If you are trying to get organized this year, chances are you are looking to set up a home office, or make the home office that you have more organized. Well, if this home office makeover doesn’t give you some solid inspiration, I don’t know what will. This beautiful New England-inspired office is definitely something to take a look at, before and after.

This is a pretty common situation. This particular room was built as an office in the original house plans, but over the years acted as a playroom, and eventually a music room for the kids. Well, the kids are all off to college now, and mom thought this might be the time to move out of the basement. Trade a basement office for natural light? Yes, please! So here is the room before.

That closet is soooooo great! But all those toddler toys? Not needed anymore.

Alrightly, after we decided that this was going to be a complete design job from the floor up, we decided to get new flooring. Since it isn’t going to be a music room anymore, we decided to swap the original carpeting to beautiful engineered hardwood. Then we went shopping and started gathering designs that we liked. These became our design board. The stuff on the right side of the photo was going into the room opposite this one. This is just a peek, since I’ll have to show you that another time.

Although the paint color in this room doesn’t appear too different in these pictures, it did go from a straight baby blue to more of a soft aqua green, which is a great base color for teals and blues.

We were going for New England classical with executive stylings and feminine touches. One of my favorite parts about this office ended up being the teal blue velvet chair. The homeowner was over the moon happy when she realized that she could bring in a beautiful comfortable office chair, and that she wasn’t stuck with a big, black rolling chair like she had always used. Isn’t it gorgeous???

By then I had already picked out the curtains, which really grounded the room up against the hardwood and the dark furniture that we knew she’s be bringing in. Yes, it had more color than the blue and blue and blue and green that we were building the room from, but there was absolutely no reason to stay monochrome in this room. A little color can still be serene in an executive space like this.

This gal has a family who likes to pop into her office during the day, so we figured having a comfy guest chair would encourage those all important teen conversations. A pick from Wayfair almost didn’t make it into the room. She made the mistake of parking this beautiful chair in the family room, and I thought for sure we were going to have to order a second one!

Yes, we had a bit of a budget, but this room also has some history. We wanted to bring in a secretary desk that had been in the living room up to this point. The main workspace is for her office job, but a home office can also be the space to manage the household, too. Mementos, stamps and a little bit of household paperwork gets stored here before going to the household files in the basement.

I knew exactly what I wanted for the rug, a low-pile Kashmir-style washed print. A low pile is perfect for a room like this, because there is no need for a chair mat for the rolling chair. It’s warm, but still very functional.

Ready to see the room?

Wait…that’s not quite right.

Ah, that’s better. Because the whole reason we work at home is to be with our pets, isn’t it?

But don’t go, yet. Don’t you want to know what’s behind those doors?

There is a lot to look at in this little space. I love the lateral file, the organized binders, and the step-files for open matters. Painting the closet makes it stand out. Everything is stored up off the floor. There’s plenty of space to store the laptop bag out of the way. And all the pretty little things! A home office should always look like you. Even the most boring of office details can have style, like where you store your printer ink. Use your beautiful things every day!

And at the end of the day, it all gets put away, and this gal can really enjoy every part of her home.

Almost every week someone tells me that they really need to set up an organized home office. Working at the kitchen table is ok for the afternoon, but having a space like this definitely helps you be more productive…and possibly even healthier!

Basement dwellers, are you tired of your albino complexion? Call me, and we’ll get you out of the basement and into a real home office. If you are gathering ideas for your own above-ground home office, pin this one for inspiration.