One Room Challenge: Home Office week 4

Welcome back for week 4 of the One Room Challenge. Where Linda, from Calling it Home is hosting a challenge where invited participants and guest participants, like myself, have 6 weeks to finish a room.

 I have chosen to make over our home office in hopes that my husband will want to work from home a little more often and so that we can portray an improved first impression for our guests.

If you need to catch up on my previous weeks you can here:

week 1 / week 2 / week 3

Unfortunately this last week I did not accomplish as much as I had hoped and I now feel completely behind.

Let me fill you in.

I did buy a few more Important pieces for the room. We finally decided on an office chair, hopefully when it gets here I'll still feel good about my decision.

I also picked up this light from Target. I debated on getting the Ebony version, but ultimately we decided on the Brass because of how it would look with the dark wall, and when we brought it home we loved it. Ever since I saw this light last year I wanted it for our piano, but I think this might be a better place for now :)

The Chandelier also arrived, yay! I love it!

We decided on this one because we thought the price point was perfect and it would still coordinate with the other lights we've replaced in our new home thus far.

The original plan was to paint the center ball, the top plate that covers the light box, and the sockets? (man who knew I'd need to know the anatomy of a light fixture for this post) a bright brass to match the lamp, and to help coordinate with the chandelier in our dining room/kitchen. The picture below might help you visualize what that would look like with the two metals next to each other.  Now that it has arrived I'm starting to wonder if I really should, does it really need it? Will I ruin it? You know, the usual doubts you have when you might have "cold feet".

What do you think?

(thanks again for your sweet comments from last week's post!!! Its so fun getting feedback)

Next, we got started on the shiplap ceiling and purchased the wood and supplies for the wall to wall shelving. Cross your fingers for me that we can get that done by Saturday night.

We decided to go with a thinner and more affordable version of shiplap, also we wanted to echo the little bit we have in our home on our fireplace. It is about 4 inches wide.

The product we ultimately bought is called bender board. Its a little more than buying plywood sheets and ripping them down to size, its $2.75 a board, but it also is ready to use. Where with plywood you have to cut the boards first, and sand them before you can use them. We also liked that the bender board was 1/4" thick and just under 4" wide, the size we needed.

So on Saturday we finally were able to go together to the hardware store ... and with the kids, not ideal, but it was the only way, plus WAY better than going by myself with the kids. :)

The boys liked helping with counting and stacking the boards and also "surfing" on the cart.

 After soccer games and feeding the big kids and the baby I hoped to get a lot done, however I was only able to get one coat of our Peterson's Whitest White on the boards, and that was with help from the kids and my husband.

But by that night 2 coats were on about half the boards.

Then pretty much all Monday and Tuesday I bounced back and forth from taking care of my 4 children and painting more coats on the boards. And the weather definitely didn't help my drying time.

 Tuesday we were finally ready to start getting them onto the ceiling, however we were beat and it was too late so that's all we got done, but it definitely got us excited!
My husband even came home a little early from work, like 30 minutes (Woot Woot- I'll take what I can get) to help get it up by Wednesday night.

 And look how good it looks!

Now it isn't even close to being done, and yes we will do the sides and interior of the raised ceiling, but between the ...6 of us, that's all we were able to get done today.
But Its looking so much better already and I can't wait until we can finish it up tomorrow, or the next day... considering our track record :)

Wish me luck , and please come back and check in next week to see our progress, and you can follow me on my Instagram account here, to see any updates.

One Room Challenge: Home Office week 3

If you are just dropping in for the first time you can catch up on week 1 and week 2 by clicking on those links. And thank you for stopping in from Calling It Home! I've been so thankful for the response I got from last week's update concerning my desk dilemma.  It's kinda fun realizing that there are actually people out there on the internet who are reading about my little home office makeover, AND care enough to weigh in and help me out. So THANK YOU!!!  I definitely appreciated the feedback and we decided to just go for it and use the BIG desk. It's going to be more work, it needs some love, and its definitely NOT the easier option so hopefully we wont regret it.

So here's what we have been up too.

 We decided to buy the rug I had chosen on the mood board, which is from West Elm and was on sale, and we LOVE it!  Besides looking awesome in our space it is also so soft and pretty. I know I should roll it back up and wait until we put the room together so it can stay looking brand new and clean but because we love it so much we haven't put it back away.

Also  I love how it still keeps the floor light  in the room while adding much more interest and color than the last rug we had in there.

And the little bits of dark blue coordinate with the entry rug without competing with it, and it also compliments the rug that we have in our main living space which you can see from the front door. So we have harmony between all 3 and that's what I was hoping for. 

Next I went and bought a paint sample just make sure we still liked the color I chose and painted it on the wall.

And I knew right away that I wanted it so the next morning I went and got everything I needed to paint it and after prep, the whole wall was done in one hour. Thankfully the baby was asleep or else it would've been much longer. And great coverage on that paint!

The paint is called Blue Note by Benjamin Moore

 And I have never painted just one wall before so I was a little nervous about how I'd get that crisp line in between colors in the corners of the room but thanks to awesome painters tape, it was a cinch, I just took it off carefully right after I was finished, so the paint was still wet, and it totally worked, Frog Tape is awesome!

 See that crisp corner?!

 That chair has never looked so good :)

Now I feel like we are getting somewhere, And I cant wait to show you more, This week we are hoping to get the ceiling and shelves in, plus I think some things we have ordered will be here by then so please come back and check in. And if you want to catch any updates be sure to follow me on Instagram.

Oh and if you'd like to see any of the other 240 guest participants click here.  

One Room Challenge: Home Office week 2

 Welcome back for week 2 of the One Room Challenge, hosted by Linda, at Calling it Home.
In case if you missed it, you can read about week 1 here, just some before pictures from construction.

