Roy Kelley Sells Maryland Homes : Taking an Office from "Oh No!" to "Wow!"

Taking an Office from "Oh No!" to "Wow!"

A while back, I got a call from a new client about her home office. She had more than reached her limit with this room, because her husband collects sports memorabilia and it had overtaken the room. She wanted to update the look, have more storage, and preserve the room's ability to serve multiple functions: home office, display space for sports memorabilia, TV watching for these two newshounds, and nap space for the husband of the house.

As you can see in these "before" photos, the room was dated, looked overstuffed, and had no focal point or organization.

 

Focal Wall

 

Home Office

 

Storage and TV

 

Photo Wall

 

 

Consultation and Redesign Concept

We talked about color, the "feeling" my client wanted in the room, and the overall look she wanted to achieve. The idea was to make it crisp, updated, and balanced between masculine and feminine. To keep costs down, we combed Ikea for shelving, a desk, and new storage for the closet space, which would be completely re-worked.

A new, darker carpet replaced the off-white one, and my client purchased a slipcover for the sofa, as her husband didn't like the options for new ones.

The color is a greyed lavender (actually a bit less purple-looking in person than in my photos), with crisp white paint on the trim work. A small crown molding was added, and the baseboards were beefed up slightly. The curtains will be replaced with white wooden blinds, and the closet doors were removed. This formed the basis of a much more modern look.

 

Focal Wall
My client wanted to move all the books and smaller items to a series of shelves, and liked the idea of white shelves against a darker wall. This is the wall you see first from the doorway, and now it looks great despite containing a large amount of memorabilia and books. Stacking the shelves makes the couch feel cozy. Removing the original bookcase opens up the room so that it feels twice the original size now.

 

Home Office
This required a better desk arrangement, as the existing desk was old, not terribly functional, and did nothing to enhance the room's look. The space was very narrow yet long, and Ikea had the perfect replacement. This desk is the right height, long enough to accommodate a desktop computer as well as a laptop, has two drawers, and fits perfectly under window.

 

Storage and TV
After sourcing several options, the most cost effective was this dresser from Ikea. My client replaced the old TV with a flat screen, and had it mounted on an arm above the dresser. This freed up the space on top for her printer and other office machines. There are some wires along the floor between the desk and the dresser, but my client sees no problem with this.

 

Photo Wall
There were many large photos and other pieces, and we agreed that having a grouping on one wall was the way to go. We hung the basic pieces, and left some holes for frames that my client will add later.

Conclusion

There are a few things that still need to be added, such as the window blinds, photos/mementos, and a bit of rearrangement of the memorabilia on the shelves. But now my client is very happy every time she goes into this room, as opposed to the sinking feeling she had before.

It's such a delight to see it all come together. And to know that my client is so pleased that she asked me to take a look at redesigning the master bedroom!



Taking an Office from "Oh No!" to "Wow!"

 

 

Thanks so much for visiting!
Judy Klem

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