the office Archives - The Weekend Country Girl

crafting, Real Life, recycled furniture, repurposed frame, the office, the suburban home

Quick Home Office Makeover

July 21, 2015 Karen

The one room that has been totally neglected since we moved in to our suburban home is my office. It has been our dumping ground, a storage space, and an all around under used space in our home.

I know what you are thinking, and you are right. What a mess!

When I changed jobs recently the need for a home office became critical. I am currently sharing a really small office at work and I need a quiet place to get some of my tasks done.

As the closing on our property has been slow Mr. Math and I came up with a plan to deal with one of the things that have piled up in the office, paint. I just can’t pass up samples of paint in the oops bin. I also love spray paint and sometimes forget I have a color so I buy more. We decided to use a 6 1/2 inch space behind the door to Store all of the spray paints and samples that I have. I think that having them all in one place may stop me from buying more than I need…I hope anyway.

Mr. Math installed white brackets from Home Depot that were under $2.00 each and bought the plastic coated shelving. He did have to notch around the door trim.

I am getting a ton of storage out of unused space here.

While the shelving unit went up, I sorted though my closet and made it more organized. I donated a few loose items, and cleared the trash. Believe me folks, this is organized in my world.

A new rolling cart from Aldi will be where I keep the things currently. Getting worked on. Check out the Wednesday ads for Aldi, folks. They have some cool things that randomly pop up. My vinyl cutter also now has a home that makes sense.

The best part about the makeover were the curtains. $29.99 for a pair of 96 inch long lined curtains from Homegoods. I had to buy two sets but for $60.00 total they pack a punch.

Everything else in the room came from around the house.

I added in some of my favorite sayings and an old drop leaf pine table tat ~~can~~ will be pulled out for projects and I rearranged. All in this quick makeover was just over $100.00.

I have more “S’s” but this weekend I couldn’t seem to put my finger on them. They will be added to the wall as they turn up.

A friend made this awesome sign doing a particularly tough time this last year and I love that I can see it when I walk in from the laundry room.

I hope you had a productive weekend.

Blessings,

Karen

Building a Home, cedar lumber, Decorating, Decorating with mirrors, Dining Table, Dresser, home decorating, master bedroom, new home, reclaimed wood, The bedroom, the guest room, the office

Weekend Home Tour Part 2

April 21, 2015 Karen

Here are the rest of the photos from the weekend home tour. The entry way was dramatic.

House 3

I really liked the ceiling in the dining or office area.

A black and white kitchen.

Mirrored side tables.

The house was fun to look at.

House 4

Much more my style.

Cedar timber ceiling.

Copper colored tile entry.

Master bedroom ceiling

I thought this wall/ headboard/ ceiling treatment was interesting. It

I like the rustic touches in this home.

I am such a fan of the herringbone brick ceiling.

I love this wall, clock, and storage.

I hope you enjoyed my visit to the model homes.

I would encourage you to visit homes near you when you get a chance. They really get the creative juices going.

Have a great day!

Blessings,

Karen

cooking, kitchen storage, master bedroom, new home, The bedroom, the guest room, the office

Interior Photos of the Soon to be New Home

April 9, 2015April 9, 2015 Karen

I walked through the house this past weekend with a camera and also got a floor plan of the house we are buying. It helps to have pictures to refer to now so I can come up with a plan for the house.

The house is a traditional ranch. That is pretty fitting when it is on 15 acres and this is th view over our fence.

The Kitchen

Friends, I swore, promised, pledged…you name it, that I would not have another galley kitchen. I hate that cut off feeling. This one is particularly odd in that it is right off the front door of the home. Well, if the front door weren’t walled up it would be where the front door is. The wall is going to have to move. I plan on having an L shaped kitchen that opens to the dining space rather than the front entry with an island.

See the right side of the china cabinet? That is roughly where the front door is, except it is walled off. The kitchen is to the right.

The Bedrooms

The guest rooms are nice sized, and have a decent, but not awesome closets. I like that they have 36 inch doors. The folks who built this home planned on aging in the home which is good for us. We will be turning one room into my office so it will have a Murphy bed. The other will be a traditional guest room.

The master is too small and has a dinky closet. It will be added on to before we move there permanently.

See those brown bifold doors? That is the whole master closet.

The Bathrooms are fine for now, except he master doesn’t have a door. I already have a barn door going in there.

No door on the master bathroom. Ick.

Wallpaper border, carpet and frilly curtains will go. The counters, cabinets and tile are okay.

The Outdoor Kitchen is high on the list. We will have to have a functioning outdoor kitchen before starting on the indoor kitchen. It is going to be a rustic corrugated tin and cedar space with a stainless sink, a gas grill, a stainless island, and a free wall shelf. Edison lights, our deck furniture, a misting system and a big fan will make this space a destination on the property. Hubby has been given a huge smoker that will be near the decking.

See that deck at the back of the workshop above? I can’t wait to show you my workspace, but tonight it is about the house. That covered deck is a short walk across our back yard. It will make the perfect outdoor kitchen. There is water near that will be easy to set up in the sink and we will be having propane run to the area, too, for the grill.

Powerwashing, paint and installing the counters will make this space great for cooking.

The first thing we have to do is work on the foundation of the house. Another thing I said I would never do again. We are moving where the dirt is clay based and it just moves. It is not major, but needs to be addressed before we work on the floors. The carpet in the kitchen, bathroom, den, dining room must go. Immediately.

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

Eclectic Office Makeover Revealed

September 4, 2014 Karen

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:

Here is a tour of my finished space:

Office makeover

The office from my doorway.

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

Behind my desk is a giant marquee letter we created.

suitcase

The suitcase wall is amazing.

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.

I bought this clock at Sears.

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.

