Sunday, June 19, 2011

The Office: Take Two.


Just a few small adjustments. I'm hardly ever 100% satisfied the first time a room is 'complete'. That stool was horribly uncomfortable to use, so I spraypainted my folding chair espresso brown and put an IKEA lambskin on it for some cushion. Eventually I will get a real office chair, but it is really difficult to find one that is comfortable, affordable, and aesthetically pleasing.

I exchanged the colored cups for white ones. I kind of miss the pop of color though. And I downloaded a new screensaver.


I really wasn't loving how the Expedit looked in conjunction with the desk and buffet, but I still needed the storage, so I put it in the closet and moved the filing cabinet out. It's more efficient this way also since I keep a lot of my office supplies in the top drawers - stationary, stapler, staples, pencil lead and pen refills, etc. And it coordinates pretty well with the Crate and Barrel desk even though it's from IKEA (Effektiv, in case you were wondering).

I had to replace my curtains since the kitten decided to mess with them and being a very thin cotton, they just looked trashed. I used the curtains from the dining room that had shrunk a couple inches after I washed them (yes, I washed them before hemming, but they shrunk again). I also installed a proper curtain rod and holdback hook.

  
You can see the closet is still pastel blue from the previous owner. Her daughter's growth chart is drawn on the wall too, in permanent marker, but you can't see it in this photo.


The buffet is still the same.


Since the bookcase is in the closet, I moved my reference textbooks to the printer table and put the sewing machine, which is rarely used, in the closet as well.


Overall I'm much happier with it now, both aesthetically and functionally. We've also been building more shelving for the laundry room, so I'll get that posted after I finish the touch up paint and get everything organized.

P.S. I was featured as a Workspace of the Week on Unclutter.com! I was pleasantly surprised to find out, and it was amusing to read the entry as I had only added the photo of the desk and floating shelves to the Flickr group, and Erin was trying to figure out what was going on as far as a filing system (digital or analog). Then there's the comments, with almost everyone assuming EVERYTHING came from IKEA. I was really contemplating buying a cheap office chair there, but I decided against it. I love IKEA but I certainly don't want to look like I live in an IKEA showroom.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Office.


The office has actually been organized for awhile, but I was waiting to take photos until we built the printer table, which was the last thing. Well, actually, I still need a proper chair too. That stool isn't exactly comfy. I have a couple folding chairs that I've been considering painting and upholstering, like this.


The shelves are the IKEA Lack ones we originally had in the dining room for the cat shelves. We still need to replace those with stud-mounted shelving for her.


To keep the desk uncluttered I bought the bar with the hanging cups at IKEA to hold all my pens and scissors and such. It looks nice, I just wish they had other colors available. I'd like to get a plant to put in the white ceramic cup. Maybe a tillandsia.


I based the printer table off this design, but with my own dimensions. It turned out well and was basically free. My husband had some MDF boards he got for free at work, and we already had paint, wood glue and nails. The only thing we bought was some wood filler to cover the nail holes. I'm thinking of doing another smaller one as a nightstand in the guest bedroom.


We originally had the Expedit bookcase in our master bedroom, but I needed more clothing storage in there and more book storage in the office so we moved the bookcase in here and the little dresser that matches the vanity from the guest bedroom to the master. I'm not totally loving the bookcase in here, but it's functional. Maybe it will grow on me.


And of course there's the buffet that matches our dining set which I'm using as a bookcase. It's gorgeous and massive and this was the only place we could fit it. I can't imagine trying to move it again. I've thought about adding some sort of patterned wallpaper or fabric to the back of it to add some contrast.

Oh, and that's my collection of Breyer horses on top of the buffet. I had them on the top shelf of our linen closet in the master bathroom but my husband thought it was very creepy to have them all "looking at him" when he would get a towel. He still thinks they are creepy in here, and keeps suggesting I put them in the attic. I told him to suck it. The cat likes to jump from the bookcase to the top of the buffet, so I'll have to secure them with museum putty.

And here's the before when it was the previous owner's preteen daughter's room: