Office Inspiration

In our new house we have three bedrooms plus a man cave. So much more space than our last little house and so far we love it. Yes, it may be outdated, but just having more space makes it 100x better. I have the nursery done and I'm still working on the master bedroom (the coral isn't totally working for me so I'm taking a break for now... but I did order some fabric for the headboard, so we'll be working on that soon!) so that's two out of three. The third actual bedroom (the man cave is really just half of the garage converted into another room) was supposed to be our spare bedroom, but since I will be working from home when I go back to work in December I really need a space where I can work that will make me happy. Or at least be pretty enough to motivate me to work. :) 

I had been eyeing this rug from IKEA for a while now and then got the idea of doing a black and white room with some jade/emerald accents. Especially since I already have my jade dresser that I redid a year and a half ago which currently holds all my craft supplies. I went to IKEA to get the rug (only $20 too!) and found a bunch of other graphic black and white accents. IKEA is so cheap! I love it, although I vowed to never again buy a dresser from there - too much every day wear and tear for the "put together yourself furniture."

So, here's my office inspiration board (with most things from IKEA). The next step is painting the walls a bright white to brighten it up (it's currently a dusty mauve color... yuck) and then putting it all together. 

1. Teal and gray fabric for when I recover the seat cushion on my accent chair (I'll spray paint the base of it to freshen it up too). 

2. Teal Ikat fabric for a bulletin board project.

3. IKEA NYTTJA frame for a super sweet project I whipped up with some Instagram photos. I'll share more on this soon!

4. Dark gray metal shelving unit

5. Industrial lamp

6. White Parsons Desk - I already have this Tar-jay knock off.

7. Black and white polka dot rug

8. Desk chair - I'm planning on updating a goodwill find I previously reupholstered

9. Some minty storage boxes

10. Modern wall clock 

11 & 12. Graphic black & white pillows - crosses and tribal print

13. My jade dresser full of crafts

14. A vintage globe to top it off!

New Chairs (kind of)

We don't really use Craigslist a lot. I know it can be a good way to score some cheap finds, but I guess I just get a little lazy. But... in the past month, we got two new (to us) chairs off of Craigslist.

First the husband needed a new chair for his office - a more comfortable one that could support his back during the long hours of studying. So he picked up this handsome office chair (we'll call him Otto. Otto the office chair.) for $60.

Not a bad deal considering the price of new chairs (in the hundreds) these days. It's really comfortable and sturdy. Plus, it's leather (fancy)!

I got myself a new chair too. Actually, it's a very old chair, but it's got nice curves and since I've always wanted a wing back, I just couldn't pass it up. I got this lovely lady (I just named her Winifred, Winnie for short) from a nice Indian family in downtown Bellevue for only 25 bones. Yes, I might have gone in to their apartment without a working phone (don't tell my mother), but everything worked out OK!

She's pretty sturdy (less so than the leather office chair) but I like her lines, and hopefully one day I'll be brave enough to do some re-upholstering. We'll see. For now, the color is pretty good though. I can make it work. She's only got a couple of awkward spots and scratches, but it's not too bad. 

Overall both chairs are just what we were looking for. Another successful Craigslist shopping trip!

Bookcase Gussy Up

My lovely husband has a unique hoarding gene for books. He loves to read, which is great. Read on, man. But, he also loves to keep every single book he reads. No matter what it is. Of course, we have to keep the Harry Potter series - I get that. But, the $4 fantasy/science fiction books he buys on Amazon that aren't even pretty to look at? That I don't get. He says he might read them again. Someday.

Anyways, long story long, we need more book storage. So I went down to Ikea and picked up a cheap-o bookcase for $25. Not particularly pretty, but not ugly. Just basic. And that meant I could do something to spruce it up. So before we put the whole thing together, I went on down to T-ville, aka Target, and picked up some wrapping paper for about $3 in a pretty pattern. 

Before using the 50 nails they give you to attach the back piece to the bookcase, I took some double sided tape and attached the wallpaper to the backing.

I rolled out the paper to see how much I would need.

Applied the double stick tape to the front side of the backing. I used it fairly generously, but it was only wrapping paper so it was pretty thin. Not a lot needed to keep it to stay. Plus, once we nailed it on it had extra staying power.

I turned the wrapping paper good side down, as well as the backing, then applied the double stick tape to the back side of the backing. Then I just folded over the excess wrapping paper so it pulled snug against the front of the backing (kind of like wrapping a present).

Then, the husband and I had a contest to see who could nail in the most mini nails first (I think I won). I really like the end result! It's like a surprise pop of color!

Isn't it fun? It would be so easy to do with any kind of fun wrapping paper, or even wallpaper (although it might be a little more expensive). You could even use some fabric to add some texture too. I'd like to paint the bookshelf white, but that might be a little bit down the road. For now, it's just the added color we needed to spice up the office.