WORK IN PROGRESS: OFFICE DESK MAKEOVER

This may be a familiar view to many; the landscape of a boring, lifeless office desk. I have been feeling the creative itch lately and it all started at my workplace. Generally, I work behind a computer and as of recently I have been daydreaming about making over my work nook. I call this a nook because it's a corner desk with white walls, a computer and a UPS thermal label printer and scanner. These "decorative items" all came with the desk and the job and not only do they lack personality, they are monochromatic. Although I keep it clean and organized, I've always wanted my office desk to reek of femininity and color.

I've started to bring in fresh flowers as often as I can to brighten up my space, but today decided to tackle this project once and for all. I ended up spending a few minutes after work brainstorming and thinking about everything that I have stored away in our spare bedroom that I could use in the office. Over the years I've acquired quite a lot of decor in a variety of colors and styles. I was excited to utilize some of the remnants of my shabby chic collection and will be going with a blue and silver color palette, with a dash of hot pink and rose pink. I'm determined to not buy any new items and recycle everything I currently own, so in other words, my budget is $0.00. Unfortunately, there are a few things that will have to stay: Ikea corner desk, computer, UPS shipping supplies and more than likely, the biggest calendar in the entire world hung above my desk.

Ideally, I would be able to wallpaper my corner or paint it, but I'll just have to work with the white walls which shouldn't be too difficult. Left over from our Livermore apartment I have a few blue-ish frames with some artwork by Egon Schiele. While he suits my personal taste, I don't know how office friendly his work is mainly due to the fact that it's very grotesque and provocative. I will have to eventually switch it out with some light-hearted art and can't wait to spend many hours scouring my new find: Vintage Printable. What I love so much about this site is that you can download any of their vintage images for free and frame them. You can probably guess what I'll be doing for the rest of the evening while Matt watches Mythbusters.

Tomorrow I plan on heading over the hill to work an hour earlier to organize, rearrange and remodel my office desk. I've been waiting to do this for awhile but only now does it feel necessary. I know that these alterations will not only help me focus better, they will lighten my mood and enhance my day in every way possible. Tune in tomorrow to see the results, but until then a little food for thought...

 via Bloomerism

 via Elle Decor

via The Design Fairy

via Room Envy

via Linen and Verbena

WORK IN PROGRESS: OFFICE HUTCH

Last year my mom and I were browsing at one of my favorite salvage yards, Hidden Treasures. Amongst all the antique dining tables, fainting couches, salvaged windows and vintage armchairs, in a dark hidden corner we saw the most ugly beautiful hutch I had ever seen (no exaggeration). It was missing some hardware, chipped in a few spots and worst of all, made from an unattractive dark brown wood veneer. I was instantly attracted to the carvings in the bottom cabinets and the shape of the windows at the top. I didn't care how we would get it home...it belonged in my apartment. The shop owner sold it to me for $30 and even helped carry it out to our van. Mind you, this was after we drove back home to Livermore in our small car to pick up the van and drive back to Hidden Treasures. It was a whirlwind but the hutch made it home safe and sound. I had tucked away a pair of antique knobs that I had found a few weeks before and was so excited because they were a perfect match for the project I was about to tackle. After going back and forth between what color I wanted to paint it, I eventually settled on a cloud gray. It looks very white but it does have a hint of gray which is exactly how I wanted it. The painting process was painstaking because I wanted the finish to be perfect without any brushstrokes, bubbles or drips so needless to say it took me a few days, but when I finished I realized it was worth all the labor. Now the hutch lives in my office (which is also a work in progress) and is waiting to be redecorated. I have started to pick out a few items to put in it including my favorite container that I store receipts in, my Elle Decor and House Beautiful magazines, and a few chosen interior design books. It's a small stack to say the least, but I'm confident it will grow up to be something special one day. The antique mirror is actually from a garage sale last summer and can be used in a variety of ways (to place perfumes on, as a standing bathroom mirror, etc.) and I only recently found the ring holder which is VERY me. I have high hopes and big plans for my office hutch. Luckily the color still matches my office decor so I don't have to repaint it. I definitely need more items in the top portion for depth, color and interest, and am hoping to find them estate sale shopping this summer. Besides bookcases, hutches are so much fun to decorate and the best thing is that they serve a functional and decorative purpose. Win. Win.

