The Office

In every homeowner’s life there comes a point when they must finally surrender the storage/catch-all room to what is rightfully their’s. Every pushed-off project has its day. Earlier this year we finally decided that that day had come for our office.

I’ve been incredibly excited about this project because unlike the rest of our light, airy house, I was ready to move to the dark side and try something completely new and exciting: dark walls. And not just dark walls, but to really go for it we decided to continue the dark color onto the trim and even the doors. Not only did we paint the entire room from head to toe (minus the ceiling) but we chose to panel two of the four walls for a stately, bold look.

The Bones

Of course it would be too easy if we could’ve just bought the paneling but the issue was that any paneling we could find was too thick and would have stuck out beyond the existing trim in an awkward manner. Thus, Jacob came up with the ingenious idea of cutting wood underlayment into 5” vertical panels that he painstakingly affixed to the existing wall with equal spacing in-between. All of that hard work was incredibly worth it though and if you asked him, he would probably tell you it “wasn’t that bad”. Insert eyeroll here.

Next, we chose the paint color. I knew I wanted a dark shade of blue/green but there were just soo many. After comparing colors in both the light of day and dark we finally settled on "Cameroon Green" by Behr. I'm extremely happy with the result. In most lights, its green tint is the most dominant shade but sometimes it can look blue which is really neat.

Decor

In my head, I was going to be able and fit a desk, a beautiful leather reading chair with a floor lamp, floor-to-ceiling open shelving, AND a music corner but I quickly realized I was way too optimistic with my vision and the room is actually miniature. I would have to be far more selective with what could actually fit in the room. I did, however, become more determined than ever to find furniture and accents that exactly matched what I envisioned in my head. Enter second hand stores in all their magnificent-ness.

I was looking for an old worn-in table to use as a desk and originally thought we would sand it down until it was a lighter version of its former self but when we found this at a local second-hand store and finally got it into the room, it became apparent it should be left as it was in a warm, brown tone, stains and all.

Next, was the rug. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how crucial the rug is and how normally it’s the first thing that should be chosen as the colors typically set the entire mood. A mile down the street from our house, we have a super cool antique store with a vendor that stocks copious amounts of beautiful antique rugs at reasonable prices.

The vendor even lets you bring home rugs, try them for 24 hours, then bring back the one(s) you don’t want. I chose a beautiful rectangular vintage Turkish rug with varying shades of blue and red. We wound up facing it diagonally in the room with the desk placed in the center and a warm, caramel leather chair from Rejuvenation to pull in additional masculine elements.

Perhaps the most fun of all were the open shelves. Again, Jacob saved the day by making these shelves and measuring them to the exact dimensions that worked for the room. I added, as is quickly becoming my favorite way, a selective mix of new and vintage pieces/textures/materials to adorn the shelves.

The Music Corner

While having a drumset in the corner of this room may not be the most obvious choice, it was important to me that Jacob had a place to escape to when he needed to bust out a sick beat on the ole drums. I knew if we hid them away in the basement, he would be far less likely to go down there and play. So this “happy corner” became a thing and we hung up his guitar and displayed some of his photos he’s taken for a little extra inspo.

Lastly, I’d be amiss if I didn’t talk about one last thing: my inspiration for the entire room—a large, dully colored picture with an attached display light that I won off ebth.com for $11 (if you’ve never heard of ebth, your life is about to change). It’s so drab in many ways but I freakin love this picture. I once read in one of my favorite design books that that every home needs a little “drab” and I couldn’t agree more. This thing (who btw my husband HATED but now really digs) looks so at home in this room, you might even wonder if the whole room was inspired by it and to that, you would be right.

Best,

Shay