OUR HOME OFFICE MAKEOVER

It’s me – coming to you from our snazzy new study! This home office makeover post has been a long time coming, but finally I can show you around.

I used to daydream about owning my first home, and my thoughts always wandered to a Pinterest-worthy study, complete with exposed floorboards, plenty of funky prints and the odd house plant or two. When we viewed our house, the room that’s now our study was being used as a dressing room, though I instantly knew it would be the perfect space for me to get tapping away (ideally on a pastel coloured typewriter – but that’s another one for the wish list!).

I’m so excited to share this post with you, probably because I feel it shows a lot of my personality and it’s also a room we worked hard on decorating.

So let’s begin! Here’s some pictures of how the room looked when we first moved in.

 

First on the agenda was getting the artex plastered over. I think this makes such a difference to a room having a fresh white ceiling; artex can really date and make the room look a little ‘muddly’ in my eyes, although I know it’s a personal taste thing.

After that we painted the walls in ‘Contemporary’ by Home of Colour. I was quite concerned while we were painting that it was going to look too yellowy, but as soon as we’d painted the skirting, doors and window sills white it really balanced the colour and resulted in a nice neutral off white shade.

Then we tackled the fireplace. It really is a beautiful feature in the room, so we gave it plenty of TLC and used Blackfriar Heat Resistant Paint to give it a glow up.

Matt then gutted the cupboard as the shelves were all different heights/lengths and we wanted it to be uniformed (can you tell I’m a little obsessive over these things?! hah). Before adding new shelves he painted the whole cupboard white and the floorboards too, and even though the door is shut most of the time it makes a difference knowing the cupboard is neat inside. We’ve used it to store my DVD and postcard collections, books and board games etc. Plus it’s a great place to hide away boring stuff – banishing mortgage and house paperwork to eternal darkness muahaha *bitch slaps it into oblivion*

        

Next was perhaps the biggest project of the room – the floorboards! We debated white washing them to give a real ‘Scandi’ feel, but I’m glad we just sanded and re-oiled them in the end. Matt spent hours sanding back the floorboards as they had been covered in a yellowy strong varnish and had loads of black marks on them. It was definitely a labour of love though, and we are both so thrilled with the results!

Side note: If you’re thinking this post is sounding like Matt does all the hard work while I sit about dishing out requests and making judgements then you’re absolutely right

…Just kidding, Matt is so good at DIY and decorating that he is a bit of a perfectionist in that way and likes to make sure it’s all finished to a high standard.

Next, it was time to furnish it! It’s not finished yet; I think it will be a room that’ll evolve over time as I pick up bits and bobs for it, but I’m pleased with how it’s coming together.

     

     

As you can see I have a bit of a thing for funky ornaments and notebooks!

     

Let me know what you think, and if there’s any cool homeware shops you would recommend!

If you’d like to snoop around our bedroom too, click here.

GET THE LOOK!

Desk, IKEA, £70

‘Good Vibes Only’ poster, Desenio, £21.95

Rug, Homesense, £29.99 (in store)

Personalised picture, Salome

Cheetah Pen Holder, Typo, £7

Postcards – Paperchase and Red Bubble

Cactus ornaments, Ikea, £15 

‘Drown’, ‘Whatever’ and ‘Oh Gosh’ posters, Juniqe, £6.95 each