Tuesday 10 February 2015

At home: An office makeover


We are lucky to have a little bit of extra space in our two bedroom terrace. But just a little more, mind you, in the shape of a 2.5 x 2m part-corridor/part-room at the end of the upstairs hall, just before the bathroom. This has been my craft and sewing room for the past few years, but with the arrival of The Boy it soon became clear that we needed a more multi-purpose office space. Somewhere I could still use my sewing machine and get my craft on, but also somewhere suitable for him to work while he finishes his PhD.

                                 Before:                                                             After:

The original layout had very little storage  - a slim bookcase aside - and a beautiful but impractical oak writing desk. And so, with a heavy heart, I bid goodbye to the desk and said hello to to a practical white desk top and legs from Ikea and lots of shelving from B&Q. As tends to happen, I had the vision and The Boy put in the hard work. This division of roles along normative gender lines bothers me less than it could: until he moved in, I put up every shelf, assembled every flat pack, drilled every hole and hauled garden waste to the tip (in fact, I still do all of that except the drilling and shelves), so it's not that I can't do the heavy labour, I just choose not to.


And what a transformation! Our formerly dingy and messy space is suddenly light, bright and tidy. My craft supplies - colourful jars of buttons and threads, spools of washi tape - are still on display and easily accessible, while the less pretty things are kept in white storage boxes from Ikea.

Meanwhile, The Boy's books and work papers are all tidied away on the highest wall shelves: at 6'3" he has no trouble reaching them when needed. I also found a kitchen vegetable trolley in a local junk shop, and it's the perfect storage solution for my vintage maps and papercraft supplies. A string of colourful ball lights, from Tiger, brighten up the space on dark evenings.


We re-used the bookcase, putting it side-on to form more of a corridor effect into the bathroom, for my craft books and fabric stash, and repurposed a faux-Eames chair from eBay, which used to sit in the living room, as desk seating.

I'm thrilled with our new-look office/craft room. Sharing the space has meant I'm much better at tidying away after sewing (where previously I'd leave half-finished projects lying around for weeks), and The Boy enjoys having a quiet space in which to work. At a total cost of £58 - £35 for timber and shelf brackets, £11 for the lights and £12 for the storage boxes - it's been a bargain makeover to a previously neglected corner of the house.

28 comments:

  1. It looks so bright and cosy! What a lovely space to have and a lovely way to use it :)

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    1. It's one of the things that made me fall in love with the house - having that extra bit of space separate from the spare room is so useful.

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  2. What a lovely space! I love how cosy you've made it and the bright colours work well with the white :)

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    1. I'm increasingly attracted to plain white spaces as they make any colour put into them pop so much.

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  3. It looks really nice. It's amazing what a difference a few small changes can make. I desperately need to find more storage for my office - it's over run with boxes and piles of useless rubbish! I'll get to it one day...
    I have the same chair - it's my back up for when a cat steals my swivel chair.

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    1. I've seen this chair on so many blogs recently, it's obviously a new blogger cliche! But it's so comfy and well-designed, I don't care.

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  4. It looks great!

    Also, I am completely capable of drilling holes and sawing wood but I'd really rather not. Steve would also really rather not. It is not unheard of for us to bribe friends into "helping" by offering them pizza. We know our real strengths lie elsewhere (mine in planning; his in providing the food).

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    1. Yeah, Thomas would really rather not but he's both stronger physically and weaker when it comes to withstanding my nagging, so he ends up doing it!

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  5. I love it, such a lovely bright space, I have craft/desk nook envy!

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    1. Thanks! In terms of motivating me to make, having a neat and well-organised space has been invaluable.

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  6. I would love an extra space like that! Our spare room is my 'study' but its also our junk room so is filled with all sorts.Your space looks so lovely, clean and tidy, and I love how all the 'stuff' doubles up as decoration.

    I normally choose not to do all the DIY stuff aswell. Saying that, I've had to do a lot more since Adam had his op and its made me appreciate the fact that I can actually do stuff like that, rather than rely on a man to do it!

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    1. Because I did everything around here for 5 years, I feel less bad relying on a man to do it now!

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  7. This looks fabulous Janet, really fresh and light, though It must have been incredibly hard to say farewell to the beautiful bureau!

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    1. It was a sad goodbye, but a friend bought it so I at least know it went to a good home.

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  8. I love all the lovely bright space! I'm not fussed on gender roles - I make Tam drive when we're together but only cause I hate driving like nothing else, not cause he's a man and therefore any better at it (he might tell you otherwise, but I am a spectacular driver) :)

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    1. Oh I'd love it if I could make Thomas drive, but he doesn't have a license. I HATE driving to new places.

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  9. It looks lovely, so bright! Liking the shelves. Ah, one day I also hope to display my craft stuff in pretty and accessible jars/boxes :) one day.

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    1. I think all of these jars are repurposed ones that family have given me after having jars of sweets/bath stuff/etc as gifts. Only thing better than storage jars is free storage jars!

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  10. It really does look amazing!!! So clean and fresh. You'll both be more motivated to work/craft with a space like this!x

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    1. It's definitely made me more motivated to work on my sewing -it's thanks to this room that I felt able to teach myself to do the zipped purses I sent you!

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  11. Love this room! I have been going 'pinterest' crazy lately pinning rooms for inspiration. I'm going to search for those lights in Tiger too! x

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    1. They definitely still had them at the store in Leicester a week or so ago.

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  12. Oh my goodness, I can't believe the difference! It looks so much lighter! It really is beautiful, great job :)

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    1. Thanks :) I think it also helps that it's a hell of a lot tidier now, haha!

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  13. Oh I love it so much! Amazing how much difference it makes once you have a desk that extends across the whole wall rather than a smaller desk and the bookcase next to it. I think white is the way forward for office spaces for me. I love it and then it makes all the fun stuff stand out even more. I need to get some embroidered stuff on my walls!

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    1. I'm a great fan of white - every room in my house is painted bright white, but it's certainly not a dull home because, by using a white backdrop, I can throw colour at everything else.

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  14. Love this so much, I'm so jealous! The string of lights are just beaut! x

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