My Home Office: The Before
This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure PolicyIt’s time to paint and decorate a new room at Bayberry House! Today I’m showing you how my office looks before I start to make it over.
Yes, friends, I’m ready to paint another room in my home. Earlier this year I wrote about some of my 2020 House Projects. You may remember that the list included painting several bedrooms. Well, one of those bedrooms happens to be my office. (I also want to tackle one of the other bedrooms in the next couple of months, but we’ll save that “before tour” for another day.)
My Home Office: The Before
This room is on the second floor, but it’s on the opposite side of the house from my master bedroom. I chose this bedroom for my office because it has three windows, and I love me some natural light. (The other four bedrooms in Bayberry House have only two windows.)
If you’re an eagle-eyed IBC follower, you’ve probably noticed that every piece of furniture in my office came from other areas of this house or my previous place. Can you guess each of the spaces before I tell you?
Here’s the rundown:
- The “desk” is my old dining room table.
- The sideboard served as the entertainment stand in my loft apartment in Pittsburgh. When I moved to Bayberry House, I had the sideboard in my dining room for a while.
- The shelves used to be in my apartment office.
- The rug was in the entryway of my apartment.
- The green chair was in the living room of my apartment.
As you can see, lots of things came together to make this space somewhat functional. Although things work OK as they are, I want the design to be more intentional and inspiring since I spend quite a bit of time in this room.
The great part is that’s it’s pretty much a blank slate, and I have some foundation pieces that I love to get me started.
We should also talk about the closet in this room. I was hesitant to show you this, but in the interest of “keeping it real,” here’s a look inside. *Hot mess alert*
I don’t consider myself the most organized or tidy person. A lot of that comes down to not having a designated place for everything. This closet is a prime example. I just sort of threw things in. Even though my intention was good, it’s clear the system doesn’t work. As I put this room back together, I will create designated storage with new wood shelves.
For this makeover, I’m not planning to throw a bunch of money at it to “get it done.” Instead, I want to take my time and slowly add pieces as I find them. However, after I paint, I do want to get things organized and in place so that it feels complete and pulled together.
In a year or two, I would love to add built-in cabinets to this room to create more storage and a desk space. Right now, though, that’s not in the cards. (The reason: I just hired a cabinet maker for two other cabinetry projects that will be happening late this summer. I’m already excited to share those with you down the road.)
My Home Office: The Plan
Since the above explanation was probably a bit rambly, I thought I’d break things down.
Here’s my plan:
- Clear the clutter.
- Touch up the trim paint.
- Paint the walls.
- Hang a new light fixture. (This is the light fixture of my dreams, but it’s $2,000, so that’s not happening.)
- Add organization to the closet.
- Decorate and style with what I have.
- Slowly redecorate as I find pieces for the room.
- Enjoy every moment of this process!
My Home Office: Initial Design Ideas
Generally speaking, I plan to stick with the overall theme of my home, which is Modern Country Colonial. (You can read more about what that means here.)
I’ve already picked out the color for the walls. And, because of the current stay-at-home order, I broke all of my “how to choose paint color” rules and picked a color based solely on a 1×2-inch sample square. EEK! I’m a little nervous about it, but I’m excited at the same time!
I’m not going to share the official color yet, but I will tell you it’s light green. It’s similar to the color of my pantry cabinets, but it’s a mintier, blue-green. I think this color will look beautiful with the blacks and browns already in the room. (I’m sure I’ll need a new rug.)
Sidenote: I recently wrote a post about the paint colors I’ve used in my home. You can find that here if you ever have questions about my paint colors.
Beyond my paint color choice, I’m not sure how the rest of the space will look. I’m thinking about using more shades of green as well as pink and yellowy-orange. I found this image on Instagram from @yasminemei and love the color palette, so maybe it will be something like this:
My wall color won’t be that dark, but I hope you get the idea.
Well, that’s all I have to say about my office before I start the makeover. What do you think? Are you excited about seeing another transformation?
More than likely, I will put together a more detailed design plan and share that with you next. Stay tuned.
Until then … I’d better get painting!
Hi, Michael! Would you mind please sharing info about your desk chair? I need to buy one for my new work-from-home setup, and yours looks beautiful!
