Home Office Reveal

One of the biggest home projects we tackled last year was our home office. Not only did it give me a landing pad to work out of as I launched The Designery but because of the location of this room in our home it made our entire first floor feel instantly more complete.

As a reminder this room was the original dining room. Our house was built in the 1920’s and underwent an addition back in 2007. When we first met this house back in 2015 the front room we currently use as our foyer and dining room was a formal living room and the room just beyond, that we use as our home office was the dining room. We had no use for a formal living room so we switched things up and decided years ago, on my sister’s recommendation, that we would eventually make the little dining room an office. BUT, before it was an office it was a catch-all. Boxes, furniture, you name it, it was stashed in this room. Problem was, this room is super visible on the first floor, so while it’s understandable it takes time to get settled into a home, having THIS space be the catch-all was pretty unfortunate because there was no hiding it. Interestingly, we knew the only way to get the ball rolling on the office was to tackle other spaces, primarily Croix’s Bath and the Guest Bath. Cabinetry for both spaces was being stored in this room along with boxes, etc…so as these spaces took shape the office room was slowly but surely cleaned out. Leaving us with this blank space:

One of the first things we did in this room was add french doors. I knew I would need privacy once I was working out of this space regularly, so we bought a pair of glass doors at Home Depot and the view went from this:

To this:

As for the design, Brent and I had worked that out years in advance. The plan was to have a desk in the center of the room that would be shared. One side was to be mine and the other his. Each side would have a bank of cabinetry on the end.

A separate cabinetry run was designed to sit along the back wall and would house the printer, a trash pullout and file storage.

Next, I customized the counter top for the desk. I knew I would really be working at this desk, drawing, writing, etc so I wanted a top that would hold up. As it turns out leather tops are expensive, so I got creative. I had the wood top border made with the cabinetry with a 3/4” recess. I then had a piece of 3/4” plywood covered in a black vinyl I got at the fabric store. Once the plywood was covered, the new vinyl top popped right in….

It looks so good, was WAY less expensive than the other leather counter top options I had explored AND it is holding up great. I work on it every day and it’s easy to wipe down and keep clean. I even had a little hole drilled in the middle for my cords to go down into.

Once the desk went in, the space was workable, just not totally finished. Over the next few months we incorporated a new light, wallpaper, curtains and a credenza, it was getting prettier with every layer; but my favorite little addition had to be the chairs I revamped from Facebook Market Place, but that is a story for another post. For now, just know that I have incorporated the necessities like a computer, but also loaded this room down with plants and treasures that inspire me daily. It’s a happy space and I’m so thankful to call it mine.

Photo via The Designery Photo Lab