Design Tip Tuesday

Today’s design dilemma is my own. This room began its life as simply the room where we kept the good computer. We were going to add a sofa bed somewhere along the line. But life got busy and so did my business. I had been using a tiny room at the back of the house for my office. It worked just fine until it slowly began to fill up with sample books, catalogs and Lord knows what else.

Proof of the saying “The shoemaker’s kids wear no shoes.” Egads, what a mess!

Meanwhile, we never did get that sofa bed because we really didn’t need it. So this room became one of those places you hope no one besides your closest friends will ever see. And even they have to be blindfolded. We used an old dining table for a desk and other odds and ends to house art supplies, etc. As my business grew, I found I really needed a more professional space where I could meet a client or a rep. and keep my paperwork in order. The real problem was that I was so busy working on other peoples’ homes that I had no time for my own. What to do?

I must say, I took these photos halfway through clearing it out.
It wasn’t exactly this bad. But close.

Here’s what I did. I analyzed what was good and what had to go. Carpet? You can’t see from the photo, but it was in bad shape. Bye-bye! I liked the wall color and the family photos were great. Keep those. The blinds were keepers too. Grungy old IKEA shelves that have lived in two houses and were peeling apart? Sayonara! What I really needed was an organized place for files, and current projects so that I could, in turn, organize the old office into a proper sort of sample library. Gotta find that. Oh, and the desk chair was nice, but not as nice as one I had my eye on. My son needed a new desk chair anyway.

My new office. Happy-Happy-Joy-Joy.

I had the carpet torn out and the floor refinished. I covered that with an 8″ x 10″ rug made with FLOR‘s Twiggy in taupe. That added a lot of pizazz and the color was the same value as the walls. So it worked. Next, I hopped in the car and headed to IKEA.

See how the red adds so much zip in an otherwise neutral room?

I know some people really don’t like IKEA, but I do. At this point in my life I wouldn’t furnish my living room with it, but for a home office I don’t see how anyone could complain. The design is great and so is the quality. The Vika desk is larger and looks a lot better than the old dining table. I replaced the knobs on an old IKEA filing cabinet and tucked it underneath. Perfection!

I use the top of the cabinets to organize fabrics and paint swatches.

I chose this super-fantastic filing/storage system called Effektiv. You can configure this series in all kinds of ways. So should I need to expand it some day, I can. Best of all, one of the door choices is red. Red is my favorite color, and it brought the room to life. Had a chosen glass, or wood the room wouldn’t have had that special something we’re all searching far and wide for (it’s been a long day).

Finally, I went to my friends at Linear and begged them to sell me their floor sample Catifa chair. They took one look at me sitting in Catifa, knew it was meant to be and handed it over (along with the promise of my next son – hah!).

Now I have a beautiful new office that functions beautifully. I wouldn’t be embarrassed to have a client here. And I’m much more efficient. There’s a saying that goes, “a place for everything and everything in its place.” I like that idea, although all too often it’s only exists in my imagination. But in my new office, it’s a dream come true.

What do you think of this amazing transformation?