New Home Office

I've spent the last several months updating our home office.  It has been a really fun chore because I got to work with my husband on this one and get his thoughts and ideas.  Stephen works out of our home office every day.  He spends 10-12 hours a day in this room so I wanted it to be a comfortable and relaxing place for him as well as for me and the kids.  Up until this point, the kid's and Stephen's computers and a sleeper love seat took up the space.  There was no room for me or my laptop.  My office space had been reduced to the corner of our breakfast bar in the kitchen.  With the inability to escape the constant sounds of children and life itself and trying to work amongst the chaos, I became very frustrated.  I decided we needed a better solution.  I disliked very much not having a place to file and store my own paperwork that was piling up on the breakfast bar.  And any time the kids wanted to eat at the bar there was always that risk that my laptop and/or paperwork would fall victim to the inevitable spills and food fights that children participate in, not to mention the sticky fingers of those who would find themselves playing on my computer instead of their own!  :/  Well, we did find a solution!!  And it's one the whole family loves!  There's no more fighting for space!  Everyone and everything has a place.  I actually have my very own laptop storage drawer and file cabinet!  The real excitement though, is that it turned out just as beautiful as it is functional!


Here's how the room looked before the makeover.  Drab and uninspiring, this was the only space in our house that I hadn't touched with my paintbrush.  Wall to wall furniture, while having a certain function, made me feel claustrophobic, unorganized and unclean.  There was no rhythm or flow in this room and the color just didn't speak to me.

We wanted our new office to reflect both of our tastes.  So it couldn't be too masculine or too feminine.  Believe it or not, it wasn't difficult to settle on a direction that both parties were overjoyed with.  There are several things that Stephen and I share an affinity for.  One is the color purple.  SHOCKER?!?!  It may not surprise you that I love purple, but to some it may seem odd that a man would enjoy purple.  Let me give you some background.  Stephen was born in February.  His birthstone is amethyst.  His high school Permian Graduate ring proudly carries a large amethyst stone.  

Some history on the color purple from wikipedia:

The actual color of Tyrian purple, the original color purple from which the name purple is derived, is the color of a dye extracted from a mollusc found on the shores of the city of Tyre in ancient Phoenicia (present day Lebanon) that in classical antiquity became a symbol of royalty because only the very wealthy could afford it. Therefore, Tyrian purple was also called imperial purple.

In medieval Europe, blue dyes were rare and expensive,^[16] so only the most wealthy or the aristocracy could afford to wear them. (The working class wore mainly green and brown.) Because of this (and also because Tyrian purple had gone out of use in western Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476), Europeans' idea of purple shifted towards this more bluish purple known as royal purple because of its similarity to the royal blue worn by the aristocracy. This was the shade of purple worn by kings in medieval Europe.

You're probably catching on to the reasons why we love purple.  In short, purple is a color that represents royalty and wealth-two things that Stephen, and myself included, are very fond of, which leads me to our next shared affinity-Royalty and Europe.


Stephen and I have a had the pleasure of traveling to London and Paris twice.  Since our travels we have been completely smitten with European royalty and it's history.  We watch every historical documentary, movie, news clips, etc. that we can find.  I've read several pieces of literature and used the internet to inform myself of the fascinating european monarchies in which kings and queens held such powerful and influential positions.  In a lot of ways, to the commoner, the king was a god.  I find that extremely interesting!  Stephen and I wanted to dedicate our office to the memories of our excursions to Europe.  I especially wanted to incorporate a "parisian" influence with our already simple and clean personal style.


So that's where we started.  We wanted a clean, organized, and functional office space that would remind us of the things we felt, saw, heard and tasted in Europe.


Are you ready for the reveal?


























Wait for it........


















































wait for it........


































TADA!!!!!

We love this partners desk.  It holds all three of our computers!  Stephen's area is the side with the  black leather chair.  My area is the side with the white leather chair.  I share my area with the kids.  But there is plenty of room for everyone!  Here you can see the lovely shades of purple we chose for our walls and ceiling.

You can see my laptop drawer in action here!  When not in use, it tucks away nicely.

I love birds and owls.  I thought this pair were adorable and a nice pop of white to contrast against the black shelves.

The mirror here is the same mirror as in the before shot.  I painted it antique white.  I found the Eiffel tower at Ballard Designs.  It's a cute way to display announcements and photo greeting cards while lending a parisian spirit.

Oh how I love these curtains!  I had them custom made from Drapestyle.com.    It's hard to tell from this picture, but I had them made with inverted pleating.  My favorite pleat style!

We love the built-ins in our office.  I used a sort of periwinkle blue on them to mix up the color scheme a bit.  And the pièce de résistance is a photograph of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.  We had it blown up and sectioned.  The colors in this photograph work beautifully in our space, and Stephen admires it while he works.

So that's our home office makeover project in a nutshell!  I hope you feel inspired and motivated to tackle your dysfunctional and frustrating spaces.  Like I said earlier, this was a great project for my husband and I to do together.  Even if it's not your flair, it's considered a success for us!  We both love it!  Please, leave a comment or ask questions!  Thanks so much for stopping by!