Back at the beginning of the COVID crisis, I realized that I would be at home in my office a lot. This really got me thinking about my office environment and how I really needed a change.
Here is the back story. Before we bought our home, my office was the home office for a guy who had a great nautical theme. While that worked for him, the parts that were left behind weren’t working for me. I have lived with the office as it was for quite some time because there were so many things ahead of it on the priority list of things to do around the house.
It was time…it needed to move to the top of the list, but it had some challenges that seemed to be rather expensive to overcome. One of which was a wallpaper border/textured wall situation. The nautical border encircled the room, but taking it down was not so clean cut. The wall underneath had no texture, while the wall above was what I have now learned is called Orange Peel texture. The bottom of the wall is beadboard, which I really liked and decided to keep.
Along came Mother’s Day, and when Hubby and The Mayor asked what I wanted, it was an easy answer. I wanted my office done. And so we did.
The Process
The first step was taking down the wallpaper border and the wood trim above it, and also removing the wood trim framing the ceiling.
Next, they tackled the walls. I sat this one out and let them do the work (after all, it was my mother’s day present!). The alternative to retexturing the entire room was to do a hand trowel, or basically a skim coat that is left with a little texture. It is sort of like stucco but not as defined. It ended up being a great cost-effective solution and I love the finished result.
Once they finished the wall texture, it was time to paint. I went with a triple gray theme so that I can use accent colors to liven it up, but also I can change the look easily if I want to add new or different accents.
Furniture and Functionality
Like a lot of people, my office serves more functions than just a place to get some work done. It also doubles as an extra guest room and a tv/game room for my son. The furniture is pretty basic but comfortable, including the pull out sofa. In order to keep things organized, I keep the linens in a decorative bin so they are easily accessible when the room is needed for guests. The TV is on a very simple Ikea media stand, and I added baskets to corral the game controllers.
My desk and work area is also very basic with a standard office chair and a small desk. One of my favorite features is the closet that had been converted with shelves. This is a great feature because it serves as an organizational hub for the household. It’s where the family knows to go to find things like batteries, the label maker, or office supplies.
The finishing touch was a roman shade to give it a polished look. This was my one splurge and the result was worth it. One of my favorite features is that I can let light in by lowering the top or raising the bottom. This is great when I’m on zoom calls because it helps with the glare to just have the top down.
Having an inspired environment has given my overall productivity a needed boost. I’m so glad to be able to share the finished product and give a little glimpse of my workspace. If you would like to read more about how to make your own office space an inspiring environment you can click here to check out a past post that breaks it down.