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

DIY Projects, reclaimed wood, Style, the office

Giant Marquee Letter DIY

August 26, 2014 Karen

I have a reclaimed wood wall in my office. I am crazy about the warm, rustic look of the wall but I wanted a statement piece for the wall. As principal of a high school, I knew I wanted it to reflect our school and my rustic, vintage vibe. I settled on a large marquee style electrified letter I. I wanted it to look industrial, vintage, and be large enough to be the wow statement for the office.

The big I is 36 inches tall and 24 inches wide. I cannot imagine what buying one that size would cost to purchase, but I know it would be more expensive than I would be willing to spend.

Here is what we did:

First we cut out the letter from a sheet of plywood.

The I was easy to cut out because the letter has all straight lines.

Next we edged the back of the letter with 1 inch by 1 inch moulding so that there is a place for the wires and sockets to hide.

Next, the plywood was painted white.

To give the I the marquee look, we used patio lights and roof flashing.

Hubby attached the flashing with 1 inch sheet metal screws around the edge.

Hubby is the math dude so he taped off two rows along the big part of the I then one piece of tape on the top and bottom.

1-IMG_8057

1-IMG_8060

Hubby figured out where to put all the bulbs. We only used 24 of the 25 sockets. the 25th one is safely covered with electrical tape and is hanging out in the back of the letter with the rest of the wires.

I don’t drill straight. I try, but it just doesn’t come out the way I want without the awesome drill press we have at the Garagemahal. I was too impatient to wait until then so Hubby used the paddle bit to drill holes for the sockets to fit in.

The back is ugly. Who cares?

I pulled off all the shaggy parts before we got busy putting the sockets into the hole and screwing in the bulbs.

I am crazy about how this giant letter looks on the wall.

I am alllmooost finished with the office. Good thing, since next week the kids show up.

I hope you have a great day!

Blessings,

Karen

painting, recycled furniture, Space Saving, the office

Turning a Wall Cabinet Into a Side Table

August 25, 2014 Karen

I am in the process of making my office a better reflection of who I am. Lucky me. I work where I have the opportunity to make where I work look like home. I spend more waking hours of the day here than I do at home most days.

I need a table for my printer to sit on. It needs to be narrow and have storage for printer supplies inside. I happened to have had the exact piece I needed in the garage just waiting for inspiration. It was designed to be a wall cabinet of a 1980’s Ethan Allen entertainment center. I bought it as a part a set I bought for $70.00 a while back. Two of the base sections are now my master bedroom side tables.

The wall cabinet that was also part of the set is smaller and more narrow. It was just too short to work for a table.

Fortunately I remembered some legs I bought at the ReStore garage sale last year. I bought 8 brand new legs for $2.00. They sort of had a mid-century look about them and I thought they would be perfect for the printer table.

Attaching them was easy with the brackets included.

I used Rusteoleum Seaside to paint the side table.

The table is going to go on a wood wall when all is said and done so I wanted to show you how pretty it looks up against my reclaimed wood door.

The office is almost ready for me to show off.

I hope this inspires you to think outside the box when it comes to remaking items.

Have a great day!

Blessings,

Karen

DIY Projects, reclaimed wood, Redecorating, resale finds, Silliness, Style, the office, traveling, vintage style

Suitcase Shelf Wall

August 15, 2014August 30, 2014 Karen

When I took the job as principal in the suburban city we moved to there just was not time to do much to my office, which before I came on board was a storage closet. Yes, I felt pretty special, but in the rapidly growing district I work in, I am thilled to have a space at all.

The “office” was the most awful institutional blue color with very little light. The light situation probably had something to do with the fact it was never designed to have someone working in the space.

I did what I could (not much) last summer then got busy opening a school.

This summer I had a little more time to work on making the space more inviting. The finished office is coming soon.

Today, it is all about my suitcase wall.

I have wanted to do this wall somewhere since I first spotted it on PInterest two years ago. The long blank wall in my office seemed to be he perfect location.

First, I collected suitcases.

I had the blue suitcase in my stash and planned to use it once day to make another chalkboard. I paid two dollars for it at a thrift store.

I found the dark green travel case at Goodwill for $2.99 a while back, the alligator suitcase was in rough shape. I bought it for $5.00 off Craig’s List. I got impatient to get the wall done so when I spotted two suitcases at a local resale shop, I paid too much. I got the last two suitcases ( a hat box and a leather men’s suitcase) for $50.00. I know what you are thinking. Yes, I did pay too much….but I wanted them and the blank wall was staring at me.

All in I have $60.00 invested in suitcases. Not bad for a whole wall of joy.

Hubby chopped each suitcase in half on the table saw. No pictures of that part. I was at work when he got that done.

I then ripped out all the loose lining.

We cut boards to fit inside the suitcases to make a support frame.

1-IMG_7970

Here they are all stacked with the wood inside.

I laid them all out on the floor in the office to decide where I wanted them to go, then got busy taping it out on the wall. Toggle bolts went into each wall board. The top board was screwed to the top of each wall board, and then small side pieces were attached with the air nailer.

We slid each suitcase over the wooden support then used screws to attach it to the wood. (Air nailing would have been easier and less noticeable but I want to take these puppies with me when I retire in a few short years.)

Here it is all finished and dressed up!

I cannot wait to get the office looking the way I see it in my head.

Let me know what you think of my version of a suitcase wall.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Blessings,

Karen

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

Decorating a New Office

April 19, 2013 Karen

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

Decorating, the office, vintage style

Color Choices

April 6, 2013April 6, 2013 Karen

The office is getting this awesome sewing cabinet, a vintage school desk that hubby saved from destruction, an old mirror, and an empty frame that has wires running across to hang work. What color should it be?

I sort of like the green.

Excuse the shadows. It was too pretty to go inside to photograph.