Creating A New Space: Home Office Design Tips

I am so excited to share with you my new home office design. I have wanted to make a real home office for myself for, ohhhh the last 10 years — basically since we moved into our house. I have had an office, but never a space that was truly mine and truly made me happy. Now, I have an office I can be proud of. And it is in a slightly unusual location — our former dining room.

Who needs a formal dinning room anyway? Ok, some people might. But in the 10 years we’ve had our home we used it less than a half-dozen times. It was basically my china’s bedroom. It was a waste of space, and we don’t have excess space to waste. So it was goodbye dinning room and hello home office.

A brand new space, just for me.

Here is our formal dining room before.

Now my new home office.

Squee!!! I love my new space – LOVE.

Home Office Design Tips

Color

The first thing I started with was color. Aqua is my happy color, so wall color was an easy choice (well, not really I still looked at about six shades). The wall color is Tame Teal by Sherwin Williams. I originally planned white cabinets, but I fell in love with these grey ones at Ikea. Plus I wouldn’t have to worry about matching whites with my desk.

Continuing with the grey I added a medallion indoor/outdoor area rug (in grey) to ground my desk. I saw this rug in person last summer at BHG headquarters so I knew it was really nice, and it didn’t disappoint. It gives the room a more finished feel.

Sentimental

Let’s talk about my desk, it is my favorite piece of furniture in the room. In fact, the room was designed around the desk. I inherited it from my Aunt Susan, and from the moment I set my eyes on it I had to have it in my office. The marble top weighs a ton, but it is perfect for photographing — and it is so unique. The desk needed some serious repair (done) and still needs a fresh coat of paint (chalk paint planned), but it is the perfect space for me to work.

Storage

Because this used to be my dinning room, the room is wide open and is the first room people see when they come in the house. That means that I had to come up with a lot of storage to hide my mess supplies. Having doors on my cabinets was a must, and boxes help me to hide everything I don’t want seen but I need to find quickly. I was even able to use another wire basket – these are the best baskets.

There is so much storage in this room now, that I still have space to fill. Don’t worry, that won’t last!

Accessories

When creating my office, it was important to combine function with design. I wanted my office to have a slightly formal feel, after all it used to be a dinning room. I found several Better Homes and Gardens for Walmart accessories that were perfect for my office including the teal ceramic lantern (on top of the cabinet), the desk lamp and the Better Homes and Gardens Starburst Mirrors Trio (available in stores only).

Not just pretty during the day, I placed a battery candle on a timer in the ceramic lantern. The hashtag is also on a timer, so every night there is a nice glow from on top of my cabinet. And I don’t have to lift a finger.

The one thing I still really want to change is the desk chair. The black one is my husband’s old office chair, and while it is very ergonomic, I really want something a little less institutional. So I am still on the hunt for the perfect desk chair.

Focal point

I saved my favorite feature for last — the giant framed pegboard. This DIY project turned out exactly how I planned in my head. (How often does that happen?!) The pegboard serves as both additional storage and a decorative feature. Contrasting with the aqua, grey and silver throughout the rest of the room I decided to go with a bold gold frame, which totally works.

It is great to be able to hang some of the tools that I used most often out in the open without them looking junky on the desk top. I even made room for my favorite Young Living essential oils that I like to defuse while I work. I am still playing around with how things are laid out on the pegboard, and I will probably change things a dozen more times. But the pegboard itself is perfect. (I will share the easy tutorial soon — no power tools necessary!)

So that is my new home office, where I sit to blog every day. And it is now officially my favorite room in the house.