Office Makeover Progress

The office makeover is going slowly, but it's still going. We've narrowed our paint choices down to three samples and are ready to slap some paint on the walls to see which we like best.  Painting has been the cog in the wheel.  Once we paint we can relocate shelves, remove the built-in desk from the wall and turn it into a stand alone desk with file cabinet legs, figure out the guest bed situation (i.e., air bed, sofa bed, or daybed with trundle), rearrange furniture, make and hang drapes, create a photo collage wall, and add the final touches.  So we still have a lot to do.  In the meantime I have been focusing on organizing the file cabinet and closet and stalking Craigslist for furniture finds (mainly wood file cabinets and daybeds).  The search for pre-loved furniture is proving to be more difficult than I thought (Sigh!), but the hunt continues.

I've also done some organizing of the soon-to-be-relocated shelves and finally framed some of my favorite pictures (the frames, which I bought at Aaron Brothers, are made from reclaimed pallets.  I plan on painting them white eventually) and arranged a shadowbox with some mementos from our honeymoon.  It is amazing the difference a bit of organizing and some sentimental decor can bring to a space.  It is starting to feel more and more like our special space, which is the goal.  I used to keep the door to this room closed because I hated seeing the chaos of clutter.  Now I keep the door open and every time I walk by I get warm fuzzies (sometimes I even do a little happy dance).  I can't wait to see the finished product! 

The Journey to a Functional Room

Design Concept for Office/Guest Room/Play Room Makeover

Our spare bedroom has never really functioned well for us.  Mainly because we've never owned the space and made it work for our needs.  We have just tried to make the previous owners' design of the room work for us, and it hasn't. So....it's time for an office makeover.  I sat and brainstormed all of the uses I wanted out of our spare bedroom (i.e., office, guest room, play room, craft room) then went to work planning a layout that would make all those uses  happen as cheaply, but elegantly, as possible (see above).  This "planning" part of the process has taken the better part of two months.  Let's just say that the planning part of anything, be it a vacation or a birthday party, is by far one of my favorite parts of any process and I tend to milk it for all it's worth.

With the office/guest room/ play room/ craft room design plan in hand, it is now time to roll up my sleeves and put my well conceived plan into action.  First step, clean and organize.  So, for the past two evenings I've been elbows deep in paper, trying to clean out 10 years worth of files.  I fluctuate between feeling of giddiness at how neat and organized things will be when I'm done and discouragement that getting to that neat and organized state seems to be taking FOREVER!  So last night as I sat amidst piles of paper, it struck me that the process for most makeovers (be it overhauling your house, your car, or your bad habits) seems to follow the same process.  And that process involves things getting worse before they get better.   But, if you own your project and follow it through, the end result is worth the messiness and you'll probably learn a bit from the process as well.  At least, I'm hoping that will be the case and that in a few months from now, we will be sitting in our neat, tidy, and functional guest room/office/ play room thankful that we decided to make it our own.