I like to think of this place as my headquarters. Maybe one day I’ll have a real headquarters complete with a Starbucks inside of it but for now, my Verismo and Keurig will have to do the job.
When we found out we were moving, I knew I needed a home office. I have WAY too much stuff and needed a space that I could escape to and work. We had originally picked out the room downstairs to be my office but after being here, I wasn’t a fan. It was dark, small, and felt too closed in. I love natural light, bright spaces, and open areas and that just wasn’t going to cut it for me.
But this room… this room had the most natural light and was on the main “living” floor of the house. Before our household goods from Georgia even arrived, I knew that’s where I wanted to put everything. I didn’t love the yellow walls but also didn’t want to paint them. So I had to deal. In a perfect world, they would have been white. White everything please!
But I made do with the space (and walls) I had. I envisioned a NYC studio apartment, Carrie Bradshaw’s to be exact, as my inspiration. I’ve always wanted to live in NYC so this was my chance to make it feel that way.
I already had my desk and chair from our old house, so next I just needed to purchase everything else for the room. Whenever I share photos of my desk I get so many compliments and questions on where it’s from. RIGHT NOW it’s only $89.99 and an extra 10% off! So if you’ve been wanting a new desk, get this one. It’s survived two moves and is amazing! My chair is from Marshall’s so I can’t link it but Target has some great ones too. Like, I might order this one right now…
I had to bring some cotton from Georgia (miss it so…) and then the rest of the little accessories I acquired from random stores.
My husband laughed at me when I told him I wanted a white futon in there because according to him, I don’t need a “waiting area.” But I like to think it makes it cozy and when I’m working and my friends are over, they can hangout on the futon. The coffee table was the last addition to the room because I wanted somewhere to put my magazines and books. There’s more storage under the futon where I keep the rest of my books to keep it from looking too junky.
I talked about these Ikea Kallax shelves on my DIY Closet Room post but look, so different, right? I filled them with little trinkets I already had and a course with a few things I picked up here and there. Some of my favorite places to buy these little treasures are Marshall’s, T.J Maxx, Target (Dollar Spot for the win), Hobby Lobby, Ankit and Michael’s. These shelves were supposed to be used to put all of my crap but I insisted that the aesthetic was more important.
PR Samples… it’s a love-hate relationship really. I love to try new things but then where and how the heck do I store them?! I had them in bins but then I never used them or remembered to try them so I decided to stack them and have my own little stockpile available. The kids have the same shelves on the other side and they’re filled with their art supplies so it doesn’t matter that this doesn’t look as ascetically pleasing as the other side of my office.
I knew I wanted a clothing rack for a few reasons. 1) Because I needed somewhere to hang outfits that I needed to shoot for the blog and 2) because I just think they’re cute. This one was super cheap at Ikea ($9.99) and the wooden hangers are from there too. My clothing rack was actually just featured on Wayfair so go check out the feature and get some more inspiration from other bloggers!
This mirror also came from Ikea (are we seeing a trend here?) and I loved it because it was white and matched my clothing rack. It also has space to hang extra clothing as well as jewelry and hats on the back. I picked up this side table at Marshall’s on clearance (ALWAYS CHECK THERE!) and had the flowers from the bathroom at the old house.
Don’t be afraid to do that! Take different things from different rooms and see if they fit. You may be able to save a lot of money and eliminate the need for extra crap
And there you have it! As we face another move in our near future (more coming on that later), I’m sad to say goodbye to this office. But I know that I will find space in the next house to make my own as well.
Do you have a home office? Let me see!
