Makeover: The Office Nook

For all of you work-at-homers, you understand what I'm talking about... the. need. for. pretty. Essentially, I feel like the hermit crab version of a human. I live, eat, work, and sleep in my little shell. And I want my shell to be pretty. Is that to much for a gal to ask? I think not! 

When I lived in Denver, I was never planning on working from home so I didn't have a designated office space. My office was my dining room table. Not bad, but a little JV. When I moved to Nashville I knew it was time for a grown-up office space that actually looked like... well, an office. When it comes to decorating, I tend to have these ideas of grandeur and can dream up a look in my mind that would put your Pinterest board to shame. But then Grim Reaper of creativity and all things pretty swings his axe and dashes my dreams: renter contracts. The words "command strips," "spackle," "neutral paint," and "no paint," make me throw up in my mouth a little. It's like living in a bandaid. Tan walls full of adhesive strips. I can't take it anymore! 

Enough with my diatribe. Onto the fun stuff! My house hunt in Nashville was short and sweet. The first friend I called connected me with my current roommate. She had one empty bedroom in her house and lo and behold, it had an office nook! With beadboard walls. And the kicker? She was ok if I painted! PFJ (Prize from Jesus)!!! I signed on the spot. Here's where I am currently shaking my money maker:

before

As you can see, the nook is framed off from the bedroom, which is nice because it naturally has it's own defined space and therefore, I don't feel like I'm sleeping at the foot of my desk. How depressing would that be? I'm pleased to say, workaholism is something I've never struggled with.

I started taping off the beadboard to paint stripes. FYI: I've done stripes before. It's doable but definitely requires some serious measuring, taping, etc, and can be super tedious. However, beadboard is like painting stripes for dummies because it's already perfectly lined out (literally) for you. If you've ever had an itch to paint stripes but are hesitant and happen to have beadboard as an option, start there! Stripes definitely take longer than just painting a wall a solid color, but the bonus is that you use half the paint.

after

source list

most all of this was done on a budget and you'll be surprised how affordable it really is! 

-paint: Farrow & Ball Skylight (don't want to splurge on FB? Just take the color number to 

Home Depot. They've got the color codes and will mix it with a cheaper paint formula. 

Costs a fraction of what the real deal would.)

-desk: Ballard Designs (no longer available). For a similar look (and actually, probably an ever better look!) try vintage stores. Circa Who in Palm Beach is always loaded with good bamboo furny. Ballard has a great bamboo desk chair for the similar look. Here's a new option but not so cheap. 

-chair: I originally saw this chair on PB Teen and it was $170 ish... a quick google search and wha da ya know? Overstock had the same one for $100 bucks. Done. Plus free shipping. Double done. (the price went up a tad but still a great deal.)

-rug: Ballard was also having a huge rug sale at the time of my move. The color was unintentional. I thought I was buying the tan sisal version but I ended up getting grey. But I liked it, so she stayed. 

-pendants: This was also a Pottery Barn find. They were $200 each so I looked around and found them on ebay for around $150 a piece. If you search "capiz pendant," you might be able to find a cheaper option too. The plugin option is great because it meant no hard wiring!

-lucite desk accessories: The Container Store. They're actually from the bathroom section but I liked them for my desk. 

-laptop butterfly decals: I almost died when I saw these on LuluDK's Instagram. Butterflies are my PFJs-- they're like little smiles that God gives me during my day. When I see one, they remind me that the little things in life aren't worth stressing over. You never see a stressed out butterfly. So I thought the best place for them to live was in the eye of the stress storm: le laptop. 

-le pen: if you don't know what I'm talking about, buy this now. If you do know, then you get it. The one "office supply" I can't live without is le pen. A) they write so smoothly. B) they come in every color of the rainbow. C) the tip is the perfect fineness v thickness ratio. D) I think they're laced with prosecco, gardenias, and sea salt dark chocolate because the happiness they bring me is insane. I found a ridiculous deal for an 18 pack on Amazon. Normally they're about $3 each at a stationery store.

-dog bed: fleur's dog bed was a happy accident. I actually had three pillows made for my bed but once I got them home, it looked better with two. Voila! "Free" dog bed. The fabric was super cheap-- $20 ish a yd-- by Magnolia. If you want details, let me know and I'll look. I added tassels to the corners for a little extra fun. Tassels always make things better. 

-art: I got these birds on a trip to China. They were actually hand-painted on linen and glued to cards. I bought them initially to write thank you notes. And you know how that goes. The notes never got written. So what would any resourceful procrastinator do? Find a way to turn them into a present pour moi! Hence, artwork. The pink mat and gold frame really make it pop.