Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Home Office Overhaul Complete!

It's DONE!

And I have to say, I'm quite happy with the results.
There's still some tweaking that will probably take place over the next couple of weeks, but I wanted to make this re-do as budget friendly as possible.
Keep reading for the details...


A bigger bookcase was definitely a necessity in this tiny space. I purchased two Martha Stewart 6 cubby shelves (on sale for $29.99 each!) and stacked them on top of each other. Don't worry, I made sure to anchor them to the wall for extra stability!


We chose to paint the room a nice shade of blue/gray. I have to say, it turned out a little bluer than we had hoped, but either way it's a nice change from the dull builder's beige.


Shelves, shelves, and more shelves! The ones above my little work station were $6.99 each from Ikea. The new desk chair was donated by a friend who was purging their space.
The curtains (which i HATE for this space, and will eventually be switched out... just gotta find the right bargain!) were on hand from when I replaced the curtains in our living room.


This is my bf's side of the office... so "manly" and dark. I decided the photo wall was necessary to brighten it up a bit. The frames were something we had on hand from my dorm days, so the cost for this little project was $1.75 for photo prints from Black's.
The shelf (which doesn't support ANYTHING! Do NOT recommend) was purchased for $12.99 from Home Depot.
Total Cost was under $130 (including paint)! Go Team Me!
So now for a little Q&A from our host over at orgjunkie.com


1. What space did you decide to organize and why?
I chose to organize the home office as it had gotten to a disgusting state. Papers were piled up to the sky! With the bf and I both occasionally working from home, taking extra classes, and my crafting, we needed a place that was serene, and where we could find things at a moment's notice.

2. What steps did you take to ensure you completed the space within the 31 day timeline?
Because we both work and study, free time was limited. We divided the task load into four "parts" and tackled one part each weekend. Part one was the clean out and organization, part two was painting, part three was furniture gathering and assembly, and part four was the reloading and finishing touches.

3. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and how did you overcome it?
The hardest part was not being able to run out and buy all those fancy organizational bins and things you see all over pinterest. We had a tight budget, so we ended up recycling a lot of items that we had in other areas of the home.

4. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?Fortunately for me, we don't actually have an abundance of items in our home, so must of it was reused in other areas. Our biggest purge was paper, and off to the shredder it went!

5. Tell me one of your proudest moments during this challenge?
Putting together and arranging items on our new tall bookcase. Those shot glasses are from all of our travels, so it's great to finally have them on display somewhere visible!

6. Explain any organizing “tools” you used to help you create additional space and to establish some limits and boundaries?
A shelf is the greatest tool ever! It helps SO much in getting everything up off the ground.

7. What is ONE piece of organizing advice you’ve learned on this journey that you could encourage someone else with?
Best thing for tiny spaces is to build UP! your floor space may be limited, but there are so many storage solutions in which you can utilize your walls!

6 comments:

  1. Love it - you did a great job! The paint looks nice. Congratulations on completing the challenge!

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  2. I love the new paint color. It really livens up the room. I also completely agree with the idea of building up in small spaces. There is so much storage space that is wasted higher up on walls. Great work!
    www.wholenewleaf.com

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  3. Nice color in the after photos!

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  4. the blue is a pretty color, I def like it more than the orig! it gives the space a pop!

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  5. I love the paint colors! We ended up painting too during the challenge because it just made sense while we had everything in disarray anyways! ;-) Your space looks wonderful! Great job!

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  6. Looks so good! I do love that colour but you are right, it looks bluer than it did in the sample.

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