Just the other day I posted my soon to be office redesign and color palette.
Then what to my wondering eyes should appear! But the new Crate and Barrel Spring catalog.
I was flipping through the pages and stumbled upon this (and audibly gasped):
The same exact color palette that I am going to use for the office! Apparently I am ahead of the trends! 
Love the fabric on that chair!!! Way out of the budget, though 
In other office news, I picked up some paint swatches from the Home Depot tonight. They are now hanging on one of the office walls so I can check them out in different lighting situations. I also decided on a rug. I went with this one from Overstock (my go-to source for great quality, affordable rugs):
I am having a little case of buyer’s remorse. I’m slightly worried that it won’t be large enough, and I saw another rug on their site that I hadn’t seen before (and might like better)! I guess I will have to see how I feel about it when it arrives, which should be soon. That’s another great thing about Overstock – super cheap and fast shipping!
My home office is a tiny 8′ x 10′ light-filled room at the front of our house – just to the right of our front door and off the living room.
Technically, it’s a bedroom, since it does have a tiny closet, which we use to store our coats and my wedding dress, mainly. I have no IDEA why and it aggravates me to no end that the door opens to the left! Switching that is on the to-do list, for sure.
I’m not sure that I would want to sleep in this room, considering the fact that it can barely accommodate a twin-sized bed. It really is my space, though…I use it to do my design work, pay bills and read the thousand and two blogs I subscribe to (slight exaggeration, there).
The room also functions as our home gym – we have a fold-up treadmill and television in one corner, which needs to stay, due to the shortage of square footage in our house. I’m thinking of getting some sort of room divider for this area, since it is kind of an eyesore.
The office has gone unnoticed and neglected for too long – it really hasn’t gotten any love whatsoever since we moved in almost two years ago. So I figured it was time to give it the attention it deserves, and I’m excited at the possibility of working in a brighter, cheerful, more functional and vibrant room.
The things I love most about this room are the abundant light made possible by the two windows, the flooring (although it’s not hardwood, which I would prefer, it’s so much better than carpet), and the lovely french doors. The only problem with the doors is that they don’t offer much privacy, which makes it hard to get any real work done.
I have a couple of ideas for the door.
1. Cover the panels with beautiful paper. I’m thinking old maps or encyclopedia pages. This approach is fun, charming and potentially colorful.
Better Homes and Gardens via Centsational Girl
2. Use frosted window film. I could use it as-is, or add a design, similar to what you see below (but I think I would use the same pattern in each panel). This approach is modern, clean and maybe slightly more conventional.
Via Design*Sponge
Here’s my plan for the color palette. I wanted something that would flow with the rest of our house. I love bright, bold colors and I am not afraid to paint my walls this marigold color!
I like to re-use and re-purpose as much as possible (we’re on a budget, here!), so I’m keeping the furniture: the IKEA Vika desk, slipper chair from Target that our cats lovingly destroyed (I plan on reupholstering it, adding casters, and using it as my desk chair), and bookshelf that I bought at Target years ago. Hopefully I can find the other large items I need (rug, more storage) on the cheap. I think the major transformation will come with paint, a new light fixture and window treatments. I plan to DIY many things in the process, so stick around for the ride!
So you know how I was talking about the crafty projects that I did on Thanksgiving weekend? Well, here’s another one that I’m quite proud of – I made our headboard all fancy-pants!
Here’s the headboard after I removed it from the bed and before I covered it (doesn’t look like much, I know):
And the after:
Unfortunately, I chose the worst possible time of day to take this photograph (with the afternoon light blazing in), so I apologize for the poor photo quality. Hopefully you can get an idea of the difference a little fabric can make!
Tory went to the Stanford vs. Notre Dame football game with some friends this weekend, so I took advantage of my alone time by getting crafty! I’m not really a seamstress so I’m pretty proud of this project: I made button throw pillows for our bedroom. It was time consuming, but I’m happy with how they turned out! I followed this tutorial (more or less).
Here’s the cost breakdown (I purchased all of my supplies at Joann’s):
(2) 14″ x 14″ premium square pillowforms: $11.98 (50% off)
1 yard of waffle weave muslin fabric: $5.99
6 wooden buttons: $1.86 (also 50% off)
Fusible interfacing: $1.59
Everything else I had on hand (thread, scissors, etc.)
Total: $21.42 for not one, but two adorable pillows
And the best part is that the covers are removable and machine washable! Woot!
Here’s how they turned out:
And here’s a peek at the rest of our bed. We are currently in the process of decorating our bedroom (after 15 months of living here!), so that was the true inspiration behind the pillows. We were able to purchase the awesome Abigail Paisley bedding from Crate & Barrel that I wanted so badly using gift cards we received as wedding gifts. After that I was inspired to finish the room! So far we have painted, added hardware to our nightstands and dresser, purchased and painted the bedside lamps and a vintage fan (both from ebay), and made a display for my jewelry using one of the escort card displays from our wedding.
We still have a couple more labor-intensive projects in this room. Most notably, we will be covering the hideous (in my mind) mirrored closet doors, and making a capiz shell chandelier (like this). I did check off another project off the list this weekend – turning our Ikea Malm headboard into a fabric covered wonder (which I’ll post pics of later). It’s coming along!
