Office before and after!

In the last several months, I have had many house projects that have manifested in our office. As the projects have come together, I wanted to share the room's humble beginnings and what we have today.

As I have mentioned in my blog, our house's previous owners were a corporate transfer and so most of the house had been repainted by the relocation company in a very bland peachy off-white.

This paint color has become my nemesis. I seek to eradicate it from our home.

Before....

We had some nice furniture to work with and some items that needed to stay. My main inspiration was an Oriental-style rug that had black, maroon and taupe as its main colors. From the rug, I chose a taupe color for the walls.

This did wonders for warming up the room. Along the way, we added black fabric cornices:

I created a gallery wall with a variety of art and memorabilia pieces from around the house. This photo shows how I figured out the placement of the frames.

I reupholstered and repainted a chair:

And my favorite piece in the room? A $10 Goodwill end table that got a brushed nickel spray paint finish. I could not pass up the shape and wanted a shot of metallic in the room.

The finished product? A cozy room that we enjoy spending time in....plus a comfy leather chair and ottoman that my inlaws passed on to us. Both dog and husband have been known to nap in that chair.

Here is the chair....and the afters.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. A lot of design ideas I've had have come to light in this room. I've played a lot with mixing patterns--like the Oriental rug, leopard print throw and black/gold print on the chair. I've mixed some old furniture with some new ideas (like the metallic table). It's also the first time I've incorporated black into any of my rooms.

Of course, there are still improvements to be made. I'd like to add some long curtains under the cornices, as well as add something to a blank wall opposite the chair. I'm thinking of a huge mirror leaning against the wall...but it does take time to get the right things in the right place (and for the right price, if ya know what I mean!!). And see the cool old radio above that is pretty cool, but missing something? We'll get there.

For now, I'm happy to have a few mostly finished rooms. I'm pretty sure as soon as I finish up the other rooms, I'll need some more projects, you get? : )