Making Their House Our Home: How We Transformed Our Office In Just Over One Day

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I’m a wife, stepmom x3 and mom x 1. When I couldn’t find the stepmom support I was looking for, decided to create it myself. I love mac + cheese, distressed denim, sauvignon blanc and all things Dateline. 

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As many of you know, I’ve been in redecorating mode for about a year and a half now.

Almost five years ago, when my husband and I decided to move in together, I ended up moving into the house where he lived during his first marriage.

I’m not going to lie, this didn’t come without challenges. I often felt like I was living in another woman’s house, because I essentially was. As I’ve said in a previous post about our recent kitchen renovation, it’s been extremely important to me to make this space feel like “ours”, all while respecting the traditions and memories that are still very important to my husband and stepchildren.

When we wrapped up our kitchen renovation last fall, my husband would have told you that we were all done with the redecorating!

I had other ideas in mind! My next stop was the office!

Finding a compromise between our personal styles has been a bit of a challenge. In my perfect world, everything would be painted white. And I mean everything! I love the modern, sleek and clean look.

His style is more rustic and country. He loves the look of real wood.

In order to convince him that re-doing the office was a good idea, I had to darken things up and appeal to his masculine style. I also had to promise not to paint the shelves white.

But my motivation for changing up this space wasn’t only because I wanted it to flow with the style of the rest of the house. It was motivated by my desire to get us organized!

Since I moved in, the office has been our dumping ground. Unopened mail, sheets from school, work, notes, papers, anything that we needed to hide when guests come over was always shoved in the office. The clutter made me feel so overwhelmed that I just shut the door and pretended it didn’t exist.

Unfortunately, because of the clutter, the space was rarely used for what it’s actually for – to work!

I’m a firm believer that your work environment has a huge impact on

a. how you feel and
b. your level of productivity

Plus when you truly love a space, you take pride in it and WANT to keep it clutter free!

So, with all of those persuasive arguments, I FINALLY convinced my husband that it was time to change things up.

To be honest, I still can’t believe he agreed!

When I got the “go ahead” I had my good friend and decorator Abby Campbell pop over to brainstorm what we were going to do. Then we sent my husband to Home Depot to pick up the supplies! We were thrilled to be given the opportunity to partner with  BEHR® for this make-over project.

Instead of telling you what we came up with, I’m going to just show you!

HERE’S THE BEFORE

Note, the office in the “BEFORE” picture is much cleaner than I described above. In the spirit of being transparent, I’ll disclose that I hid most of our junk underneath the desk.


Before 1.jpg


Before 2.jpg

HERE’S THE AFTER


After 1.jpg


After 2.jpg

There is no junk hidden in this picture. In order to effectively de-clutter the space, we had to do a MAJOR purge. Let me tell you, it felt SO good!

To paint the office, we used BEHR MARQUEE® Interior Paint. This paint is phenomenal. It’s so smooth and goes on in one coat which makes the whole process much quicker!

We used BEHR MARQUEE in Wheat Bread on all the walls with the exception of one, which we painted in Carbon.

(I told you I was trying to keep it masculine!)

I’ll be honest, when I heard that this paint went on in one coat, I had my doubts. But guys, it actually does!

Yes, you read that right. We covered up those dark red walls in ONE COAT!

I have to tell you. This room make-over was so quick and easy. By painting the walls, changing up the lighting and re-organizing items that we already had, we modernized this dated space in just over a day.

Now the office reflects the updated style of the rest of the house!

Before we painted the room, I used to keep the office doors closed, because truthfully, I was embarrassed by it’s state. Now they are wide open, ready for everyone to see.

Plus, we love the vibe so much that now we’re actually using the space to work!

Now… which room should I tackle next?

Just kidding Honey! (well… kind of!)


DISCLOSURE: We partnered with BEHR® for this project.  However, as always, all project ideas, statements and opinions are my own!

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