office redesign - reveal!

When we first moved into our new house (back in 2015), we had two empty rooms at the end of the hall. One eventually became Ava's nursery, and the other became a bit of a catch-all room. It was filled to the brim with one large Craigslist desk, a hand-me-down office chair, all of Jordan's clothes, and a whole bunch of craft supplies (proof of this sad shell of a room below).

It was messy, unorganized and unusable. So when I went back to work this past July, I knew I needed to clear out the stuff we no longer use and do a complete office redesign.

I am fortunate enough to have a job that allows me to work from home with my toddler by my side, BUT that means I not only need a organized space in which to do that, but it also needs to be a safe and interactive area for Ava - so she can play and entertain herself while I work!

Knowing that we DO want to grow our family in the next couple of years, I also wanted to design the space with elements that would remain when we eventually switch the room to a nursery. I selected a gender neutral color palette, a fun decal accent wall for a bench (and eventual crib), a beautiful, washable and durable rug and some fun shelving. All of those things will stay when this room serves yet another purpose. And the rest will get moved to our guest room... and I guess at that point I'll start shopping for a futon!

But for now, it's my office and I'm in love! I'm linking all sources at the end of this post, but I'm going to talk more in depth about a few of my favorite elements and areas of the room!

D E C A L D O T S

from The Lovely Wall

I wanted this room to have lots of white, gold and natural wood. It's a fairly neutral color pallet (even with my splashes of teal), so I set out to find the perfect accent wall. Luckily, I stumbled upon The Lovely Wall - the CUTEST decal shop ran by a sweet mama who designs and produces all of her high-quality decals from her Oklahoma City studio! I fell in love with her Hand Drawn Dot decals, and knew they would make the statement I was looking for.

The application was super simple (just peel, stick and flatten), but I really wanted to be sure I wouldn't run out of dots by the time I got to the other end of the wall! So I placed strips of painters tape at vertical one-foot increments, and then marked the tape at the horizontal foot increments. I then divided the total number of dots by that number of square feet, and I had my dot count! This gave me a precise method and also helped me evenly space the dots, while still achieving that sporadic and imperfect look!

H O M E G O O D S A R T R E V A M P

I knew I wanted a BIG and beautiful piece of art to go above the upholstered bench on the accent wall. I found a painting on sale at Homegoods ($49!!). The size was perfect, the frame was perfect, but the colors were slightly off. So I broke out my acrylic paints and mixed up some colors that complimented my color scheme! This paint and some metallic gold foiling transformed my discount art-find into a unique piece that now ties the whole room together!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

L O R E N A C A N A L S R U G

With kids and dogs and my husband (who occasionally forgets to take off his shoes) -- rugs around here take a beating. And for that reason, I gravitated towards Lorena Canals rugs. They are made with non-toxic dyes AND they are machine washable! Meaning... when Ella pees on mom's brand new rug that I just rolled out a mere 48 hours earlier (YES this really happened), I can just toss it in the wash and it's good as new... (sign of relief).

I went with the Ombré Emerald rug; I love the subtle changes in color (from light to dark aqua) creating that ombré look. The large pom pom tassels on each corner also add a playful touch to the room. Since I know this space will eventually turn into a baby's room - I needed to find a rug that would work nicely in a gender-neutral nursery. This one totally fits the bill and I couldn't be happier with how it gives my current space so much personality!

A V A ' S A R T & A C T I V I T Y C O R N E R

This is one of my FAVORITE areas in this room! Ava created the art, and I 'framed' it above a couple spray painted Ikea rails that hold containers for art supplies and some faux ferns! You can read the whole DIY HERE! The Ikea table with built-in toy storage, plus the adorable white chairs are linked at the end of this post.

G A L L E R Y W A L L

I love a good gallery wall. But I wanted this one to showcase some of the beautiful prints we've collected from our travels over the years. I purchased a print of California a few years back, with the most prominent beach cities called out along the coast and thought this little tribute to our home state would make the perfect focal point for my travel gallery.