Honestly, it was just an inexpensive one I picked up at HomeGoods. Hope that helps!
xo Michael
Well, I like the before picture and I will certainly follow along. What I don’t like is the way that beautiful desk is positioned with the window in the back.
Can’t wait to see the end result.
I’m really excited to see this evolve! Like you I love light and like you I have the same issue with my screen being hit by light and I’m really looking forward to seeing those blinds up and how they’ll look with the rest of the design. I keep telling myself I have to do the same and need to just get it done!
Love that colour palette, but not the light fixture! (only because the flex rather spoils the whole beauty of it). I’ll be watching with interest especially as I am redecorating my bedroom (in my head at the moment) and am aiming for a pale sage green. Hurry up and start, now!!
Long to,me reader, first time commenter. I love your style and that chandelier is to die for, I try and splurge on one item per room and that chandelier would be totally worth it. Can’t wait to see our office come together
I love watching a room come together and with you behind the design wheel this is sure to be a great ride! Looking forward to watching the progress!
When I saw the picture of your BEFORE, I thought it was the AFTER, I was already jealous! Can’t wait to see what you do!
I can’t wait to see. And that color palette!
I can already tell it is going to be stunning! I had the same thought about the desk position, but I know what you mean about the blinding light. What if you positioned your desk perpendicular to the window wall so your back was to the shelving unit? Maybe a desk move is in the cards, so I am jumping the gun! Haha. Can’t wait to see the after. You always make everything look so beautiful!
Such an exciting project, Michael! I’m looking forward to following along with your progress! ♥️
Cannot wait to see your design come to life! Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!🤩
Looks great! I love how you take all your things and work your decorating magic 🙂 This sure is a great time to make yourself happy and be productive at the same time. I hope you love your paint color! Green is my favorite color!!
Excited fo see what you come up with…I adore your style!
This sounds so exciting, a new adventure, have fun
I can’t wait to see you pull it all together!
How fun to watch you transform a room again! I love your home and all the things you transform are beautiful! Your always such an inspiration to me to get things done and looking good in my own home! I have a question from your spring table post, namely the crocheted class cozies. I have miss mustard seeds pattern and I have made some, but wondered if you could find out from the woman that made yours what yarn and size hook she used to make yours. I love the white and love you spring table and would love to duplicate them. I would appreciate if you could find that out for me so I can make them like yours.
I absolutely love your office room. It’s such a pretty space. The dining room table as a desk is so clever. The whole room is beautiful, I love seeing all of your styling designs. And the bronze kitty statue is adorable.
Thanks, stay safe, Paulette Jacoby 💚💛🌸🌼🥰
Can’t wait to see it! Love your style!
I’m wondering why your desk faces the closet…for two reasons. One, the glare from the windows on your computer screens and two, the view…just curious
Alice, this will likely change. BUT, the reason I did this was because when I positioned myself facing the windows, the sun would blind me from 10-2pm. Especially during the winter months when the sun was lower in the sky. It was unbearable. As you can see, I have some blinds sitting in the corner which I hope will help with that in the future so I can position my desk any way I’d like.
Again, these are just before photos – new room to come. 🙂
xo Michael
Yay!! Excited to follow along!
I love to “curate” a room – it makes the designing and procuring a much more enjoyable project. I debated for a month about what color lumbar pillow to place in our computer/reading room!! I now will order an area rug for the room that I have had in my cart for a few weeks. We are planning downsizing next year to a townhouse or smaller home in a historic village where our daughter lives. When I make an addition to our present home I also consider what it’s future use will be. Although downsizing and a planning a different lifestyle next year, I still enjoy our present home and will be taking my design elements with us. I would love to see a design board of your office plans. I’m sure it will be beautiful.
I totally understand. I like to take my time too. I love that you consider your future plans too. If you know a move is coming, that’s important.
And yes – I will be sharing some design ideas and inspiration next. Stay tuned, Lyn. Thanks for commenting!
xo Michael
I hate wires from a computer but we have to live with them! I love how you address them in the old space with white to fit the desk etc. can’t wait to see the transformation! Watching from Jax FL!