Home Office Design: Part 1

I am still alive over here!  Just super duper busy.  I don't have time to even post this entry but I'm squeezing it in.  I'm working on my home office slowly but surely and I wanted to share my progress.

I was inspired by this gallery wall for my home office so I went for a little visit to my local thrift store to find the frames.  I was looking for flat vintage frames in metal and wood.

Source: joannamay.org via Monica on Pinterest

I picked up all my picture frames and mirror for about $70.  It was a steal especially since I did consider buying frames from Etsy but the shipping costs were killer so I'm glad I found my frames locally.  Most of the frames ranged from $1 to $7 and the large vintage mirror cost me $23.  I first started by cutting out pieces of newspapers in the size of my frames just so I could see how the wall would look before I started pounding nails into the walls.  It was a lot easier than I initially thought.

And ta-da!   I'm still trying to figure out what to put in some of the frames.... that is a whole another project in itself.



If you are curious, I got my table from Cost Plus World Market, chevron rug from Urban Outfitters, sea shell book ends from this Etsy shop, and the chair and desk lamp from Home Goods.

Home Office Design Ideas

I want to warn you guys in advance that I am not going to be posting as often as I used to.  I am considering a new opportunity (completely unrelated to this blog) and I have to take time off to think about it.  You never know what a little itty bitty blog can do which led me to this new opportunity.  I never did.  My husband never did......but God works in miraculous ways.  And here I am contemplating life and what I really want to or should do with it... what we should do with it (now that I am married, I have to do the "we" thing...haha).

In the meantime, I'm going converting one of our bedrooms into a home office between Christmas and New Years.  We always needed an office in the house and now is the perfect time to do it.  We currently have this spare room we use as a laundry room so our lazy selves do not have to fold laundry and we can leave it hanging around or in baskets everywhere.  Sounds lovely huh?  I think we can make much better use of it.

Here are some of my ideas....

I really want a Louis ghost chair.  What would drive me to spend $400 for an uncomfortable looking plastic chair?  Because it looks oh so pretty!  I have to run this by the husband (crossing my fingers).

Source: designsponge.com via Monica on Pinterest

Cool artwork.  I haven't decided if I want a big art piece hanging on the wall OR.....

Source: paloma81.blogspot.com via Monica on Pinterest

Lots of various pieces hanging on the wall.

Source: stylebyemilyhenderson.com via Monica on Pinterest

Can I please get a cool chandelier?  I'm obsessed with chandeliers.

 

Source: fabulousonabudget.com via Monica on Pinterest

Bookshelves for all my books too!  Yes, definitely need some of those.  I like how there is a mirror hung on the bookshelf too.  You know... so I can check myself out while I am working.  I'm totally KIDDING.  But it would look pretty if there was a mirror hanging or some type of artwork.

Source: luxeandlillies.blogspot.com via Monica on Pinterest

I probably have to figure out a way so that the whole office isn't totally fem so Mat can use it too but I haven't figured out how yet.  Still thinking.....

DIY Christmas Bubble Wreath

Please call me Martha from now on.  I don't even recognize myself and I don't know how this whole domestication thing came about.  I was one of those teenagers that had an insanely messy room with clothes strewn across the floor.  I never ever made my bed and had blond and blue highlights in my hair.  I would eat Doritos for lunch and sour watermelon gummies and ice cream for dinner.  Now, I cook at home and make Christmas decorations in my free time.  Hello, my name is Martha. 

 

 

This was my original inspiration from Pottery Barn.  It costs $79 and I obviously did not want to pay $79 for a wreath.

 

24-inch faux pine wreath

Glue gun & glue sticks

Variety of Christmas ornaments

Ornament ties or floral wire

Ribbon

Scissors 

 

Tie the ornaments around the wreath with either ornament ties or floral wire (you will need wire cutters if you use wire).  Start with the big ornaments first and then the smaller ones.  Glue the ornaments to the wreath and let it dry overnight.  Trim the ties with scissors. Check on the wreath the next day to ensure that the ornaments are secure.  Tie the ribbon on the top and you are done! 

