HOME OFFICE MAKEOVER REVEAL – MY HOME REFRESH

At Chez Gallagher, we’re crossing off the projects on our home redesign one-by-one, although the progress is happening a bit more slowly than I had planned. So far, we’ve painted the majority of rooms according to our new color palette, used spray paint to give new life to old home decor items, finished the powder room , my daughter’s room, and the dining room. Most recently, we completed a home office makeover.

As promised in last week’s post that highlighted my newly painted desk and console, it’s time to pull the curtain back on another room reveal…woot woot!

Over the past decade, the room that currently serves as my home office has undergone quite a few significant design changes. This is what it looked like for the first few years when it served as the playroom when my kiddos were tiny:

After we finished the basement and relocated the playroom there, I finally began to shape and mold the room into my very own home office (previously, I had to share with my husband in the adjacent room). It started with an Ikea Billy bookcase, and the purchase of a beautiful desk/chair/console set.

Since the day we moved in, I had always envisioned floor-to-ceiling built-ins along the back wall of this room. Don’t you think that wall was just made for them? So I hired a local trim carpenter to execute my vision for the bookcase, and added beautiful chunky crown moulding around the ceiling perimeter.

Awesomesauce, right?

{here’s what home office makeover 2.0 looked like}

 

It certainly was a huge improvement over the Romper-Room version that we started out with, and I loved it. For the most part. But as my taste in decor has evolved over the past few years, I started to feel that the room was just a bit too formal and stuffy {and a bit too beige}.

When it was time to repaint the house, I knew that I needed to bring a dramatic pop of color into the room. Taking a cue from one of my fave designers, Kristie Barnett (better known as The Decorologist), the decision was made to place the “drama” on the bookshelf wall in the form of Sherwin Williams Riverway. The main walls were painted in Benjamin Moore’s Sweet Spring, which is now the primary color that runs through the majority of the common areas.

The paint color switch-up was a huge improvement, but there were still a few tweaks that needed to happen, in order to complete this room. First and foremost, the pale yellow color of the desk and file console looked all wrong against the new wall color. I also thought it would be great to incorporate some additional blue into the room somewhere, in order to make it feel a bit more cohesive. And then there was the matter of needing some additional closed storage in the room.

Ready to take a peek?

Although it remains the most formal space in our home, the vibe is definitely more contemporary.

I solved the storage issue by incorporating another file console, which I use to store files and office supplies.

My carpenter is da bomb; these bookshelves have always drawn quite a bit of oohs and aahs from visitors. But with the addition of the dramatic blue backdrop, the bookcase wall is definitely a show-stopper.

I went nuts over the new lampshades, which look amazing against the neutral walls and the newly painted console/desk {you can read all about my Annie Sloan Chalk paint furniture makeover here}.

Of course, the chair needed it’s own mini-makeover, complete with Annie Sloan chalk paint in Old White.

I also dusted off my electric staple gun and used it to quickly update the chair seat cushion as well in this pretty, linen-like fabric:

This chair is not the most comfortable, but it is oh so gorgeous. Eventually, I’ll end up with a more ergonomically correct chair, but for now, I’ll continue to bask in it’s loveliness.

 

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I’m hoping that you love the room as much as I do now! In case you’re wondering, I’ve included a source list for the key components of the room:

SOURCE LIST

• Wall paint – Benjamin Moore’s Sweet Spring, eggshell finish
• Bookshelf accent paint – Sherwin Williams Riverway, flat finish
• Juniper Rug – Ballard Designs
• Home Office File Cansole – Ballard Designs
• Martha Stewart Ingrid File Console – Home Decorators Collection
• Martha Stewart Ingrid Desk – Home Decorators Collection
• Martha Stewart Ingrid Chair – Home Decorators Collection 
• Lamps – TJ Maxx
• Threshold Trellis Print Lamp Shades – Target {no longer available, but here’s a similar item}
• Bigso office accessories (magazine files, letter trays and filing box) – Container Store
• Water hyacinth bins – Container Store

Soooooo, what do you think? What’s your favorite piece of the makeover? It’s hard for me to pick just one thing, but if I had to, it would be file console/desk/chair color change.

I do love those lamp shades though!

 

Check out our whole home redesign progress to date in the My Home Refresh Series: