If you read my last blog post, I walked through how to plan and organize for an entire home project. The examples I used in the post were all geared towards a home office renovation because it’s my most recent and most favorite DIY home reno I’ve done to date!
Ever since the pandemic, the work force has completely pivoted. Remote jobs used to be a pipe dream and few and far between. But now, a large portion of the American workforce works from home. For me, it’s an incredible opportunity and an environment I thrive in. Between calls I can run a load of laundry, I can take calls with my dog discreetly on my lap, I can make my lunch right in my own kitchen when I’m hungry. Beyond that, I love that I don’t have to commute. I’m such a homebody and introvert, that being able to get an extra hour or so to be at home without working is such a game changer. However, working from home can get tough when you work from your bedroom (like I did for 4 years), you have kids or dogs running around in the background of calls, or if you struggle to separate work from life when your work is so physically close to your life. For these reasons, I have found what a game changer a dedicated office space can be.
We have moved 5 times over the past 5 years (we’re done, I swear haha) and lived in apartments as small as 600 sq ft. Even if it’s just a simple curtain to separate your bed from your desk, or moving a dog crate into the closet to make space in the living room, anyway you can create a dedicated and separated space is so key to setting a work-life balance foundation. All of this to say, if you’re fortunate enough to have a sectioned off area for your desk or even a whole room, you can totally revamp the space to meet your needs!
Now, if you’re just perusing this post and you’re not here because you really want some ideas for your own renovation, you may be asking “why? Why do I need to change my space?” The short answer is really that you don’t need to! I think there’s a lot of power in being content with yourself and your space just as they are. However, I also think that your environment has a huge impact on your mood! It’s why I have very specifically curated thrifted art hung in our home, it’s why I’m constantly looking for things to purge from my home and make it easier to take care of and to look at. So, when I was working in my own office, the walls were beige with a jungle themed accent wall from the previous owner. The style really wasn’t me, so we painted everything white and replaced the carpet with hardwood floors (another DIY we learned how to do, let me know if this is something you’d like to see a blog post about!). Now that the space was calmer and a much cleaner and palatable vibe, I felt an itch to make the space feel more like me! I was using an old hand-me-down monitor that shocked me every time I plugged it in (I love to save a buck haha). My desk was so small that I couldn’t fit my water bottle on it and my walking pad was the center of the room! I tried out a patterned rug and velvet curtains and I hated it, it was so chaotic and harsh. So I knew my space was bumming me out, a space that I spend 8 hours in everyday, and the space my clients see in the background of calls. And I knew I wanted to do something about it, so I got really serious about planning out the office of my dreams!
I scoured social media for hours and hours trying to find somebody’s office that was shaped just like mine (it’s really small with a slanted wall) with two desks (my husband also works from home full time). I couldn’t find a single thing so I came up with my own formula for project and reno planning. You can review the blog post where I deep dive into my process here, so I’m going to skip it in this post for now!
So once I knew what I wanted to do, what my timeline looked like and what I wanted to spend on it, I got right to work! I’m going to break the rest of this post down into what I did and how I did it: Paint, Trim, Furniture, Details.
Paint
I fell in love with several photos of home offices painted sage green. So I scoured hundreds of review photos to settle on Green Onyx by Sherwin Williams. I bought 3 gallons for my small office and used about two and a half. Pro tip – Sherwin Williams is always running sales! So if you don’t see a sale live while you’re shopping, try to hold on for a couple weeks before purchasing to save yourself some cash! I also purchased an 18 inch paint roller cover and large plastic tarp from Home Depot because we already own an 18 inch roller and tray. Pro-tip, the 18 inch roller is nice because it covers more space, but the accessories are more expensive and harder to come by, so do your research and make the best decision for your needs! I also already own several paintbrushes and painter’s tape – these are my favorite brushes from Amazon, they’re so soft and clean up nicely.
While I waited for the paint and supplies to come in, I taped off the floor along the quarter round and around the door and window frames. I also removed all of the outlet and switch plate covers. Once the paint came in, I spent two days “cutting.” Which is a term some painters use to distinguish the prep technique of hand painting the areas where precision is needed and/or where the roller won’t fit. This would look like within corners, along the baseboards, around windows and doors, etc. Those areas needed to be painted twice to get an even coat. Noting that because I chose a color drench theme, I painted the quarter round and baseboards along the bottom of the walls, but I also had to cut along the seam between the wall and ceiling and around the fan and vents.
Once I was done prepping the space, I covered the desks and rug and got to rolling the walls and ceiling! This is more physically intensive and less strategically difficult. At this point, I was seeing my vision come together and I was so so excited! Although I must admit I am a recovering “all the walls must be white” addict, so the green color drench was terrifying for me! But I trusted all of the other professionals whose photos I drew inspiration from!
Trim
As I discuss in my planning blog post, I chose a specific trim layout and trim design. So once the trim came in the mail (thank God for Home Depot’s free delivery), I got right to cutting! We had to buy a floor cutter when we installed our hardwood floors, so that’s what we used to cut the trim for this project. However, there are really simple tools you can use for these that do not require any power tools re: multi-angle miter sheers. Once all of the pieces were cut, we lined up the first piece on the wall, made sure it was level and nailed it into the wall. Couple notes here, I recommend getting a large level and/or a laser level for this. Also, we have an air compressor powered nail gun because it’s cheaper than the battery operated ones. However, the battery operated ones are totally worth the splurge in my opinion! Having to get the air compressor out for every nail gun related project is such a pain!
Once all of the trim was up, we caulked the seams and filled the nail holes and the corners in with spackling. This is a game changer and makes the project look so professional! After the caulk dried, we hand painted the boxes the same color as the walls. Some people like to leave their trim white, but the color drench style feels so much more elevated in my opinion. Again, this took two coats. I usually like to do one coat per day to make sure I’m not painting over wet paint and creating more work, but the trim dried very quickly so I slapped a second coat on just a few hours later and they look great. After this, the bulk of the work was mostly done – and wasn’t that so easy!?
Furniture
Something else I discuss in the planning blog post I linked is how to budget for projects. Trim is relatively cheap (a little over $1 per foot) and I got the paint on a great discount ($100 total). However, like I mentioned earlier, my desk was too small, my chair was hard and rigid and my monitor would shock me haha. So in order to upgrade these pieces to create the office of my dreams, I needed to get serious and budget. Once I had my vision, I found the cheapest alternatives that looked great and had great reviews on Amazon. I picked out a beautiful and wide standing desk, the most cost effective ultra-wide monitor I could find (turns out, I love it!), a chair with a footrest because I’m a criss-cross applesauce girl and different accessories. I prioritized what I purchased based on the need (I use Notion for this, let me know if you’d like a walkthrough or if you’d like a desk tour!).
So naturally, I bought the desk first and sold my old desk on Facebook Marketplace (let me know if you’d like to see a post with tips on navigating and selling on FBM!). Once I had the desk, I really wanted that new monitor and so that’s where I went next (a few weeks later). And then from there, I got my chair and was able to narrow down my list of desk decor “needs.” I thought there were so many things I “needed” based on the cute desk setups I had seen on Pinterest. But as I slowly settled into my new setup, I realized I didn’t need that desk riser or mood lights, it was only going to create clutter for something I didn’t need and ultimately waste money. I am a huge proponent of creating an impulse list and slowly buying as you have the funds if the desire still exists (let me know if you’d like a walkthrough on how I manage my impulse list!). And where some small desires came up, I waited till I found it on a thrift trip or on an estate sale tour. As a result, my desk is adorned with a vintage brass frame, the cutest little lamp with a shade that was hand-welded by the previous owner (gorgeous mother of pearly panels with gold welding), and a beautiful brass floral vase with my fake flowers because plants die with me haha.
Something else I want to note is that I had a big plan for a new rug, new fake plants, new art, etc. But I realized that if I stood in my office as it was at this point and envisioned it was a post on Pinterest, I would be in love! So I decided to tactfully layout the art, put the plants in new thrifted pots and keep my rug – it’s all about balance, baby!
Details
As I mention in my planning blog post, there will often be new ideas that come out of any project. Always expect your simple idea to snowball into surrounding areas – but that’s part of the fun! So as the office has come together at this point, I noticed the outlet covers really stuck out. I could keep them as is, it’s really not a big deal, but it would be an easy thing to change. So I decided to paint the outlet covers the small color as the walls. I also sealed them with a matte sealant to protect from scratches when plugging things in. And I replaced the switch plate with a brass version I found at Home Depot and I love the style!
Finally, I also decided I could make the office closet look awesome and upgrade it from the dinged up, one shelf, catch all that it had become. I basically restarted the process by finding inspiration, buying materials and implementing! I put up shelf supports (my first time, but actually so so easy) and then cut shelves down to fit in the closet. I used the floor saw for this and ordered shelf wood from Home Depot (who knew this existed!). Then based on the inspiration photo, I painted the side walls the same Green Onyx from SW and covered the back wall with a gorgeous marble contact paper. I hung a curtain rod below the hip-level shelf and installed cafe curtains to hide everything I was storing underneath (re: D&D books, important paperwork and our printer). Then I went to town decorating using all thrifted items! Let me know if you’d like to a step-by-step guide on how I did all of this!
And now I have been living in my new setup and loving my new office for a couple months! Although I love to implement a new project quickly and get that dopamine hit faster, there really is something to be said about taking things methodically and slowly and learning to be content with what you currently have to shift your mindset much faster and much cheaper!