 

 1 1/2 to 2 hours

 

24-inch faux pine wreath - $4

Glue gun & glue sticks - $7.50 (I bought it from Michael's and had a 50% off coupon)

Variety of Christmas ornaments - $20

Ornament ties or floral wire - Free (the ties came with the ornaments)

Ribbon - Free (I had some leftover from another project)

Scissors - Free

Total $31.50

These are the supplies.

 

I was originally going to buy wire to do this but then I noticed that the ties were included in the box of ornaments so I decided to use that instead.  I bought the ornaments and faux pine wreath at Target.

I went a little crazy with the ornaments.  It looks like a big bubbly Christmas wreath to me now but I like it :)

my 1st time painting

I never thought I would see the end of this dark tunnel Saturday evening.  I started painting Saturday afternoon by myself not really understanding what I got myself into.  But after ~$120 later, a glass of wine, help from a friend, Pandora, and a lot of determination, I finished painting our dining room.  Here are the before and after pictures!

Me prepping the walls with painters tape.  

And of course, Gracie thinks it is play time and she brings me her infamous tennis ball!

This is a picture I took Sunday morning.

I took these pictures in the evening.  The room looks SO much better!  Yay!!

 Things I learned...

1. I will never try to undertake this task on my own ever again!  I was lucky because my neighbor, Gina, came by for a couple hours to help out but without her, I think I would have lost my sanity!
2. Buy the 3 inch painters tape for the ceiling edge and doorway edge.  There is a very high chance that you will accidentally hit the white walls with the roller.  The wider the tape the better!
3. Make sure you take off all the lint from the new roller before you soak it in paint.  You can do this with duct tape or masking tape by applying the tape on the roller and pulling the lint off .  I learned this from Gina's husband who gave me a painting 101 lecture 30 mins before I started.  He told me that a LOT of ppl make this mistake and paint the lint on the walls and to get it off, you have to sand down the walls.
4.  Apply the painters tape the day before you paint (not any earlier).  I prepped most of my walls a couple weeks ago with painters tape and when I pulled the painters tape off of the walls Sunday morning, part of my drywall stuck on to the tape!  Yikes!
5. Always have touch up paint on hand for any goof ups!

I think I have a winner....

I have been delaying my dining room decoration project because I haven't been completely decided on the color of grey that I wanted.  I didn't want something too dark to make the room feel smaller and I didn't want a weird shade of grey with hints of purple or blue in it.  I'm SO glad that I bought different tester colors because the paint color change when the paint dries on the wall and the cost is so little (the tester colors are less than $3 each) that doing the extra effort of finding the exact color that you are 100% happy with is well worth it.  I fell in love one of the colors shown below.  I just hope my hubby chooses the same color that I did when he sees the wall tonight!

1st Home Decor Mission

This weekend I'm finally attempting to paint the dining room and dreaming of design ideas to do.  I'm trying to do this within a limited budget since we don't plan on living in our current house forever but I want to make our house feel more homey.  My goal is to do everything under $500 which will include paint, new furniture pieces, frames, etc.  I'm crossing my fingers on the whole budget thing and also allowing myself several weeks to work on this since home decorating is a completely new venture for me.  I'm not sure how long the whole process will take.

Some of the things that I love for home decor and plan to apply to my design =)

-I love mixing modern pieces with old vintage ones.  Something about that provides the right amount of visual balance for me.  I'm going to be scouring the flea markets in the upcoming weeks for reclaimed wood furniture.  Can't wait to see what I will find!
-I love neutral colors but I'm trying to step out of my comfort zone a little bit.   I heart yellows and navys and my favorite is of course grey!  I'm trying to avoid the whole beige 1 note look.
-I love creativity and putting things in the design that means something to us.  I love fun wall galleries especially the one pictured below from Young House Love.  I will be doing the same to our empty wall with Ikea frames and adding in special pictures and artwork that are sentimental to us.

Here are some of the ideas I have for the dining room....