I was trying to hunt through my photo archives for some good "before" pics of my office, but for some strange reason they're all small vignette images. Ok, not so strange- my office has never been fully photo-worthy so I just tried to show you pretty little snippets and hide the rest.
This one below from when I first switched out the light fixture is definitely the most true: yellow walls from the last owner, cheap roman shade from our last apartment, a delightfully photogenic elliptical in front of a store bought, dirty brown cat perch, in a window with decorative trim that doesn't match any of the other trim in the house, and an awkward outlet on the wall with several power strips plugged into it for the computer and TV on the wall on the right.
It's other charming features included coax cable running along the baseboard on 3 walls, baseboard which also did not match any other trim in the house, the hideous old carpet, no real desk space, just a cubby I used to sit in front of,
oh, and a yellow maple closet door that Bear is modeling here: (also note the baseboard and coax cable- sexy)
I am beyond pleased to say that most of the offenses have been remedied and the office is on it's way to being a gorgeous, functional office/den/work out room. There's still a ton to go decoration-wise, but the shell is set.
Daisy wanted to be a part of the progress shoot since Charlie (Bear) was in the befores...
No more orange wood closet door and trim and walls both got Ben Moore's Dune White (Satin on trim and matte on walls).
Once I get the decoration on the office/TV wall set, I'll put some simple artwork above settee. For the settee itself, I'll be making several new pillows with pops of color.
My $25 Brimfield chair will get reupholstered and get casters for usability and the TV is going to be getting a fancy shelf unit around it with sliding art to hide the big black box when not in use. I'm still working out those logistics. The window now has appropriate square trim that matches the rest of the house and will (at some point in the nearish future) don a new DIY roman shade.
The new desk was a craigslist find and needs a little love eventually, but there are other more pressing design matters in here. The new IKEA cubby doors will be getting painted gray and get matching handles to their drawer counterparts. As you can see, however, I already remedied the ugly brown cat perch with a custom built one (tutorial coming soon!) which the cats only chose to use a fraction of the time.
The overhead light needs to be replaced again too.
While I still like the IKEA light, the shade shines a yellowish glow on the new white walls.
As you can see my office has come a long way, but still has a way to go and several fun projects ahead! Now if only I could stop working and focus on finishing my office, I'd have a beautiful space to work! That might be a little counter-productive though.....