Transforming the Office

This is a photo I took of the office in our new house during our closing inspection.  While I realize this style can definitely suite some people, it just isn't my cup of tea.  And since this room was my absolute favorite part of the whole house, I needed to see the potential for it to become the light, airy, modern office I was hoping for.

So what we did first was make a list and we also made this room a priority.  First off, it needed new carpet.  Secondly, new paint (this red was just a bit too dark for us).  Other things on the wish list: paint wood trim and book shelves white to match the trim, paint french doors white, clean out the fireplace, get a good desk and cool lamps/lighting, etc. etc.  What you might not notice on the list is "start with an accent chair".  But isn't it always the best when you find one small thing that inspires you for an entire room?  Well, that's exactly what happened.  On a Sunday afternoon, Caroline and I were running errands and stopped in to HomeGoods.  That's when we saw The Chair.

We squealed all the way from the check out counter, out the door and to the car!  All of the HomeGoods associates celebrated our purchase with us and we had several compliments on the chair as we headed to the car smiling from ear to ear!  But there it was.  The color scheme, the mood...the new focal point and inspiration!  I will say that the downfall of the day was returning home with what we thought was an amazing treasure to this audience:

Tough crowd when you're bringing home a bright colored, floral print chair.  But oh well!  We didn't let them bring us down!  Various projects ensued for the next 2 weeks...

Priming this dark red took a LONG time and 2 coats.  We just had wine, listened to Motown and made it our Friday night!

Next, we painted the office green!  I hope you like it! 

Next, I worked on painting the fireplace trim, mantle and all of the built in bookshelves white.  This was a week long process starting with the tedious task of sanding, wiping everything down, taping, priming and then painting.  I'm sorry I don't have any progress photos of the trim but the next step was to paint a fun backsplash color in each shelf (something that would tie in the chair colors).  Remember me having to say goodbye to our purple walls in our apartment?  Well, it wasn't goodbye forever!!  YAY!


And here's the final product!  I'll post some more pictures of the rest of the room once we get a desk in here and light fixtures hung, etc!

And this is me with my beloved French doors!  Dan had a week off of work after the busy season so I will take this time to recognize all of the amazing things he accomplished!  Painting these doors from brown to white was a tedious, week long process!  But Dan did it all!  (not to mention: painting the guest room, painting the stair well, getting a new bed frame, mowing the lawn, putting together a ton of furniture, putting together our new grill, etc. etc!)  So hoots to Dan and the white french doors!

And it all started with a little chair....

:)