As you may know my hub works from home, so when we moved in to this house we immediately designated the formal living room as his office. It’s the very first room you see when you walk in the door, so it was important to me that it not only function well for him but that it also look nice. Over the past few years of living in this house one thing that really stuck out as an issue in his office was the lack of storage. His working from home comes with lots of “stuff” – mailing supplies, notebooks, binders, brochures, paperwork…..and the list goes on. So as I mentioned back in the summer we contracted to have some floor to ceiling bookcases built to provide storage and to give the room some wow factor. And as most things go, one thing sort of led to another as the bookcases inspired me to hang grasscloth wallpaper, change the curtain panels and bring in some fun new artwork.
The furniture remains the same except for the office chair I bought him for Christmas last year but never showed you before now. The desk he bought on ebay years ago and gives you a glimpse into his personal design style. He’s my mid century modern loving man.
These chairs were free. I still can’t even believe it. He brought them home years ago (like before we even had children) from an office building that was closing and literally just throwing things away!
I added a gold lining to the lampshade with some acrylic craft paint. More on that later.
While the bookcases weren’t a diy project, I did manage to hang the grasscloth wallpaper myself, and I’m still alive to tell the story. Honestly, hanging this wallpaper was easier than painting stripes. I’ll give you a quick tutorial and some tips next week.
The velvet panels from Pottery Barn were a bit of a splurge but I did manage to couple a coupon with a sale. They are so much prettier in person!
If you’ve been around here for awhile then surely you’ve seen the old cigarette machine before. It belonged to my hubs grandfather. The cityscape artwork we already had. The hello languages poster print is from Made By Girl.
And the silhouettes aren’t your typical silhouettes. You all know we’re freaky Star Wars lovers. Well, I bought these from Concepcion Studios on Etsy. They were part of my anniversary gift to my hub.
I used gold metallic zebra print scrapbook paper for the matte which ties in to the zebra print rug (purchased at West Elm years ago).
Star Wars snarkiness is so us.
By far though, the biggest change to this room is the bookcases. They made the room look so much bigger, and they really do provide tons of much needed storage. All the ugly “stuff” is hidden inside the cabinets – including the printer!
This is the room before.
And now.
At the hubs request, I styled the bookcases with books – lots and lots of books (most are old books from family)……….
and the bottom middle section is a bar area. He likes vintage bar ware, and I like collecting it for him. It’s a win – win!
You can find more Before and Afters here –
GORGEOUS!! LOVE the bookcases & that grasscloth wallpaper! The whole room is beautiful Carmel!