Home Office Decorating Ideas: My Latest Office Makeover

Welcome to the fourth time I've redone my home office.

Here's the thing: Having a new baby makes it almost impossible to get anything done. I've all but lost my ability to focus and my desire to be productive has left the building (because when Ava is asleep and I have a free minute, I usually just want to eat chips and watch RHOBH.)
You understand.

Our 1970's House Makeover Part 9: The Office Makeover

Hey ya'll! If you've been following along lately, you know I've been spending most of my free time* finishing the office. And I finally feel like it's decent enough to share. Kinda.
*Free time = that one weekend in August when I wasn't traveling to visit family/friends or traveling with Jesse for his work. For those of you who've been curious, Jesse is part of a media startup and the more it's grown, the more frequently he travels. And I go with him because it's just a great opportunity to spend time together, travel, read books (a passion I totally forget I have unless I'm stranded in a car), stay in a comfy hotel room, and eat multiple breakfasts at Cracker Barrel. 
Plus, I just kinda hate being home alone, which I fully blame on Macauley Culkin, circa 1990.

How To Spray Paint a File Cabinet (and the occasional ceramic duck)

I've been in love with chalk paint for awhile now, ever since using it on the insides of my kitchen cabinets. 

This week, I discovered another great chalkboard paint idea.

I painted my file cabinet with it.

Well, sorta. 

But, before we talk about the makeover, you should probably know how I got it.

I was outside the other day checking our mail and I spied  something silver sitting on the end of our neighbor's driveway. Of course, being enamored with all things silver/free, I crept down the street to check it out, and I found this little fella with a free sign on it. 

It was straight from the Seventies and it weighed about 100 pounds, so naturally I tried to lug it down the street by myself. 

I wiggled it about four feet and and it got stuck.

In the middle of the street, people.

So, I left it in the middle of the street and ran back home and made a sign that said 'The neighbor is taking this. SOLD.' or something to that effect. And then I nervously peeped out my window for the next 3 hours until Jesse came home and could help me move it. 

It was still in the street when he got home.

And that, friends, is just a totally normal story about how to procure a filing cabinet.

Am I right or am I right?

Anyways, here's what the file cabinet looked like when I first wiggled it home. It was really beaten up and dirty. However, it was a total score because I've been needing a file cabinet for awhile. It was definitely made backintheday when they made things well. 

It's super sturdy and burly, like the Paul Bunyan of file cabinets. 

Meet Paul.

So, I cleaned it off really well and then I removed the drawers. Then, I used two light coats of this (affiliate link) high quality black spray paint. I learned not to skimp on the spray paint quality after my last disaster.

While I was letting that dry, I painted the drawers with black chalkboard paint. 

This is what the drawers looked like after just one coat. I ended up doing two coats. In my experience, chalk paint adheres really well, so I didn't bother priming. You may want to...it's up to you. I also covered the hardware with some masking tape and used my silver leaf Rub n Buff (affiliate link) to make all the hardware look new and pretty.

When everything was finished and dry, I put it all back together and labeled the drawers with my favorite Bistro chalk pen (affiliate link). It writes like a pen, but looks like chalk, and it's awesome. 

I accessorized Paul with a cute silver tray and some fresh flowers.

Just what every Paul needs.

All in all, I'm loving Paul and finding him to be quite useful.

He fits right in with all of my other black painted thrifty furniture.

Oh, and Paul wasn't the only recent addition to the office.

I also found a wooden organizer at the thrift store that I spray painted white, and use for all my envelopes and paper.

I also found the coolest little duck ever. He's proven himself to be a really great pen/scissors holder.

Look out, Paul.

 If you come across fun ceramics at a thrift store, you can paint them with a high gloss white spray paint and they'll look just like the brand new ceramics you see all over the place right now!

Here is the duck before.

And the duck after.

I also spruced up the bookshelf with some fabric bins. 

Just to keep things organized. 

That bookshelf turns into a hoarder zone fast.

I also found a random red stapler at the thrift store.

And those are all of the updates for today! 

Paul says bye.

'Til next time!

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How To Make a Gallery Wall

Last week I finally revealed the before and afters of the office, and today I'm sharing how to easily make a gallery wall in any room. 

