Monday, December 9, 2013

new office is a bit unexpected


I finally completed the new office makeover. 
Well, its not actually complete but probably as complete as it will get.
Is any room ever really complete?

Let's revisit the "before."  
It was dark; dark green walls with dark furniture.
My husband loves green and cycling 
and our alma mater, the University of North Texas.
I wanted bright, clean, vintage, industrial.
So, I needed to figure out how to get a 
bright, clean, vintage, industrial, green, cycling, UNT 
office on a shoestring budget.

ugh

 The "after"

Well, it's light, bright, clean but it didn't turn out as I planned.
There were a couple of unexpected turns that I think worked out
better than I could have planned.


We spent less than $400 to redo this office.
Many of the things in here were shopped from our own home.


We spent about $50 on this desk from Ikea. 
It's clean, white, I guess some type of melamine top
with simple legs.  It's a bit modern.  I'm not a modern decor kind of person
but I like the look of it in this otherwise not modern room.


It is a big workspace and very easy to clean.


I tried to incorporate little touches to please my husband.
He is a "Dr. Pepper"aholic.  
I found this old vintage Dr. Pepper bottle to hold 
whatever these things are I put in it.

Let me point out at this point that the floors are not dirty.
They are painted concrete and a little worn.
They chip a bit and wear in places and sort of look
like the floor you might see in an old industrial loft.
I'm saying I like that look for right now
because I'm just too lazy busy to repaint.


These chairs were free.  Yep free.
They are 1950s original iron butterfly chairs that belonged to my godparents.
They originally had late 1950's turquoisy-aqua covers and sat
on the back deck of my godparents' midcentury modern tri-level house
my godfather designed.  I remember how cool I thought it was 
to sit in these as a young child.

I spent about $100 on new duck cotton covers.


This lamp was free as well.
This work lamp was attached to my father's old jeweler's workbench.
I took it off and attached it to this little stool as a lamp for the office.
Its so cool and swivels and adjusts to almost any position.



I didn't plan to have vintage midcentury modern butterfly chairs
in the office but I like them. 
With the exception of appliances, cars and my iphone,  
I just don't like anything really that's modern but these work.
I may warm them up a bit with a neutral throw when I find the right one.



These reproduction french maps on linen paper are perfect for my husband.
As a cyclist, he is a huge fan of the Tour de France so these maps fit right in.



This bookcase was already in the office.  I just painted it and 
removed some of the shelves to make it more interesting.
I still have lots of blank shelf space to fill 
when I find just the right things to put there.



Besides neutral colors of cream, white and light brown, 
I decorated with mostly green items.


I ordered the organizer above and basket below online.
I think they were on sale for about $35 for both.
Inside the basket are several vintage green chalkboards.
I may hang those on the wall.  I'm not sure yet.


These cute little things are perfect card or note holders.


We also spent about $60 on the neutral shag rug from Ikea.
Shag? Yep, shag. Its really comfy.


The huge green windmill in the corner was reworked into a floor lamp.


This room isn't perfect yet.  
This corner drives me nuts.
I'm waiting for my husband to hide those TV cords.  
I'm sure he'll get around to it someday.


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