room crush: my parents' new office

The weekend before last The Fox and I visited my parents new home. It's a 1950's ranch/bungalow-style house that sits on a large corner lot with a traditional influence. It was previously owned by an elderly couple, so naturally the inside is dated. But with a little TLC, it's going to be a charming little home.

I inherited my love for homes, style and decorating from my mom. She's very talented and loves the unusual as much as I do. That's why I love visiting. Especially, when I can help her unpack and decorate! Which is what I was there to do!

The first few times I simply helped my parents unpack their many, many boxes. Some might say my mom's a hoarder, but collector is more preferred :). Nonetheless, we had to get all the great stuff she had packed, out and ready to find a home! This time we were working on the office.

We arrived Friday evening and immediately started working. Most of the boxes were unpacked, but we needed to sort. I give you, the before:

After working 'til about midnight, we retired to our rooms. This was mine and The Fox's (which is also adorable, even as a work in progress...)

With breakfast on the mind, we were up in the morning and ready for a day full of sorting, organizing and DECORATING!

By the end of the weekend we were exhausted, but the end result made it worth every second. Like I've said before, a decorator's home is never finished, but we have to start somewhere. I give you, the after:

Go ahead. Take a look back at the before. It's kinda unbelievable. And do you see all the cool stuff my mom has??? I'm jealous.

I guess you're wondering what the thing below is, right? Well, I'd seen this idea once before and my sister reminded me of it a few months ago when she saw it online, but it's a vintage bed spring. When my mom was moving, I told her she had to keep it. I knew we could do something fun with it. And we did. Feast your eyes on her new office "pegboard." 

Hung with little hooks and clamps, we decorated the spring with a mix of functional and decor items. Including baskets (which we hope to spray black) for small items, a place for stamps/notes, a wall pocket for scissors, a cluster of paint swatches for her other rooms, and clamped vintage images/valentines from my mom's childhood.

We used an old Scottie planter as her pen cup and a Ball jar for her rulers/paint brushes. The royal blue jar is a cold cream container that we used for rubber bands.

The pie rack (at least we think that's what this is) is where we hid all the office stuff like extra paper, envelopes, pens/pencils/markers, etc. In an office, everything (or at least most everything) should have a use. Like the basket on the right, which holds her extra note pads. 

I don't even have 1 turtle shell. Love these!

And then the bookshelves. This was a challenge for both of us, but finally it came together. My parents have a lot of books, so this shelf was the perfect place for them.

And that's it. There are still other rooms in the house we need to work on, but this was by far one of my favorites. I can't wait to go back and work on the formal living room. We have lots of ideas for that room...

Stay tuned! And happy decorating!

the fox moved on up...and so did our office

The Fox got a new job. A working from home job. And what do you need for a working from home job? A place to work!

Yep, project mode was officially on.

The room we chose for the home office was the catch-all room. It was where many of my decor items went to vacation. It's where I housed all my craft stuff. It was Mr. Poose's room...

The Fox accepted his new position around Christmas. So, after celebrating the holidays with family, we swiftly came back and began the transformation. First, a plan. I knew for sure it needed 4 distinct areas:

1. First and foremost it needed to be functional for The Fox. After all, we were doing all of this because of his job. 
2. It had to accommodate all of my craft junk goodness. I can't pitch it! How else would I create my Halloween costumes? That mask, collar and wings are all leaf/moss encrusted... What was I? Great question. I went with forest fairy...yeah, I know.
   
   
   
   
   
3. I needed a space for my computer. Otherwise, where would I blog and edit pictures??
4. And Poose had to stay. We didn't have any other room for him. 

After some serious planning (and rummaging through random pieces of wood that my parents gave us when they moved this summer), we were able to easily design a layout that would work great for all 3 of us! Hooray! 

The kicker was storage. The room doesn't have a closet. Which is good and bad. Good because otherwise it would eat into the square footage of an already tiny room (9 x 9.5). Bad because it left us with zero storage. My immediate thought was bookshelves. I had the industrial look in my head. Like this:

(Source: Here)

But after pricing out piping and opting out of large, anchoring holes in my plaster walls, we went for option B - tabletop, freestanding, copper shelves. Surprisingly, the copper was cheaper - weird. 

It took us a good week to measure, cut, glue and paint all the pieces and parts, but in the end it turned out pretty good. I give you the mostly final office/craft room/cat lair. Can you guess who sits where???

Disregard the left side...we're still in working mode there. We've got to figure out what works and what doesn't for The Fox. So, let's focus on my side :).

Mr. Poose isn't quite ready to showcase his side either, so stay tuned for his post. 

The wall color is Eagle Rock by Benjamin Moore, but I had it created at Sherwin Williams since they were having a sale. Everything is something we had in the house or had gotten when my parents moved. In fact, the only thing we purchased for this project was the copper piping. It was a little costly, but it didn't break the bank. 

The things left on the wish list for this room are:

• More lighting - the limited table space makes having lamps difficult. I'd like to do either pendant or wall hung lighting.
• Better chairs - the chairs are some we had, but I'd like to spend a little money on more comfortable ones. 
• More organization - My stuff is mostly organized, but it's not perfect. There is a hidden bookshelf behind the door, but I just need to get my ducks in a row before showing that one :). 
• Get The Fox's side in order. It's killing me!

But other than that, that's it! The new home office. I'd like to say it's 1/2 The Fox's side and 1/2 my side, but let's be honest...It's probably more 1/3rd his and 2/3rds mine :). 

Happy decorating (and working), all! xoxox