Home Office Makeover Project
So let me preface this blog post by saying I have absolutely no before photos to show you. I know. That sucks. I never think to do before photos until I’m halfway through a project I’m working on. I have to get better at that. But I will give you a brief description so you can imagine what it looked like prior to me updating it.
I moved into my home back in the fall of 2010. At that time I was not a photographer so my second bedroom was just that. A spare bedroom. I had a cheap, black and silver desk with matching chair that my aunt had gifted me. A dark brown bookcase from Ikea, a small brown wicker side table and black and silver futon. The room was just to be practical in case I had company that needed a spare room for the night and in case I wanted to hop onto my computer to search something online.
When I became a photographer I noticed myself spending more and more time in this room. Editing photos, putting together packages, etc. And I was uninspired. I would look at beautiful office spaces on Pinterest and dream about what my office could be. So in 2014 I decided it was time to make a change. I knew I wanted a light and airy space. Something simple and clean that would make me feel excited to work in this area. I began pinning different office spaces that inspired me and did online research to figure out where to make my purchases from.
My first upgrade was my desk. Luckily my sister was in the process of searching for a house and moving and she needed a desk. So I bought my beautiful white desk from Ikea and gave my sister my old one. If you’ve ever purchased anything from Ikea before you know it can be a headache to put it all together yourself, but late one evening that’s exactly what I did. And I was in love!
Next up was painting my brown wicker side table with gold paint. There’s just something about gold and white together that is such a classic look. So at that time I decided that’s what I wanted the theme of my office to be: All White Everything + Hints of Gold. Next up was creating my vision board which I love and change constantly as things get checked off. I found the perfect white chair online to accompany my desk. And a simple white frame surrounding a photo that reads ‘He Will Fulfill Every Promise’ in gold lettering finishes off that portion of the room.
My vision was coming together in a beautiful way, but two large eyesores stood out. The black futon and dark brown bookcase. About 2 months ago I gave away the futon to my parents for their guest bedroom. They needed one and I desperately wanted that one out of my house. I came across a few white futons that I loved, but this white and gray chevron print futon caught my attention and would not let it go! So after a few weeks of deliberating I made the purchase. It was perfect! It added a little something different to the room. Gold polka dot pillows from Etsy were the perfect match to the futon. So now the final task was the bookcase. I consider myself to be a pretty handy and crafty person so instead of purchasing a white bookshelf, which I easily could’ve done, I opted to paint it instead. This task turned out not to be as easy as expected, but after a few days of painting, one too many trips to the paint store and many, many small cans of chalk and regular flat paint later I was finished!
To see my vision come to life after a year has been nothing short of awesome! I absolutely love my new work space. As corny as this sounds, I will go into that room and just sit in it because it makes me so incredibly happy. Not only is the room functional, but it makes me want to work. If you’re stuck in front of a computer editing photos for hours on end you should be in a place that makes you want to work. If you work from home I encourage you to do the same. Make yourself a happy space in your home. A place that puts you at ease and energizes you at the same time. It’s made a world of difference for me already and I’m sure it will do the same for you!
