Home Office Makeover Week One – ORC

We recently moved to our dream home – a 1989 diamond-in-the-rough that hasn’t been touched, other than to add a wallpaper border or two, since it was first built and the place is ABSOLUTELY BRIMMING with possibilities -> I mean, just LOOK at it!

 

While my head is swimming with ideas for every square inch of this home, the kids and our incredible clients are keeping us BU-SY!

 

The Problem: I need a space to work out of that feels calming, keeps me focused, and reflects the values of my business so that I can design beautiful spaces within a beautiful space of my own.

 

The Solution: Enter One Room Challenge (ORC) – a bi-annual online event that challenges participants to complete a full top-to-bottom room renovation in just 8 weeks (and actually document it!)!

What better opportunity for me to:

1. start a blog completely out of thin air (wipes sweat from forehead)

2. share my design process from start to finish AND

3.  give myself the beautiful gift of a fully finished space all in one foul swoop!

 

The Before:

Here is the office space in all its glory prior to our move in and the best visual representation of the space “as it was” considering I have no self control and immediately pulled the window valances down upon arrival and a majority of the border prior to any photos being snapped! (Hopefully this doesn’t become a trend throughout the project but I make no promises.)

 

The Vision:

I love the classic and timeless feel that comes with dark wood tones and cognac leather, but I also want to create a whimsical and feminine space that brings an element of charm and beauty.

In order to successfully complete my mission, I will be tackling the following key areas:

Flooring: 

My dream floor is a Versailles parquet (VERY beautiful and VERY out of my budget for the time being) so I am opting for simply eliminating the purple carpet and painting the subfloor in a checkerboard pattern that can easily be swapped out/gone over when we replace the rest of our flooring.

 

Paint and Trim Details:

Out with the old, and in with the marvelous! I am clearly into the soft blue tones and am going to completely soak the room in the stuff!

 

Existing Book Case:

The existing bookshelves provide a great jumping off point for me as they perfectly conceal my very large and obnoxious printer, and they create the feeling of a custom built in – with some extra work of course!

 

Lighting:

A single pot light in the center of the room?! Yeah, that’s just not going to cut it honey…

 

Drapery:

I’m hoping for a fun pattern to tie all of the elements together. The world is my oyster here!

 

Furnishings:

This will be a mix of owned items, found items and purchased items. Lord knows I need a new desk but I have a few items around here that just need a little TLC.

 

Decor and Finishes:

As a designer and home stager, this is truly where every little thing comes together for a final, hopefully incredible satisfying, reveal.

 

My plan is to do this whole thing on a budget, because, why not save where you can, but I plan to be fully transparent about the costs associated with the project (both DIY version and hiring it out) so you know what goes into a room this size.

And before starting, I am going to have to give a shout out to my mom Jean – painter and seamstress extraordinaire – without whom I can guarantee this challenge would not be possible.

 

So, if you’ve made it this far, welcome to my blog!  Let the fun begin!

Angela