Warehouse Redux: Redecorating the Office

The office in our house is a perpetual problem. First, we call it an “office”, but it’s basically a glorified storage room. We don’t need a desk. We work in the living room. We had a desk in the office for two years and we never used it so we opted for a large dresser instead to give us more storage. And here’s the thing: that’s okay with me.

What’s not okay with me is this:

Actually, that’s a photo from the last time it got bad and I decluttered it…about four months ago. I didn’t take a before-decluttering photo this time because it basically looked exactly the same except with one fewer cooler and the bathroom stuff got put away when we finished replacing the sink and vanity. It was full of radio project junk, paint cans and Etsy stock this time.

And here’s what it looks like now, albeit without the boxes in the middle of the floor because I disposed of them:

Clearly there’s still some work to be done, but now that we can move around in the room and find things easily, the next step is to have it look stylish and deal with our on-going storage issues.

There are some great ideas on Pinterest:

And in blogs that I love:

Young House Love

Centsational Girl

And yet I wasn’t quite certain how to make it all work in there. The only commonality between these pictures is grey walls and white cabinets (with that one outlier where the bookcases are a pale blue-green).

As for project criteria, here’s what we’re working with:

  • Our whole house palette involves grey, emerald green, navy blue, various shades of blue-green in small doses and a hint or two of orange because it’s my husband’s favorite color. 
  • The only furniture we’re determined to keep is the walnut Brasilia long dresser (which will remain walnut) and a tall dresser that was my husband’s childhood dresser, which is now our “tool shed” (which we are open to painting). 
  • The top of the dresser has to remain clear because that’s where I shoot photos for my Etsy shop.
  • The center of the floor has to remain wide open because it’s our only inside space to do projects.

So here’s how I think this project is going to develop over the next few weeks:

  • declutter the space so we can see what we’re working with
  • knock out a few projects that are in the way (take apart the radio, sell or donate the old games and childhood memorabilia, figure out what to do with a big box of old trophies)  I’ll show you what I did with those in a future post.
  • paint the room 
  • bring in different shelving, sell off current mismatched shelving
  • paint the “tool shed”
  • hang some curtains 
  • hang art on the walls
  • install a new light fixture
  • do something about the awful mirrored closet doors
  • add accessories that are currently in storage
Sounds like I’ve got my work cut out for me! Luckily I think this is all pretty fun. Wish us luck!
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