oak school desk, Painted Furniture, reclaimed wood, the office, the suburban home

Eclectic Office Makeover Revealed

Are you lucky enough to have a space to work in that reflects you, your personality, and makes you feel at home?  For the first time in my career, I can actually say that my office at work is a reflection of who I am, it reflects my somewhat  “off kilter” personality, and I feel at home in the space.

People don’t get too picky about what you do to a space that once was a storage room in a library.  Yep.  The sign glued to the wall outside my office says “Resource” A fancy word in a library for stuff.

Before:

bare office

 

 

Here is a tour of my finished space:

Office makeover

The office from my doorway.

reclaimed wood wall

It took two hours to put up this reclaimed wood wall.

 

giant marquee letter on reclaimed wood wall

lighted marquee letter

side of marquee letter

Behind my desk is a giant marquee letter we created.

suitcase shelves suitcase wall

suitcase

The suitcase wall is amazing.

 

art

The colors in this Mae Chevorette artwork are repeated around my office.  While the office is overall pretty neutral, I do have turquoise scattered around the room. Mainly in globes, art, my map chair (not pictured but int he corner), and printer table.

office clock

 

I bought this clock at Sears.

wall

 

My least favorite wall.    I am not in love with this particular combination. I think that very soon it will become a wall of mirrors to add light to the space. I also like the idea of being able to write on the mirrors with dry erase markers. I can use one for reminders and others for inspiring quotes.

china cabinet

 

My china cabinet serves as a bookcase.

office wall

 

 

As principal of a school that has a focus on preparing for a four year university, I think of my office makeover as an” Oh The Places You’ll Go” office. I plan on adding maps of the cities they move off to for college and sprinkling photos of them at their colleges and universities.

I love the suitcase wall,  my reclaimed wood wall, My Marquee letter I, and my china cabinet bookcase.  If you click on the links, you can see the blog posts for the projects.

The hospital blue walls have been painted Castle Path by Behr.  It is a beige with a hint of gray in it to make it get along with the blue carpet.  I chose beige because painting my desk- which is golden oak (insert frowny face here), could not be painted. It was built by incarcerated folk in Huntsville, Texas years ago and belongs to the district. Gray would have clashed with the golden oak.

The furniture got moved around to give me more space, and the decor is a better reflection of my eclectic style and I added drop leaf kitchen table to the side wall. I can easily pull it out for meetings of up to six and it provides a place for the stuff that accumulates the rest of the time.

 

I hope you are lucky to have a space that reflects your own space whether it is modern, mid century, shabby chic, or something in between.

I would love to hear what you think of my office.

 

Blessings,

 

Karen

Mirror, oak school desk, Painted Furniture, the office, vintage style

Decorating a New Office

I have a brand new office. It is roughly 3 times the size of my old office and oh, it is baby blue. Even though baby blue is not my favorite, the blue seems to fit with the building where the designer of this school really did use all the colors in his or her crayon box. The area that I am going to be turning into a school office was at one point in the not too distant past a library. Tons of space, a lot of storage, and plenty of room for my students. I am a happy camper.

For years I have collected vintage readers. I even have one McGuffey Reader. I have several Dick and Jane books as well as other classic readers.

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I also have some teacher posters to go with the Dick and Jane series. they have literally been under our bed just waiting for the perfect spot, I finally have the opportunity to put them to use. What could be better- vintage books, in a library space. I have four calendar pages that I plan on framing in record album frames. I have four greeting cards that will be framed too.

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In my office I have two cheap laminate bookcases. They must go. To replace the book cases I have purchased a china cabinet to use as storage and to display my books. It is going to be painted my favorite cinnamon cake with a glaze over it to show off the ornate doors. I love the 1970’s look. I have two 70’s mirrors that are going to go in there too. No one else seems to love them like I do.

china cabinet

1970's Mirrors

1970's Mirrors

The sewing cabinet is going to along this blank wall. It is going to be a soft buttery yellow.

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The old school desk is going to sit in the corner by the china cabinet.

 

My paint chip art is going in there too because it has all the right colors to go with the Dick and Jane artwork. Add in a vintage globe and microscope and I am going to have an office that makes me smile. I hope it makes the high schoolers feel at home there too.
I am ready to get started!
Paint Chip Art

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Curbside rescue, oak school desk

Fixing the Schoolhouse Desk

The broken desk is now reassembled.  Hubby, who will not let me defile the desk with paint, is stripping the entire piece of all varnish. 
I really am proud of all that he has done.

 The desk went from this broken piece of furniture. Back to a great piece.

All the parts had to be re-glued and sanded.

 Hubby used an orbital sander to take off the varnish and the uneven wood.

 The seat was really difficult

The results are amazing.
Here is the finished project.

It has now been moved to the city house where it will live.