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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.

Dinning Room - Before
Now my new home office.

Home Office Makeover Tame Teal Paint
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.

Aqua and Grey Home Office
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.

Home Office Design
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).

Home Office Accessories Tame Teal Paint
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.

DIY Giant Framed Pegboard
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!)

DIY Pegboard Craft Storage
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.

Tame Teal Home Office Makeover Tips
Better Homes Gardens Network

Related

Crafts, DIY, Family Life better homes and gardens, bhg, home, walmart

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Debbie @ Refresh Restyle says

    August 12, 2015 at 11:43 am

    Great space! Love all the color, aqua is a favorite of mine too!
    Debbie

    Reply
  2. Nicole says

    August 12, 2015 at 12:34 pm

    I love it! Super glam and functional too.

    Reply
  3. Ashley @ Cherished Bliss says

    August 12, 2015 at 2:26 pm

    What a great space!! : ) I’m a little jealous of all that storage! You did a fantastic job!

    Reply
  4. alyson says

    August 12, 2015 at 3:22 pm

    Looks SO amazing, Jen!! Love, love all the details including the grey cabinetry and the marble top desk. PS: LOVE that you guys made generally unused space purposeful and awesome. I’m feeling that way about our lame formal living room. I mean why do I need a formal place to hang?! 🙂

    alyson
    http://www.theaveragegirlsguide.com

    Reply
    • jen says

      August 12, 2015 at 9:10 pm

      Thanks Alyson! I am so pleased with how it all came together. Our lame formal living room was painted purple two years ago and turned into a playroom for the kids! Our house is too small to have rooms just to look pretty (I have too much stuff for it too!)

      Reply
  5. Vera Sweeney says

    August 12, 2015 at 3:45 pm

    woah – this is BEAUTIFUL

    Reply
    • jen says

      August 12, 2015 at 9:00 pm

      Awe! Thanks Vera! It makes me happy to work here now!

      Reply
  6. Claudia says

    August 12, 2015 at 7:43 pm

    Love the gray furniture and colors. Super pretty and functional. Now I’m inspired to makeover my home office 🙂

    Reply
  7. Liz@HoosierHomemade says

    August 14, 2015 at 5:26 pm

    Such a great new space! We changed our Dining Room into a Family Room last year, by moving all the Living Room furniture into there and making the Living Room into a Studio for work. Best.Move.Ever
    Love your new office!
    ~Liz

    Reply
  8. Faith says

    September 14, 2015 at 10:14 pm

    Beautiful!! Where are the blue boxes in the cabinets from?

    Reply
    • jen says

      September 16, 2015 at 9:35 am

      Hi – All of the teal bins are from Target. There are fabric covered ones that are new at Target, and plastic “woven” ones that have been around since this summer. Don’t ask me how many trips to Target it took to get enough. LOL 🙂

      Reply
  9. Alyssa says

    September 15, 2015 at 2:38 pm

    This looks great! Where are the cabinets and bins (with lids) from?

    Reply
    • jen says

      September 16, 2015 at 9:34 am

      Thanks, the cabinets are from Ikea. The bins with lids are from Target — they are current so you can get them now 🙂

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Jen

I'm an Orlando, FL mom, a blogger and a social media junkie. I love anything crafty, Disney, Gator football, chocolate, green living, flip-flops and family movie nights.
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