Office Redo

I think out of all of the rooms in my house, the office has been updated the most times.  It was the very first room that I painted, and I was never truly happy with the color.  I remember pouring it in the paint tray and thinking "I really hope that looks better when it's dry." 

And it did look a little bit better.  For a time.  But the longer I lived with it, and the more I got to figure out what colors I liked and my personal style, I realized that it wasn't working.  So I started trying to figure out what would work.

I've been wanting to do a dark colored ceiling for a while now, and I figured this would be the perfect time to do it.  Matt got to choose the bright orange of his band room, so I should be able to do a dark ceiling for my office.  But what color?

I bought samples of purple, green, and gray.  But in the end I decided on a gorgeous blue/green color. 

 

The color I ended up with on the walls is Rock Candy by Sherwin Williams.  The ceiling color is Martha Stewart's Plumage, which I had color matched to Sherwin Williams.

 

 

I installed a new semi-recessed light fixture on the ceiling.  I also added a new mirrored desk lamp, which I got at Target. 

 

I made the desk from several Ikea pieces.  I used 2x2 Expedit shelves for the sides, and a Linnmon table top.  I'm really happy with this, because I was looking for a large working space and a lot of storage, and this has everything I wanted.  My dad gave me the drawer inserts for Christmas, so I installed them for even more storage options.  The purple baskets are great for holding craft supplies, or will be good for school books when I start grad school this March. 

 

I still need to put in trim and closet doors.  I'll also probably change the window treatments, but for the moment I'm just enjoying the calming blue ceiling and massive workspace I now have. 

And really, the biggest test of a room is whether the dogs are comfortable, so I think we're good with that!



Band Room Update

One of our main considerations in house hunting was that there was a music room.  Matt has a lot of music gear (and I have a little) and we needed a place to store it and practice.  Like everything else downstairs, we kept putting things there and forgetting about them.  Soon it looked like this:

Why yes, that is my wedding dress!  And a bunch of boxes, and old doors, and other clutter.  So we cleaned it out and ripped out the trim and floors.

Better, right?  Matt and I wanted to go with a fun, bright wall color to energize the room.  We chose Maple Leaf by Behr.  Here's how it looked after I painted it.

 

Today I added trim.  I still need to fill the holes and touch up some places, but I think it's looking pretty good.  

  

I think the paint looks a little bright in these photos, and it looks darker in person.  Once the carpets get installed (hopefully in the next couple of weeks) it will be finished!  I can't wait!

Dining Room Buffet

So we actually have had this buffet for a while, but I haven't posted about it, so I'll do it now. 

A few months ago I bought an Axium Buffet from Overstock.com.  I had been looking for a dark, modern-looking buffet, and this was it.

I read the reviews and the most common complaint was that it took a while to put together (most people said 4-5 hours).  I'm actually one of the weird people who love putting furniture together, so this didn't deter me. 

It arrived about a week after I ordered it in 3 very large boxes.  It came in about 200 pieces, including hardware.  No problem!  I gathered the tools I needed and got to work. 

It took me about 4 hours overall to assemble.  I did it 95% myself, but Matt had to help me lift some pieces when it started to get too heavy.

I love how it looks, and it's held up really well for the past few months.  I still need to figure out exactly what's going to go on top of it, but I'm not in a hurry.  

Easy Wall Art

I made a post a while ago with inspiration for some blank 8x8 canvases I bought.  I was nervous to commit to a specific design, because what if it didn't come out right?  What if I messed it up?  Well, I finally realized who cares if I mess it up?  If I try and fail I'm still in the same spot I was before I tried, with no art. 

By the way, I don't really consider this to be "art" as in, something that someone would actually buy.  But since we currently don't have a budget for real art, this will have to do.  I decided to paint patterns of blue circles, like this inspiration piece:

found here

 So I got out some acrylics, mixed the paint to a color I liked, and started painting.  It took maybe 1/2 hour for me to do all 4 pieces.  It was fun to do, and I like how they turned out.  We hung them on the stairs.

 

I think it brightens up the stairs.  Have you ever made your own wall art?  Did you like the results?