"MY ONE NIGHT STAND...AND DRESSER"

The first step towards recovery is to admit you have a problem. Although Matt has pointed out on numerous occasions that I change my mind far too much and suffer from buyer's remorse, I've never been willing to acknowledge these claims until recently. Each time I organize and clean our bedroom I have an urge to rearrange our vignettes and/or redecorate our entire bedroom. Do I have a problem, well...the short answer is yes. While financially no one could possibly be able to afford to redecorate their home every time a new color becomes trendy or they fall in love with a contemporary style, I stand by my belief that you don't have to spend a lot of money to change the look or feel of a room. As I read other blogs, thumb through magazines and watch interior design shows, my mind is simultaneously brainstorming new ideas and reconsidering past choices. I spend a lot of time conceptualizing anything from how the photo frames in our entry room are arranged to exactly how I'd like our nightstand and dresser displays to look. While I don't enjoy too much clutter on bedroom furniture, I think that each should display some key items: lamp, books, picture frames and some sort of trinkets. I've always loved pulling colors out of a focal piece of art and accentuating it through toss pillows, book spines, throw blankets, candles and flowers. Since we currently don't have any art in our master bedroom (I know, big FAIL on my part) I had to use as a source of inspiration. Our bed-sheets and shams are gray and our furniture hardware is chrome so I decided that the main colors of our nightstand and dresser vignettes would be gray, mauve, silver, white and brown.
The swing arm lamps were a birthday gift from Matt and lend our bedroom a special kind of hotel room/weekend getaway feeling. At first I was going to find a pair of stationary lamps for the nightstands but soon fell in love with the swing arms at Home Depot. They have been a great addition to the bedroom especially for late-night reading or watching movies on the iPad.
The other accessories are a result of my hoarder-like tendency to accumulate books, a photo taken by a friend in high school of my favorite songwriter, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, and a small set-list from The Wooden Birds show at the Rickshaw Stop. No, I didn't elbow or push anyone to get it...it just happened to be laying on the stage after their performance and I casually took it as a memento. As for the clear potpourri jar, I have been searching for those little pastel breath mints in white to combat morning breath, but have yet to find them. The skeleton key was a treasure I found at Ross for a bank-breaking $3.99 and the jar was $0.50 at a thrift store and has a very unique, Anthropologie-ish design on the top.
I've always had an extremely difficult time finding the perfect photos for my ever-growing collection of picture frames. That is why you see two empty picture frames (which I'm terribly embarrassed of). If you're wondering about the JFK sculpture, ever since I can remember my mother has been obsessed with all things Kennedy and this head was gifted to me. I used this dresser as an opportunity to incorporate some bright colors into the room and settled on artificial magenta peonies and a pink candle. It's not exactly the right shade so I'll be replacing it as soon as I find the right color. But my favorite piece is our framed John Vanderslice set-list which he signed with my favorite quote, "There's a sweetness in the worse things." I'm not too sure about how long these particular displays last as I already have my eye on some other photo frames and will more thank likely find some new accessories to replace the current ones with. It's not like I enjoy changing my mind all the time, it's just that there are too many beautiful things out there ready for me to find and fall in love with.

WORK IN PROGRESS: SALVAGED PIANO WOOD MANTEL

A few months ago Matthew and his best friend Brian dismantled an antique piano. It was very time consuming but after all was said and done, there was a lot of beautiful left-over wood with tons of character and if there is one thing that I'm a sucker for, it's anything with character.

Our poor living room in the front of the home has been completely ignored since we moved in and the only items that I have purchased for it are an area rug and upholstered chair. Matt and I always knew that we had to have not only a functioning fireplace but a fireplace with a mantel.

To our dismay, this updated fireplace has no mantel but we figured that we'd be able to think of something along the way. Well, it must have been fate that we ended up with all these rustic wood pieces in the garage because Matt has started to build a beautiful mantel for above the fireplace.

We want it to look imperfect, worn, aged and salvaged. After Matt measured all the dimensions, we picked out our favorite pieces and he got to work. It's difficult working with aged wood because if something goes wrong we don't have a replacement piece. I absolutely love that there is an old handle still attached to one of the piano pieces and we hope to incorporate it into the mantel for, yes, character.

Since our home is only five years old, there is nothing "old" about it, so we have to make due with what we have. But one thing was for sure, we absolutely could not get by without a mantel, much less a recycled piano wood mantel so hopefully you can visualize the final result. I have always wanted to decorate a mantel and have already been brainstorming some mantel decor ideas. Since we won't be hanging a TV above the fireplace, I will have to be inventive and find some eye-catching art and frames. Oh possibilities, why must there be so many of you?