I hosted recently. The once serving/buffet table has become a secondary work space in my office. It gets used mostly by my daughter, who has perched on this metal stool {a favorite vintage find} many an hour coloring, painting, and generally dropping little tiny scraps of paper everywhere! But, I love sharing my workspace with her and seeing her be ‘creatively inspired’ right alongside me. {I will be back next with the tutorial on making a desk like this, it’s easy!}
Across the room is a comfortable IKEA chair. My boys use this to read on the rare occasion they want to hang out in the same space I am in.
In between the windows, I have a print from Dear Lillie and a small chest that recently received a chalk paint makeover and still needs some knobs…it’s always something isn’t it? {oops!} Here is a close-up of the print, and the basket below holds extra card stock to use for printing.
On either side of the desk, I assembled an IKEA Billy bookcase, and they hold all my office supplies and some decorations. Above is a close up of the one to the right of the desk.
And here’s the one on the left:
Here it is in the context of the room…
The desk is a table Terry has loaned to me, and it’s working out perfectly. I love using a table as a workspace since it affords me such huge work area. I can spread out ALL my projects since I often have several going on at once.
The black and white chair I blogged about making over HERE. You may not have seen this adorable pillow Christy made? She sent one to Terry and one to me, she made it using her Citrasolv Image Transfer Method and put our blog logo on it. Isn’t it just DARLING!?! 🙂
So, this is where you can find me most of the time these days! This new space has been great, and the trees just outside my windows are gorgeous. Here is a little compilation of my office space, just right for pinning.
Thanks for stopping by!
Just beautiful…I love the colors….!
In love with this blog. always an inspiration .
Gorgeous! Can you tell me where the rug is from, if you happen to recall. Absolutely beautiful space that would make working very easy and very enjoyable! 🙂
Hi Lauren, I emailed you directly but wanted to go back and leave the comment on the post in case anyone else is wondering about my rug. The rug came from Ballard Designs. Its the Jute Rug. Very affordable! We used it in our former home in the family room, and its held up great. I highly recommend it, especially for a larger space as you can get good size rug for a great price. Thanks again!
Love all the black and white! I think it works really nicely with your green walls. Great place to work!
What a great space to work or relax in…
This is something not too simple but not too extreme—just the right mix of colours, textures and angles. Plus, the natural lighting and outdoor view could really help you focus on whatever task you’ll be doing inside the office. Great job for this one!
Thank you for your kind words. I love working in the space.
Amy
Love, love, LOVE this office space! I think the existing green walls made a great backdrop for all of your black and white! So classy and super-functional too! I popped over from Organize It! Thanks for sharing!
~Abby =)
I really want a pretty office! I have a space but can’t figure out how to “girlify” office furniture. So masculine! I painted a table and it’s better. Think I need to paint or replace the bookcases and printer console. And the key must be a pretty chair? Where to find one? Can I attach pictures here? Magnolia Lane readers (and bloggers!) might have ideas for me?
Kim, I just posted your office pictures on our Facebook page and asked our (very talented) readers to give you some suggestions. I hope they’re helpful–good luck with your space!
Hi Amy – Long time since I got off facebook but ALWAYS look forward to your emails.
Regarding the “jute” skirt on one of the desk tables, I looked but couldn’t find it. I’m sure you made it and I apologize if you’ve already posted it somewhere. Would you mind directing me to where I can find out more information on it?
I would appreciate it.
Take care! D.
Sure Deborah, that info is in this post here: https://www.11magnolialane.com/2013/10/11/adding-work-spaceassembling-a-burlap-skirted-desk/
I did “hot glue” a black and white ribbon to the bottom for this party, I’ll have to cover that in a later post, though I suppose it’s pretty self-explanatory!
Have a great day 🙂
Amy