A Tale of Three Home Offices, Part 3: How I Added Personality & Style to a Spare-Bedroom-Turned-Office
My third home office story was featured in Better Homes & Gardens magazine almost 10 years later, in early 2017. This office really taught me how to add personal style to a home office space, and I’m going to share ideas and takeaways with you in this post.
But first, a bit of back-story. 2014 was a banner year for me. I decided to downsize from my lovely, but high-maintenance, 130-year-old home in upstate NY. And not just downsize, but move across the country to a larger city. Enter Dallas, Texas, where I would be scouting locations and producing stories for national design magazines. I downsized to a two-bedroom, 2-1/2 bath, two-story condo in a desirable location. Deciding which of the two bedrooms would be my home office was a no-brainer. I chose the bedroom flooded with natural light and a pretty view of mature evergreen trees – even though I had to look past the brown carpeting, plain ceiling fan and beige wall color.
Here’s what my home office #3 looked like in the “before” real estate listing photo:
I loved the windows and the size of the room – but not much else. Before I added furniture and styled the space, the old carpeting was ripped out and replaced with French oak laminate flooring, and the room was given a fresh coat of warm white paint, to give me a fresh blank slate.
And here’s the third home office story as it appeared in the magazine (click on the images below to read the article):
“Woman At Work”, Better Homes & Gardens, March 2017; Photographer: Brian McWeeney
THEN & NOW:
Since this office was photographed in 2016 (5 years ago), there aren’t any truly dated elements in this space. That’s a good thing. And, with the advent of modern technology (smart phones, air printers, the Cloud storage, etc.), this office didn’t need as many furniture and storage elements.
Below I’ve outlined some key ideas from my Dallas condo home office.
The first idea was re-purposing the dining room table from my previous home into my new desk. Check out the image below from a photo shoot I produced, with the “desk” in its original dining room space in my former home. (Who says you can’t give furniture a new life?)
IDEAS FROM MY THIRD HOME OFFICE:
WHAT’S A DESK? I converted the dining table above into a show-stopping desk. This was my design solution when I decided not to pay to move my (inexpensive) converted-door desk (or my painted file cabinets, for that matter). I found the dining table for $75 at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore and stripped the dark finish to uncover the original light oak. It was one of my favorite pieces. There are many attractive dining tables out there that would make great-looking desks. I’ve linked to a couple of options in the shopping gallery below.
BOOKSHELVES: The bookshelves are back – this time in the form of two white modular bookshelves to house my ever-growing collection of design and art books. The top was used as a rotating gallery space for framed art and photography, plus a curated collection of vases and sculptural pieces. I’ve also included options for those below.
GORGEOUS LIGHTING: I replaced the dated ceiling fan/light fixture with a beautiful, take-center-stage pendant lantern, and centered my desk under it. Remember, though, if you choose to position your desk elsewhere, be mindful of how low your light fixture hangs (and your height). You don’t want a head-banging situation! I also chose a glamorous, decidedly un-office-y desk lamp – a brushed gold ring lamp.
FRAME YOUR VIEW WITH WINDOW TREATMENTS: I fell in love with this beautiful soft floral fabric from Ballard Designs and the curtain panels were definitely a splurge. But I only needed two panels, plus the hardware and rings. They definitely are more “room-like” and don’t scream WORK SPACE.
ANIMAL PRINTS: A little leopard print goes a long way (you do know that leopard is now considered a neutral, right?). I love the pillow on my desk chair. I’ve linked a similar style in the shopping gallery below.
ELEMENTS OF NATURE: Branches (real or good-looking artificial), flowers (real or faux), and natural wood bowls all add texture and personality to a home office.
STORAGE STILL MATTERS: In the image below, I incorporated bins and baskets to corral photos, project folders, sketchbooks, notebooks, office supplies and the like.
OUT-OF-THE-WAY STORAGE: Not shown is a small (but deep) closet that housed my printer (air printing was a game-changer in technology!), less-attractive bulky items, and a pair of small file cabinets.
UTILITARIAN + PRETTY: A beautiful gold tray harnesses small items on the desktop. And don’t forget that file folders can be pretty, too (I’ve linked to a couple of options in the gallery below. I also included a few attractive desk accessories).
FRESH FLOWERS make a room happy. And you want to be happy at work. It costs me less than $10 a week to have fresh flowers on my desk. But you can always substitute good-looking silk flowers.
A POP OF COLOR: I added small doses of color (a soft, buttery yellow) in curtains, subtly striped rug and flowers. The yellow adds a pretty, feminine element to a work space.
ART is the ultimate reflection of your personal style. I love to lean art so I can change it out based on recent finds and seasonality. The images below are vignettes from the photo shoot showcasing some of my favorite art and accessories.
I’ve created a shopping gallery below to re-create the elements of my third home office:
SHOP THE LOOK – CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW FOR PRODUCT LINKS
THE TAKE-AWAY FROM MY THIRD HOME OFFICE STORY:
A spare-bedroom-turned-home-office doesn’t need office-specific pieces to be functional (and stylish, too). Invest in some pretty lighting, window treatments and accessories that reflect your personality. And while we’re still doing Zoom calls, you might as well have a nice backdrop!