Also if you don't know what this is all about, then here is the low down: Basically you have 6 weeks to complete a room, you have to post updates each week so it helps you stay on track plus you get so much support and encouragement from all of the other participants and family and friends. Also you get a beautiful room at the end! Its crazy fun! and completely worth it.

So here we are already at week 2. this last week basically consisted of me scouring stores and the internet for items that I could fit into my budget for this room so I could come up with my game plan. AND enjoying a week long spring break with the kiddos. Oh! and dying from allergies. I can't wait to feel normal again.

So unfortunately I don't have any progress shots yet, since there isn't any VISIBLE progress in the room. But I do have actual pictures of the room this time.

Our home office is actually what they call the "flex" room on your builder plans, basically a room that can be whatever you want :) We knew from day one that it was going to be my husbands office since he can work from home, on occasions, wish it was more often... But I didn't realize how small the room was actually going to be until the day we moved in.

Mostly because of THE DESK that we have owned and lugged around everywhere we have gone since we were married. Its a big desk. BIG! and heavy too, I know more than a handful of strong guys, hopefully still our friends, who have helped move it too.

Anyway it takes up most of the room, and yet I want to keep it. But then when I think of how just 6 more inches of room would really help benefit that seating area, etc... then I don't want to keep it. I've been thinking about this all week. And its not that we just like the desk, it has sentimental value too, like it is an exact copy of my husband's Dad's desk who passed away 6 years ago and we all have memories of seeing him at his desk studying. So its been hard. Help me you guys!!!!

 I have two mood boards I've been putting together to hopefully help me and my husband make a decision. The plan was to have decided by now on which one, but I need your help. Please weigh in down at the comments or on my Instagram account.

 Basically you can see how this room needs some love, I don't hate it, in fact I think i'll keep a lot of what we have already going on in there since we just moved in and have mostly intentionally put those things there, but It needs much much more.  And it's basically the first impression you have of our home when you come in, so it would be nice to have it work and work with the rest of the home, or vision we have for our home, since nothing is really finished yet here.

Seriously not a big room.

Here are my mood boards:

Option 1

Option 2:

The plan is to do a white shiplap ceiling with fun light fixture that coordinates with the others we have replaced in our home so far.

Floor to ceiling white board and batten on the wall opposite the windows, and with current floor plan behind the desk. Also we have yet to decide on the artwork that will also go on that wall.

Floating wooden shelves that will span the entire wall on the wall across from the entryway, that is perpendicular to the window wall. We need the storage and I think it will be a cool focal point for the room, maybe distract from the big desk?

A new rug that will fit the room better than our current folded 8x10 that is clearly too big for the space.

And besides all of the fun accessories that will finish the room off, I'm thinking of painting the wall with the shelves a dark dark blue. At first I wanted to do the whole room but my husband is not on board yet, don't you just LOVE the dark moody blues blacks and greens that have been all over the internet these days?

source

source

Oh, and I'm hoping to keep the chair and curtains.

So that's the plan for now, but please help me on my desk dilemma!!! We've found plenty of beautiful expensive desks but can't justify paying too much for a replacement when we already have one we could use, so for the size and price this one will possible be the new desk we go with... if we go with a smaller desk.

And stay tuned for sneak peaks on my Instagram account and come back next Thursday for more progress.

Home Office One Room Challenge Spring 2017

Week 1

Okay we (my husband is helping this time) just decided to jump in and do the One Room Challenge!

I did the ORC back in the fall of 2015 (click to see that here) and it was a lot of work but definitely worth it. Unfortunately though we unexpectedly moved by Christmas that year and then lived with my parents while we looked for a new home in an entirely new state. Still miss our house... seriously! But after looking and failing to get the ones we liked, the housing market is crazy guys, we decided to build. Thankfully my parents are awesome and completely supported our decision to build and didn't mind keeping all of us around much longer.

We moved into our new home, the NEW anderson estate, just before school started last year and pretty much our whole house is still a work in progress. I was pregnant with our 4th child when we moved in and dreamed of how each space would look but had no intentions of really putting forth much effort to get it there, not to mention funds aren't unlimited :) Then we had our adorable little babe in December before Christmas and I'm just now feeling like I can do regular things again, or can I?!

The struggle is real over here, my house is a reoccurring mess, but I feel more like myself and ready to tackle the boxes in the basement that never got unpacked and get some function and style into this house. Because without that the messes are just worse, WAY worse.

So we decided to start with the first room you see when you enter the house, our home office.

This room is really more for my husband, my 3 year old daughter even calls it his "work", because he spends the most time in hear and can occasionally work from home, but we'd like it to function for all of us. Also since it is the first room you see when you enter the house we'd love for it to finally be done and make sense. Right now when people enter our house and stand in the entryway they get a full view of the awkwardness we have in there, especially since we aren't even sure yet what we are doing in there.

These pictures were taken about a month before we moved in. I thought I had the finished product pictures on here but I don't,so sorry. This is what happens when you decide last minute to join the ORC. Ha. I'll get them up soon. And I'll wait to give you the description then.

And because we do have one room in this house that I feel is pretty close to being done, I'll share that with you. Also so you have something more exciting to look at other than construction photos, unless that is your jam and then you can just scroll past it.

the kitchen

 Also if you are on Instagram and would like to catch any sneak peaks before the weekly updates you can find me here. Which speaking of updates, thank you Linda at Calling it Home who created the One Room Challenge, you can go check out all of the participants on her website here. Every Thursday all of the participants, including myself, will post a new update until the end of the six week challenge.  So yes, we have six weeks to get this office done, wish us luck!