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.

cottage mail

My cousin, Gale, has added a little something to her Austin cottage.  It's clever and so cute.

Gale took some photos of her new addition, had them printed and then sent them

to me by mail; you know, post office mail...hard copies.

I still love getting mail in my physical mailbox in the front of my house

but it makes it kind of hard to share the pictures with you.

I have to scan them into the computer and it's almost impossible to edit them.

I like what she's done though and really wanted to share it with you 

so here are the pictures she sent me.

Do you remember my cousin's cottage?  A few months ago, I shared

a lot of pictures of her house and gardens.  It was a cool spring day

in the early morning when I took the pictures.

If you missed the posts about the cottage, you can visit them

by clicking on the link on the upper right sidebar of my blog.

Here is her house on a hot Texas summer day.

Do you see her little addition near the road?

She's changed her mailbox.

She used an old sewing machine base (all perfectly white and chipped up, 

added a board to the top, a couple of smaller pieces of wood on each side

of the mailbox for support, nailed it all together and there you go!

How cute is that?

transformation thursday at theshabbycreekcottage

my cousin's cottage...the outside

Here is the last post on my cousin's cottage.  

If you missed the first two posts, click here and here to see the inside.

This post is all about the huge back and side yard.  My cousin, Gale, definitely has a green thumb

and an eye for all things vintage, white, chippy or rusted with a bit of blue thrown in.  

She knows how to use a good piece of junk too.  

Keep in mind that she does not have internet or cable 

so she has not seen any of your blogs or watched design shows.  

First up is this chair from one of a few sitting areas.  Since red's my color, I love how the white is chipping to reveal some red underneath.

I love the contrast between the chippy rusted table and chairs 

and the fresh white pitcher and plate on top.

You will see several of these gallon jugs around her garden.  She says when she

plants new young plants or seeds, they need a lot of water or consistently moist soil 

until the plants get going.   So, she pokes a tiny hole in the bottom of the jug and places it next to the new plant.  The water filled jug will drip keeping the soil moist.  She says the jug of water lasts a long time so she doesn't have to keep going out there to water the plants.  Once the jug is empty, just refill it to keep the soil most for a few more days.  

She's made her own trellis so plants will grow on the fence. 

Just a stake and wire to create the rustic trellis.

Here's another sitting area with a swing.

This is her side entry.  She loves to garden in containers 

and buckets, pails and tubs are her favorite containers.

How's this for a cute planter?  She used the bottom of an old rusted heater to hold a pot for a plant.

Here's a garden gate she uses as a divder/sort of a wall to define a space.

This is her makeshift bird feeder.  She found a metal stand and put a white platter inside.

I love this.

Cute little blue chair sits across from another seating area on the other side of a walkway.

Oh and see the line of water jugs helping some new plants get started?

Cute little seating area.

...more container gardens.

Don't tell her but I would love to have that enamel table with the red trim 

she has the two buckets sitting on.

Here's a dining area.

She has the galvanized tubs lining the back of her house. Each has different plants growing in them

along with plants growing between them.  I love this.

more container gardens.  No wonder I can't find some great enamel tubs and galvanized buckets.

She has them all!

I can't remember the name of this bush and I can't begin to tell you how big it is.  

It lines the entire side of her yard and is as tall as me, taller is some areas.

Here is one of her outbuildings.  She painted it green.  Love the metal roof.

Here's a close up of the dining area. She has no idea how expensive these chairs are.

She finds them all out junkin.

Here's a rusted candelabra she uses for a centerpiece on the table...

and yes, she puts candles in it in the evening.

Her version of trellises and garden art.  

I have no idea what this is but it's cool.

Another little seating area...she wants the baker's rack inside the house but she doesn't have room

so she put it out here with a couple of chairs.  

Even the hardware on the garage is cute.

I love the rusted corrugated roof on top of the white garage.

More container gardens on top of an industrial metal table.

Here's her pretty little pathway around to the front yard.

She has gravel in places around her yard.  In the gravel she has added little round colorful pieces of glass.  You have to look closely to see the pretty little splashes of color.  

I may steal that idea.  It's really pretty when the sun hits those little glass pieces.

So, there you have it.  That's the full tour of the my cousin's little cottage.

What do you think?  Any ideas you want to steal?

I'm about finished working on my giveaway to celebrate 400+ followers. 

That's coming up later in the week so stay tuned!

I'm going to link up this thrifty cottage transformation to some of my favorite blog parties 

in the list at top or down below on the right.