Home Office....

I don't know why I start thinking about another project before I've even completed the last one!! (let alone STARTED the last one!!).  Anyone else have this problem??  I think I need to stop watching HGTV, as Peter Fallico's latest episode of Home To Keep had me thinking about my office....

My husband recently started working from home more often.  And in an effort to improve productivity, we've also combined our home offices into one. It's really opened up the spare room, but it's seemed to have cramped the other.  With two monitors, two mice (I like my thumb trackball mouse!), and two computer stations, the entire office has become a disaster. And I can't stand it! (I'm not sure how he's working in there so frequently and still OK with it!!).

Let me explain a little....although we've combined into one office, we have not, by any means, combined into one computer (or accessories - we still have two computer stations, as I have my PC and he has his work lap top).  Instead of just working off the laptop though, he plugs it in to this base thingy so he can use a standard monitor, mouse and keyboard.  And since I use two monitors at work, he thought we could both use two monitors at home now...only problem is, we don't have a "switch" to easily switch the monitors back and forth between the computers (instead, we have to physically unplug from his computer and plug them into mine)...so now my PC sits ON the desk (instead of on the floor), the printer now sits on the floor, and the two monitors are on individual stands (to be closer to eye level).

We also have a tall filing cabinet that we rarely use. We purchased it at an auction awhile back, and since it had been through a lot in its days, 3 of the 5 drawers do not open (or are EXTREMELY hard to open).  I've been thinking lately that we could do without this filing cabinet (or maybe move it to the basement for long-term storage needs), and keep the daily files on a bookshelf. I originally thought I could do something like this, with shelves flanking either side of the desk:

And we currently have 2 unused bookshelves sitting in the basement that look something like this (they're not hideous, but they're OAK - bleh!!). With a little love, paint, and maybe a feature paint on the backwall, they could be fantastic...

So I've been playing around with some different layouts...(yes, that angled closet is our linen closet... if you think our 7'6"x9'6" office is small, that linen closet is RIDICULOUS!), but the tight space makes things a little difficult (especially since our office also doubles as my Make Up Room, since the bathroom lacks the storage space necessary for getting ready in the morning)



Option #2 would feel quite cramped walking into the room...so I think Option #3 leaves the most room...but is it really that much different from how it is now?! The use of the bookshelves would help remove knick-knacks from the desk itself...and the bottom shelves could have boxes that house current filing that would be easily accessible...  What do you think?  Maybe I should start on my other projects first though.....??? (although they're just for looks...this would actually CLEAN UP a space AND make it look good) Hmmm

Stencil Wall

You may recall that I've wanted to do a stencil wall in our Master Bedroom for some time now (I even have the stencil -- since February!!).  Well, I just stumbled upon The Hills blog (via Just a Girl) and now I really really really want to finish the project!! What do you think? Here is their master bedroom:

{Images above via The Hills}

She used a handmade stencil and pearlescent craft paint...

And here is my current bedroom:

(except my lamps are a dark smoky teal, and my lamp shade DIY has yet to be completed -- haven't even purchased the material yet -- and I just purchased a duvet cover, and we replaced the bird pictures with wedding prints)

Originally I thought I was just going to use a clear coat (polyurethane?) for the stencil... now they have me rethinking the idea.... Maybe I'll go with our trim color, so it stands out, yet still works with the room. What do you think?

Lamp Shades

Awhile ago I painted our bedroom lamps an aqua blue (on right, below).  They looked great... until we bought a painting for the room.   In keeping with the blue-ish hue that our curtains give off, we purchased a blue lily canvas from Homesense (at least, I think it's a lily...I'm horrible with flowers....).  Since having the painting in the room, the lamps just looked wrong.  Well, they looked great, but they were the wrong shade of blue.  Aqua was too bright with everything else in the room.  So, a few weekends ago, I packed them up again and brought them to my parents place (we don't have a garage to spray paint in). 

We applied two coats of Bahama Sea over the Blue Ocean Breeze, and now they look the right color, don't you think? (Ok, I know that I'm HORRIBLE at taking pictures of my own house, but I promise, I WILL take some pics this weekend!)  See how the painting just didn't have any aqua in it? They just didn't work....I guess that's why you should pick your paint based on things you have, instead of buy things based on your paint color.... hmmm...learn from mistakes, right?

So I love the lamps now (again).  That is, except for the lamp shades.  I always thought they were quite yellow before:

And they looked a little less yellow after the first color:

But now (sorry, no picture), they look SO yellow! Gross, actually.  So I came across this DIY painted lamp shade at Bon Temps Beignet blog. I thought this could be another alternative to the DIY burlap shade, although they would still be yellow, just not AS yellow...

What do you think? 



DIY Painted Lamp Shade from Bon Temps Beignet

It doesn't have to be zebra print (after all, I do love damask and could use the Decorative Wall Art Pattern from All Things Thrify...)

{via All Things Thrify}

OR

DIY Burlap Lamp Shade via Mama Says Sew

Wall Art....and me?

This weekend, I came across this blog, All Things Thrifty, and was mesmerized by it.  I pretty much love all things damask-ish and all things black & white, so this met BOTH my loves.  It looks like a lot of work, but if we can't find something large for our one wall, I may have to attempt this in the summer (as we don't have a garage, and it would probably be too dusty to attempt in our basement).  My hubby will have to teach me how to use a few tools, but he said he would (although he probably just doesn't want to spend the 5 1/2 hours doing the cut out like this husband did for her). After the shape was cut out, they stapled black material to the back, so it's 2 dimensional. Isn't it amazing??

image via All Things Thrifty blog

For more info on her DIY, click the links above.

As for other wall art...well, I've really been wanting to do a wallpaper feature wall in our master bedroom for awhile now. However, my husband is a little wary of it, as it (depending on the pattern I choose) could be very difficult to put up.  Not to mention, difficult to take down if we don't like it as much I thought I would.  Plus, it's quite expensive! I never realized how much wallpaper cost! So...I've recently found vinyl wall stickers.  Should I try these instead? They're a fraction of the cost, and they're easy to remove (and reuse!).  If we painted the wall behind our bed a slightly darker color, and put these in white (or black), wouldn't they look amazing? 

images via Etsy

What do you think?  I'm still deciding if it's right for us and our master bedroom...but, I figure, I could always use it in my office/make up room, or (when we have kids, and if we have a girl) in a kids room.  So, I put it on my Christmas list anyways!