The vibe: Peppy, bright, and organized.
The style: Natural, mid-century modern with contrasting touches of glam.
The palette: Emerald green, black and white, and metallics.
What I love about this room: It’s the only room in the house in which I used such a vivid color. I also love the storage–there are two closets in here, perfect for hiding my arsenal of creative supplies & decor.
What I don’t love so much: The positioning of the closets. Since they’re on the longest wall, it makes rearranging difficult on the other walls. And yes, I’ve already rearranged this room since I moved here in June.
How this space is ME: While I found my niche with neutrals, I still me some super-saturated color. This room honors that love but only in pops of color plus I tempered it with the neutrals. Also, I’ve decorated with a few pieces from my family: a counted cross-stitch piece from my mother and an old photo of my great-grandparents.
I am a very lucky lady to have the chance to work from home. I’ve done it for about 7 years now, and it’s been heavenly. No fluorescent lighting! No recycled air and the germs it contains! As little or as much noise as I want!
Of course, the best part about working at home is decorating that space however I desire. Since I’ve worked from home, I’ve always used a bright color in my office. That’s because I believe in color psychology, and want the color here to keep my brain energized and alert. I also aimed to decorate this room in a way that doesn’t feel like I’m stuck at work. I want this to feel as far away from a cubicle as possible.
My vintage tanker desk is a piece I don’t think I can ever part with. It’s so heavy but durable. They just don’t make (affordable) furniture like that anymore. I reincarnated the desk from teal into a lush emerald hue (Soapstone by Behr). To do this, I used a DIY chalk paint recipe with latex paint and calcium carbonate, which you can view here at In My Own Style.
My office chair also received a revamp. First, I glammed up the base and legs with several coats of a light gold spraypaint. (It’s worn off a little in spots, but I’m still content with it.) However, my fave part of the revamp is the fabric, which I scored from Joann’s. It’s a black and white crosshatch pattern that pairs wonderfully with the MCM desk.
It was very easy to recover the chair, because I only used a staple gun and hot glue. First, I disassembled the chair and traced the back (x 2) and seat onto my fabric, allowing extra inches all around. I then used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the seat.
For the chair’s back, I glued fabric onto one side of the chair back and then trimmed the excess off the edges. I then glued the other piece to the opposite side, folding the fabric edges under and over the first panel. It was a little tricky through the curved parts, but I was very pleased with the results. Plus, this was far easier and quicker than sewing a cover for the chair back.
Obviously an organized workspace also lends to the vibe of order. I have two metal bookshelves in which I store my most commonly used items in white boxes and magazine files. I also favor decorating offices with white, since it helps the color stand out and creates a feeling of cleanliness.
This table is a very cheap desk from IKEA that also a leg makeover with the same gold spraypaint. The stool is–surprise!–also from IKEA and was originally black. I painted it with the same chalk paint as the desk.
This piece is one of my mother’s counted cross-stitch creations. I inherited it years ago when she passed, but never found a proper home for it since it didn’t coordinate with my past color schemes. But it has a home now. It was always one of my favorites because I love birds and all the colors in it. I had to make a place for it so this room seemed best.
I also added houseplants like pothos, Vick’s plant, and a lemon fern to complement the bright green from the desk. While the office is not as brightly lit as my last home office, it’s still a decent place for them. A wood letter tray with a DIY whitewash treatment frames the plants nicely.
The final wall is pretty uneventful, but practical. I cut out circles of dry erase paper and applied them to the walls. These help me organize my various to-do lists. On each side, I hung various rulers I use for my projects.
That’s all, folks! It’s a pretty small room, so with the powerful green of my desk, I didn’t want the rest of the decor to compete with it. It’s a fairly simple space that I keep cleaner than any other room because it’s my workspace.
Sources:
- Table: IKEA/DIY
- Desk: secondhand find/DIY
- Desk color: Behr Soapstone MQ4-14
- Wall color: Sherwin Williams Divine White #6105
- Office chair: IKEA
- Magazine files, storage boxes: IKEA/Michaels
- Bookshelves: IKEA
- Table: IKEA/DIY
- Stool: IKEA/DIY
- Parrot counted cross-stitch – secondhand/DIY
- Dry erase paper: Joann Fabrics
- Wood candle holder: Lowes
- Paper tray: Target/DIY whitewashing
- Fox: secondhand
- Curtains: unknown
Do you have a space dedicated in your home for an office? How do you like it decorated? Do you prefer neutral colors or bold colors for decorating?
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Filed under: Color, Furniture, Office, Organizing & Storage, Rental Decorating, Reveals + Makeovers, Textiles 