Gallery walls are one of my favorite ways to decorate a wall. Mostly because you don't have to own a bunch of expensive art. You can just go to a bunch of thrift stores, find random frames and old art, and them piece them all together. And then, you can personalize it by throwing in a few personal pictures or artwork you've created.

Gallery walls are meant to be eclectic, so you can really include anything you want.

That being said, the trick behind a really great gallery wall is making it pleasing to the eye. So, even though you have a bunch of mismatched frames and art, you can make it look good by either making it symmetrical, or making it asymmetrical, but still lined up on an axis. I wanted to make the office gallery wall asymmetrical, so I created a horizontal axis that I could line the pieces up around. 

So that I could remember where my horizontal axis was, I measured the distance from the wall to my line (well, Jesse did) and then put up a piece of tape.

I also laid out my frames/mirrors/maps/sailboats/pictures of fat cats on the floor, and played with moving them around a little until I found an arrangement I liked.

I'm sure for the perfectionists out there, a better solution might be to use a level, or perhaps map out every little frame on the wall with cutouts, etc. I prefer to just throw them on the floor and mash them around until it looks just perfect. 
When in doubt, mash about.

So, after a little trial and error, this beauty was born!

There are so many options for creating a spectacular gallery wall. You can change your axis to be vertical or move it to the top or bottom of the arrangement. 

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

For more info on the above ideas, please visit this post, where I share some real-life examples in our own house.

That's all for today, ya'll!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
I'll be back soon to share the guest bathroom makeover.
 It's my favorite thing ever.

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The $300 Office Makeover!

I'm so excited to finally get to share the office with you guys today! I've been working on it for weeks, trying to stretch my little budget as far as it would go. 


I had about $300 to work with on this room, so it took a little...um...effort. 


But, it's finally done! Finally.

So, let's get started with the before and afters!

Here's what the office looked like weeks after we moved in. It had dark outdated trim, peachy beige walls, and tons of mismatched furniture...basically a disaster.

Then after a few months, I started to work on it a little bit.

And after several evenings of nonstop painting, this little room finally came together and turned into a space that I love.
Here's what the office looks like today.

 One of my favorite parts of this room is the upholstered chair I found at Marshalls for just $90. It has a silver nailhead trim and french script detail on the back. I usually thrift chairs and reupholster them (see 8 examples of that here), but I just couldn't pass this one up. 

I think it pairs perfectly with the desk, too.
The desk was originally a kitchen table I found on Craigslist awhile back for just $50. I sanded it down to raw wood and painted the entire thing black. 
I painted it the exact same way I painted this, but with Behr 'black suede'.

The only other thing I purchased for this room was the ivory shag rug that I found online for less than $60. I love the way it pulls everything together and softens the space.
This rug has since sold out, but a similar one can be found here. (Affiliate link)



My other favorite part of the office is the gallery wall. I didn't have much of the budget left over after the desk, chair, and rug so I thrifted most of the frames and filled them with wedding photos, a picture of Cheese, some random maps, and a sketch of a sailboat that I scored at the thrift store. I also spray painted a couple of wooden mirrors silver.

I also added a few thrifted accessories to the desk.
But if we're being real...most of this is just simple styling for photo's sake. In real life, this desk is covered in tangled cords, Fritos, and the occasional overweight cat. 

I also added a black bookshelf in the corner for storing office supplies. 

And created a diy chalkboard out of an old thrift store mirror that I painted white.

I added a large mirror to the other wall (also a thrift store find, painted black).

As you may have noticed, I painted all of the trim, doors, and walls.That ultimately made the biggest difference in this entire room.
For paint colors and a tutorial on painting trim, go here.

 For the lighting fixture, I found a $20 brass chandelier on eBay, painted it white, and attached tons of crystals.

This chandelier cost me $30 total and looks almost identical to the one that cost me $100 in our guest bedroom.

You can see the full chandelier tutorial here.

And that's the new and improved office! 
Since I only spent $300, I'm pretty thrilled with the way it turned out. I'm sure it will go through many more changes as time goes on, but it's so nice to spend time in this room now.

And that's all for today, ya'll!
To see the rest of the house, you can visit the house tour here.
Thanks so much for stopping by.
I'm so glad you're here!

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