Hey hey! Hope you had a great weekend! Ours was fun – we had drum corps finals for my husband and (because drum corps is done and we have him “back”) a family day at the Indiana state fair. We had a blast!
Slowly but surely things are coming around in the family room. If you’re just joining me on this project we recently took down a wall between my office and our family room. The end result is AWESOME. Seriously the best thing we’ve ever done in this house, hands down, no question.
My office was the brightest room in our house so not only did we get more space, we get a TON more natural light as well. It’s my favorite part. :)
But the question for me has been where to put a new desk. This was my set up in the office before:
The old farmhouse table was huge! I absolutely loved it as a desk although recently it was feeling a bit too big to me. I was looking into something smaller and smaller is definitely what I ended up with. ;)
Originally I planned on keeping an actual desk in that area. I even considered building out window seats in the corner for me to sit on. But when all the floors were done and I started moving furniture around I realized it was a perfectly lovely corner just as it is.
I came up with a plan for a desk space that has worked really great for me so far. It’s not going to be for everyone but I love it. Even though we have more space I still want to use it wisely and this has worked well!
The corner where my desk was now holds a comfy chair and an ottoman:
Both of which we already had. I’ve actually bought very little for the “new” family room – the only two things are in this corner! That brass banker’s lamp is from Target and is perfect in that spot. I really wanted some soft light back there in the evenings.
By the way -- the subwoofer is a part of life that I’ve come to embrace. I may cover it someday, I may leave it as is – it doesn’t bother me like it used to. You pick your battles. ;)
Now my “desk” is a simple laptop table from World Market:
Most of the time it’s used as an end table next to the sectional. When it’s time for me to work in the morning I pull it over (I have pads on the bottom so it doesn’t scratch the floors) and then sit down to work (with my feet up on that ottoman!).
I got their oversized version so there’s plenty of room for my laptop, camera, notebook, whatever:
It’s nice for when I’m sorting mail or writing checks or whatever too, although I do have to write on a paper or notepad because the top is textured. Not a big deal to me – they have smoother versions but I loved this look.
I’m still working out the other storage in this part of the room so it’s functional for me. The dresser that was in my office is now in the living room and still has the office stuff in it. I need to switch out some of the contents to the dresser that’s in this little nook now.
The built ins next to the fireplace give us tons of new storage too so I’m considering those for my supplies as well. I have an outlet next to the built ins that I plug my computer into and just leave there so it’s always ready.
So far I’m quite loving it! It’s no big deal at all to pull the table over in the morning. And when I’m done working I put it back next to the sofa – it’s kind of nice to be able to put it all away, you know? I considered moving my desk upstairs to the loft and working up there every day, but especially in the summer when the kiddo is home I need to be downstairs where all the action is.
And I still get to work in what I think is the prettiest corner in our house:
There are a few minor things that will be changed here over the next few weeks – I’m redoing all the window trim like I did in the living room. The walls will all be painted a new color (more on that this week) and I still need to do little things like touch up the crown molding and baseboards.
But for now this spot is the most completed area in the family room and I’m enjoying it! The view doesn’t hurt either:
Oh, and a few of you have asked but we did contact two realtor friends before moving ahead with this reno project. I was concerned that getting rid of the office would hurt the value of our home but both said the bigger family room far outweighed that. (It would be different if it was a bedroom though.)
Do you have a dedicated office space? Do you need to be able to shut the door or could you handle having it out in the open? Any creative solutions you’ve used to make your own work space?