Office Space

Happy Monday Chumps.  I promised you an update on our office remodel and here it is...

Yes....this is the "Before".  Did I trick ya, Chumps? Did I? 

We are baseball fans (Go Tigers!) but not enough to wrap my room in a border of it. (No offense previous owner of 125).

This was how we inherited the front room/office when we bought our house in 2006.  We were told it was originally a small bedroom in the 1950's but I couldn't find any pics of it from way back then. 

I couldn't even find pics of the way we lived with it in transition.  Some of you remember this room from my tag sales....it was cramped, dark and not very functional.

Right when we moved in, I painted the built in desk wall unit and faux beadboard black. I left the countertops and found a blue/gray wall color to compliment it, and that's the way it's stayed... up until a few months ago until Ken couldn't stand me shoving his music computer over every time I worked on my laptop.

We were constantly jockying for position at the one desk opening, pushing each other's mouse back and forth. (wait...that doesn't sound very appropriate, does it?) :)

Anyway...we figured there was some room for change!

Here's a couple more angles of 1980's love....

And one more reminder of the entire room:

And here it is now:

We took the wall unit completely out and repositioned the desk (with two openings...phew)! to the south side of the room. I had a picture from a magazine that Ken used to replicate the desk area.  I am planning to add seagrass wallpaper to a cork board for the backdrop of the desk area but haven't had a chance.

Our former neighbor and fellow woodworker, Doug gave us his leftover pallet boards from a basement project that he finished at his house recently. We had just enough to wrap the top half of the east wall with it.

We ripped out the beadboard veneer and added MDF (medium density fiberboard) trim to the lower half of the walls all the way around and painted everything Antique White.

It is soooo much brighter in here!!

Ken was also able to snake electrical behind the newly studded wall and we hung sconce lights on this side and the other side of this wall in the dining area (blog archive).

You can see the original paint color which I actually liked with the pallet wall but I knew I needed to lighten it if I wanted to add the graphite colored cabinets. Did I cringe painting over the original trim? Not so much.

Here's a better angle of the pallet wall. So much character....for free!!

I was describing the style of lighting I wanted in this room to Ken and he came back seconds later with these barn style sconce lights that I had purchased (new) two years ago from a garage sale. They were stored in our attic and I had forgotten they were even there! 

I would've liked them to be a bit larger, but I can always replace them down the road.  Again...you can't beat "free".

This is the northwest corner of the room.  Perfect spot for homework, reading or chillin. The wall color is called "Hush" by Benjamin Moore from the Aura (Affinity) fan deck. I 'borrowed' this slipcovered chair from my front sunporch until I can find a good deal for this room.

Chairs are from World Market.

I wanted something urban in here. I loved the metal finish and chose contemporary hardware for the cabinets as well.

The rug is also from World Market. Have a mentioned before that I really like that store?

The cabinet paint was from my buddy Randy's store. It's Annie Sloan's chalk paint called 'Graphite" with a dark stain over top.  I did however, find a close color on the Ben Moore classic fan deck also called Graphite that is a dead ringer for it and less expensive.

I must say...I always loved blogging to you Chumps before, but now...I love being in here even more.

And...one more thing:

 We moved my booth at Not So Shabby this weekend.

If you're not a facebook fan, please like our "Room For Change" page so I can keep you posted on the treasures in our booth. Here's a sneak peek.

We are located at the former Great Lakes Furniture Store on the northside of Holland. We are on the back side of that building where the Great Lakes Antique Mall used to be. Come by and check it out!