Office Makeover Before and After

Before & After Office Makeover

Well friends, that’s a wrap on the One Room Challenge! this is my first time participating as a guest, and really enjoyed it. Back in November I switched jobs and was gradually working more and more from home. I was already in the midst of planning out my office re-vamp when the virus hit, making this little make-over even more important for me.

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A little recap. I originally did the dirty work renovations for this room not too long after we moved in. I scraped wallpaper, skim coated and patched the walls, and painted it a dark blue. It was a lovely color, but made this small space feel even smaller. For years we mostly used it as a catch-all room. But once I needed a more dedicated office space I knew I would need to brighten it up a bit.

I always love a good side-by-side before and after, so here we go!

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I knew it would make a big difference to brighten it up, but I’ve actually been amazed at how much better it is! I am all about that natural light, and now that it’s able to bounce around the room it completely changes the whole vibe.

Let’s dig into the big things that are new.

A fresh coat of paint

Since this room had already been “redone” once before that made my job so much easier this time around. I only needed to repaint it to make a big impact. I ended up going with Filtered Shade by Valspar. You can read more about my paint choices over here.

Bookshelf

This was the “big spend” of the project. I tried to reuse as much of the existing furniture as I could, but that one wall was just screaming for a bookshelf, and I am so glad we invested in this nice big one. You can read more about how I picked the perfect bookshelf and styled it in this post.

Finally, a Rug!

Most of our rooms don’t have rugs, simply because they’re expensive and our pups love to dig at things. But with rooms like the office that I can easily close off I’m adding them in as I can. I still didn’t want to break the bank with some big expensive rug that might get ruined, so I tried out this one from Amazon and have been pleasantly surprised by how much I like it. To be honest, it was pretty stiff and scratchy for the first week or two, but I’ve actually noticed it’s gotten a little bit softer. It’s certainly not a super fluffy take-a-nap-on-the-floor kind of rug, but it looks great and I’m not too concerned if it gets a little wear.

Curtains

Curtains are kind of like adding the perfect accessory to an outfit. They just give it that little extra somethin’. Natural light is really important to me, so I like to keep curtains simple and mostly sheer. I ordered these ones along with these curtain hooks and really love the combo!

Plants Plants Plants!

Of course, I couldn’t resist adding plenty of greenery to the office makeover. I did a post here about some of the plants I brought into the office, but what I didn’t include in that post was this hanging planter that I’m obsessed with. We have a smaller hanging planter in our bedroom, and I love love love it, so I couldn’t resist adding this extra long one to the office. I got this super cute little pots from my favorite local garden center, Bast Brothers, and went with a mix of plants I knew would love the office.

Keeping as many things I could and make them work in the new space was a priority. I purchased my desk back in November before I had any definite plans to makeover the office, so I made it work. I also had my good ol’ ikea chair that has bounced around our house many times. A quick pillow swap I think it’s finally found it’s rightful home in the office.

To say I’m happy with my little office makeover it is an understatement. After just a few months of working in there with the dark walls I really appreciate having such a bright and happy space now. This is also one of the few spaces I’ve transformed completely in our house in a short amount of time. Typically I take my time collecting and tinkering with things, but I have to say, I really enjoyed just going for it and now having a finished space to work in every day!