I may love home office makeovers best of all. This client said, “I have been in my office all day today, smiling and loving it. Thank you so much for your clear, straightforward, path. I got here with 3 weeks of work, after delaying calling you for years!”

Home Office Design Before:

This home office, like most, was a converted bedroom. Mom has several volunteer gigs, as well as keeping things sailing smoothly at home. She was making do with odds and ends, and she was mostly working elsewhere because the space wasn’t that pretty and comfortable. After years, she decided to invest in some updates for herself, including a more appropriately sized new desk…with drawers.

The big change here was color. A little paint, a beautiful new rug, and some turquoise storage units outfitting what used to be the closets made all the difference. The other huge change was bringing everything back to basics. We happily re-used four mismatched pieces, including the ugly, hated metal file cabinet. Once they were all painted white with Annie Sloan Decorative Chalk Paint in Pure White, they all worked together beautifully with the new pieces.

The West Elm Mid-Century desk anchors the room with a warm tone, echoed by the client’s vintage tool caddies and the other homespun elements around the room.

The client kept asking me at the wrap up, “But these baskets are empty??? What should I put in them???”  She won’t have to store things on the floor anymore. She has room to pick up new hobbies and store them in safe spaces. In fact, we reserved the bottom row of her Ikea (formerly Expedit) Kallax unit for canvas bags with her current knitting projects. How cute and organized!

The closets are now a colorful and functional part of the office, not just an oddly shaped storage space. The bonus is the empty space up above where she can bring in new projects, like family photo projects.

She’s excited about using her long work table under the window for big projects, like her family photo album rescue project she has started. This was originally a redwood deck table, but looks completely in the right place now that it is painted and here in her office. Wouldn’t you love a long, clear surface like she has for big projects?

The wall color is Sherwin Williams Cucumber SW6722. She emailed me in a near-panic after painting, wondering if it wasn’t too…green. But most people can’t see the whole palette in an empty room. I knew the greens, blues, whites, and touches of orange would make it all fresh and warm for her. Adding these shots of color like these organizing bins for postage on the shelving unit make it fun. It also gives her flexibility to bring in more color in artwork if she wants to down the road.

What do you think of this home office makeover? If you like it, Pin for inspiration.

I told her I was moving in. But, of course, I love my own home office just as much.