I know I’ve mentioned before that the hubs is the modern loving half of this duo, but did you know that he works from home? I bet not. In fact, he has worked from home since 2001! He’s in sales, so he really isn’t working at home all that often. He’s usually out and about; you know “closing deals” and such 🙂 But when he’s not out schmoozing people for a living, he’s working at home. This is the reason why it was a definite must that we have a space in our house dedicated for him to do just that.
We decided right from the start (as in when we moved into our fifth house in March of this year) that we would repurpose the formal living room, that is directly to the right as you walk through the front door, to be his office. We already had a large family room and a basement (otherwise known as the family cave), so we really didn’t need a “formal living room”. I mean I am more of a traditional girl, but my entertaining is rarely a “formal” affair.
Here’s where things get a little tricky as I like to say when I’m having a decorating dilemma. The hubs in all of his modern/contemporary loving self obviously wanted a very modern office set up. He actually said and I quote, “I want it to look like Catcher Block’s bachelor pad.” To which I said, “Ummmmm, ok, but you’re not a bachelor!” You probably have no idea who Catcher Block is, and rightfully so, unless you love a good 1960’s throw back movie. He’s a character from the 2003 not-such-a-hit movie Down With Love starring Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger. The movie was just ok, but the set design was off the hizook! Seriously- you should watch the movie just to drool over the wardrobe and set design- for reals! It’s really not my style, but I still totally appreciate it. Anywhoo, how in the world do I make that flow with the style of the rest of the house?! I’m all about the flow (you know something that makes every room feel tied in). This was my dilemma, which is why it’s taken me 7 months to figure it all out. Here’s a look at the movie set the hubs claimed as his inspiration.
I borrowed these pics from B.E.L.T. which has a great post on the movie and set design- go check it out!
In case the “creating flow situation” wasn’t a big enough dilemma for me, add to that his must have list:
1. A couch
2. A cigarette machine that he inherited (you’ll see what I’m talking about)
3. Two chairs
4. Obviously a desk 🙂
Oh – and of course, must be done on a budget (as in don’t break the bank).
So, here is a before picture.
There’s that old cigarette machine that he inherited and insisted needed to be in his office. It really doesn’t fit with his “Catcher Block” inspiration, but he wanted it in there so whatEVS! I mean just keep piling on to my dilemma why don’t you.
The first thing I did was to paint the walls. That was the easy part, so of course that’s where I started. I chose a color that was not too far off of what was already on the walls. I went with a Valspar paint matched to Ralph Lauren’s county cork. This color was a lot less orange-y than the original wall color. We’ve used it before and loved it. It literally looks like the color of a wine cork (which is hilarious to me considering as you know the family room walls are red!) Anyhow, then I rearranged the furniture as we decided to keep most of the furniture we already had in order to reach the don’t-break-the-bank goal. The desk we had worked well considering it’s a mid-century modern piece that we picked up on e-bay a few years ago. I brought in a brownish, copperish color shag rug ($69) that I picked up at Garden Ridge, and moved the striped rug pictured above down to the basement. In an effort to achieve that clean-lined Catcher Block look, I bought a new office chair (Target $34.99).
Then I recovered these garage sale chairs that we picked up a couple years ago for $15! I found this retro fabric that worked with the office color palette and busted out the old staple gun to give these chairs a new look.
Must have 2 chairs – chiggy check! They aren’t exactly the right “Catcher Block” style, but the room is too small to have 2 large square chairs so these work.
Then one afternoon while perusing the Goodwill, I found this. I stopped dead in my tracks and said to myself, “This has the hubs written all over it!”
It was $6.75! Don’t hate – appreciate 🙂 It’s funny how I love shopping at the Goodwill now. I remember as a kid my mom dragging me through the Goodwill and all kinds of thrift stores; and I basically hated every minute of it. And now, I would probably knock her down to get to something before she did. I am becoming my mother; there I said it! Anyhow, this end table needed nothing but a good cleaning. Here it is next to another of the hub’s must-haves, “the couch”(which is actually our first couch – bought when we lived in Richmond, VA).
So I checked off all of the must-have’s: couch- check, cigarette machine- check (moved it to the back corner), 2 chairs- check, and a desk – duh- check. Then I added a few personal and organizational items to help with function and flow. First I added a very symmetrical frame collage of personalized art above the couch. This is actually a grouping of paintings that we created during a family art night a few years ago. The middle picture is my personal favorite; it’s a layering of all our hand prints- dad, mom, brother, and sister.
I added a little Thomas O’Brien tray (Target clearance $6.48) to the desk to give the hubs a place to keep his phone, keys, pen, etc. I love trays for the way they help to keep things looking orderly rather than cluttered.
Also added a couple of these super functional and durable pop-up bins from Target ($9.49). I un-nested the Ikea nesting end tables that we bought years ago to create 3 separate end tables. One is between the 2 must have chairs, and has a pop-up bin underneath for easy additional storage. The others are behind the desk.
In a nutshell, in order to create an office space for the hubs that would reflect his style and inspiration and still flow with the rest of the house I used the easiest trick in the “creating flow” playbook- color. Instead of the bright blues as seen in the inspiration, I used warm, bold neutrals that are found throughout the living spaces in our home. I used the same dark chocolate color on the drapes as in the family room. I used mostly clean-lined furniture in light and dark wood tones and drum shade lamps to give it that Catcher Block masculine feel. I also didn’t over accessorize in an effort to keep it clean, streamlined, and simple much like the inspiration.
So here’s the before again.
Here’s the after.
The large framed art behind the desk we bought at Bombay (on clearance) before they went out of business.
Looks to me like Catcher Block definitely went “Down With Love”. He got himself hitched to a traditional girly-girl and became a family man with 2 kids and 2 dogs 🙂 What do you think?
(*On a side-note: I added the shag rug only for better function- you know in an effort to not stress out about keeping that white carpet pristine (you already know how I feel about wall-to-wall carpet). I think it would probably look better and more like the inspiration without the rug, but I don’t think the carpet would stay looking white. Sometimes you have to sacrifice looks for function, and I’m ok with that. I think it still works.)
What a great transformation! And I'm going to admit that I love that cigarette machine. It's a really unique piece that really adds a lot of character. Great job!
Thanks! The cigarette machine is growing on me! I am doing this whole family game room thing down in the basement, and I thought it would look better down there. But it's his house too so he should get what he wants every now and again – I guess 😉
Carmel, I am loving your transformations! I scrolled through all of your recent posts- wow! Its looking great!! We have those same seagrass chairs in our office 🙂 Love them!
Looks great! I'm a fan of your families art above the sofa.
What an amazing transformation, Carmel! That's brilliant! It still looks a bit different from Catcher Block's bachelor pad, but I'm giving you credit for the effort. It would be so fun if all offices had a theme, right? Or if they were at least as chic as Catcher Block's place. Then again, great job!
Thanks Faye! Yes, I'm pretty sure the set designer should have won an Oscar – maybe they did? I love watching that movie for the set design alone. I've actually made some changes in this room since this post – check here to see how it looks now – http://ourfifthhouse.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-mans-cave.html
I was going for something that worked better with the design of the rest of the house.
What a great transformation! And I'm going to admit that I love that cigarette machine. It's a really unique piece that really adds a lot of character. Great job!