If you missed the office redesign big reveal, you can catch up here.  I had the good luck of scheduling this for release right in the middle of Hurricane Sandy. Hopefully the ideas used in the details of this hard-working home office will spark some ideas in your own space.

Today I’m sharing the scoop on shelving.  You might remember that I already had an enormous built-in bookcase on one side of the room.

I needed something on the other side to bring balance to the room.  Oh, did I mention that there wasn’t really much of a budget for this project?  After going back and forth between renovate or redesign, I decided to see what could happen in here on the cheap.

A while back, I picked up a little gem in the clearance aisle of Lowes.  Four small nicely routed slabs of lumber, marked from $140 down to $10 for all four. Can you tell what these were meant to be?

Kitchen drawer fronts.  They’re just so cute.  Perfect for something. I HAD TO HAVE THEM.

Fast forward five or six years, and they turn out to be exactly the right size to fit in between the window and the walls.  Painted black to match my furniture, add a set of Ikea brackets to each shelf, and I have exactly the right solution for storage and display, two on each side of the windows.

Now, I know that not each of my readers can be lucky enough to score a set of adorable unfinished kitchen cabinet drawer fronts AND the space to put them in, but that’s not the point.  I always tell my clients, “If you find something that makes your heart sing, bring it home, and we’ll find just the right spot for it.”

Good design isn’t about how much you can spend, but more about what you can create in the space that you have.