Friday, February 01, 2013

My Office

This room has been a work-in-progress for almost a year, I think. It was #1 on my list of house goals for last year. And throughout 2012, things were done to the room to make it what it is today:

1. In March 2012, I showed you the "clean slate" before photos and some of my plans for the room. 
2. One major step was made in May 2012 (desk installation.) 
3. I bought a sofa at a 4th of July sale last year, but didn't post anything about it.
4. The closet was turned inside out and got permanent shelving in August 2012.

And between August and now, the room has been finalized...all the little details to make it complete. And I love it so much. It's light and fun and a little feminine. I didn't get to decorate a girly nursery, so it was fun for me to go a little more feminine than I would in some of our shared spaces. So, finally... here it is (sources listed at the end of the post):

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I adore that sofa. Originally, I had planned to use that white table with two dining-type chairs...and a sofa had not even entered my imagination for this room. But then I spotted this one online. On sale. And it was meant to be.

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It's a pretty wide-open room, which works great. 1) It makes the room feel "light" to me and not cluttered. 2) Plenty of room for shooting, which was intended. The left door is the entrance to the room. The right door is the closet.

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I love how this chest adds color, character, and storage. I love storage. Especially if it's cute.

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That blank wall is not blank because I couldn't come up with wall art for it. It's my "shooting" wall. And the wall behind the desk is painted a subtle accent color. It's kind of hard to see, but it's a light green-blue color.

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My desk may be my favorite thing in the room because I use it so much and because it's just so functional. I love the knobs on the cabinets (octagonal glass), and I love my desk chair. The pattern, the colors, and the tufting were what sold me on it. It's just a bonus that it's also comfortable. Ideally, I wouldn't have two huge black things on my desk (monitor and printer), but practicality wins out here.

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I made this chalkboard print of a favorite C.S. Lewis quote and the black ended up (kind of) tying in the black electronics. I painted that letter "R" a fun shade of apple green. I really love having this vignette right on my desk for me to see while I'm working. The camera, the quote, and the colorful, shapely letter all work for me.

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This window looks out over our front yard. In the spring and summer (and most of fall), the leaves on the two Bradford Pear trees directly outside the window are so pretty. And I get an up-close look at the gorgeous white, fluffy blooms in early spring.

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I decided to keep the white table even though I'm not using it with two chairs like I had thought I would. I decided that I needed another surface for projects besides my desk so I didn't want to swap this surface for a smaller, lower end table or something like that. And by keeping it, not only do I gain that additional work surface, but I can always pull up the blue chair and the desk chair and use it as a meeting table if I want/need to. Both chairs are just the right height for it.

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Here's a closer look at those photos on the wall...my boys, both at one year old. I love these photos of them. They will never get old to me.

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The yellow tray was another spray-painting project. The vintage camera is one of four that I collected and displayed in this room. The (real) succulent is so pretty...too bad I'm slowly killing it, I think. How is it even possible for me to kill a succulent? My black thumb has a powerful effect. 

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Pillows! I fell in love with the yellow rose ruffled one when I just happened to spot it on Etsy (source below). And the patterned fabric one is just my absolute favorite.  These pillows add a little bit of color to the room without being cumbersome...I purposely didn't get a million pillows. Although, I could have easily gone there because they're just so fun.

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More vintage cameras, another printed quote I made, and a vintage milk glass dish that perfectly holds my business cards.

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And there you have it! I have tried to list everything in the room below in case someone is wondering where something came from:

Wall Color: White Dove (Benjamin Moore)
Cabinet Hardware: Traditional Clear Glass Knob from Restoration Hardware
Desk Accent Wall Color: Sea Salt (Sherwin Williams)
Desk Chair: Tufted Back Dining Chair in Clarice Dove Fabric from Home Decorator's Collection
Letter "R": Craftcuts.com
Quote Frames: Ikea Ribba Frames in White
Drapes: Clover from Pottery Barn Teen
Blue Chair: Slipper Chair in Velvet Pool from Home Decorator's Collection (no longer available)
Patterned Lumbar Pillow: Chic Decor Pillows on Etsy
Round White Table: Louisa Table by Home Decorator's Collection (no longer available)
Silver Wall Frames: Target
Blue Square Pillow: Ikea Fjadrar Pillow Insert and Sanela Cover in light turquoise
Yellow Rectangle Ruffled Pillow:  Love of Family and Home on Etsy
Sofa: Chloe Velvet Loveseat in Ivory from Macy's
Blanket Basket: HomeGoods
Blue/Green Chest of Drawers: Left Bank File Cabinet from Home Decorator's Collection (no longer available)
Milk Glass Dish: Shady May on Etsy
Gallery Wall Canvases: 10x10 and 12x18 sizes from CG Canvas Prints

7 comments:

Unknown said...

wow it's so beautiful! how great to have a lovely space for work. i guess you can become an interior designer if the photo business get old...you're a natural!

Unknown said...

You need to come decorate my home!

Emily Cade said...

Oh, gorgeous! I'm totally jealous! I love the color scheme and I'm obsessed with that couch!!!

Colleen said...

I agree - it's beautifully decorated!! very well-thought out. I love it.

Christina said...

Rachel, it's absolutely beautiful! I adore the pops of color and clean look.

Rabelers said...

This looks amazing, Rachel! Great job!!

Blair said...

After all these years we still think alike. Gray and blue are the colors I chose for my living room (with pops of yellow of course), and I've started collecting vintage cameras (I think I have 3 now). And I still remember long scrapbooking sessions with that paper cutter. So you pretty much just designed my perfect office. When I re-do mine I'll be referencing this post!