Office Digs — Phase Two

Like I said, the new office is an ongoing project. If you want a “before and after,” you might check out my Phase One post. (Was that really three months ago?!)

The closet was a big deal. Lisa suggested I turn it into a bookshelf, and the light bulb went on. (I knew I married that woman for something.) I built some shelves and chose a gold (or mustard-like) color. Then I overlaid the closet bookeshelf with a bead curtain. By the way, Theo loves it. We swing him through the beads and he gets all giggly.

Other than a desk, I started furniture-less. That problem was quickly resolved. When Jacob and Melody moved, I happened to notice an old raggedy hutch-type cabinet in the driveway across the street from them. It looked like the residents were chucking it, so I went over and asked them. They confirmed my suspicions. It was pretty funky — someone had reversed wine racks and converted it to a bookshelf or something. I drove back with my truck and me and Jon carted it away.

Anyway, I went to work; distressed and crackled it with black underlay, and decided to give it a very rustic look — sanded to wood in spots and left it unsealed. Haven’t done anything this crude before, and I kinda like it. Kept the corny upside-down wine racks. And found some cool hardware at Anthropolgie. Now I suddenly have oodles of book space. . . and you know what that means.

The chair had to be leather. Lisa tried to persuade me to do wicker or cloth, but I dug my heels in. After all, leather conveys class. And I’m all about. . . uh, well, you know. The choice came down to a very square, but wonderfully mustard, chair discounted at Pier One, and this low-back black beauty with wing-type arms from Home Goods. (It was the first time I visited this store and got lost in all the oddball knick-knacks.) As you can see, I purchased the black one and still find myself questioning my decision. The chair’s great and all, but with the black paneling, it blends and becomes less distinctive.

But speaking of the paneling, I changed the border under the chair rail. It’s a bit more fluid than the previous one, though the process was way tedious. I think next time I’ll go with a cheap decal.

Along the way, I’ve added a few misc. wall hangings. . .but there’s SO much wall space. Yeah, I liked the shadow box (after all, it’s mustard). But I’m not sure what I want to arrange inside. For now, it’s got push pins and one pic of Theo. And the hammered metal candle holder from Cost Plus is swell. So it leaks wax. Big deal. I’m big on candles.

Either way, I’m blessed to finally have my own room. No, I don’t dust often enough. But I can throw my socks around, let my desk get awfully cluttered, and imagine what more wall hangings will look like.