Office space makeover-ish

Before...

After...

A few weeks ago, my husband and I decided it was time to give me an Anthro inspired office space.  Up until that point, my office was in a secluded corner of the house far from the activity of everyone.  I wanted to move my office into the family room, so that I could see people and more importantly my kids. It seemed strange to work from home and never see my kids.  I would be in one corner of the house while they would be playing in another. We would all communicate with loud voices. Good for their lung development, but bad for nurturing intimacy. So, as I already mentioned, a couple of weeks ago we decided to make it happen.  The trick was to have an exposed office that looked good being exposed.  I wanted the office to look more like an art display rather than a file/paperwork display and I knew just the place to find my inspiration... all together now...1...2...3... Anthropologie!  Here's the inspiration image...

I really love the frame around the shelves, but it just wasn't going to work for my particular area, so what I took from the inspiration image was the shelving and the wood table/desk.  To achieve the weathered organic wood shelving look, my husband went to an off the beaten path lumber yard.  He found a 10ft. plank of wood buried in the dusty inventory of the lumber yard.  The plank was cut into 3 separate pieces at the lumber yard before being brought home for me to clean off all the dust and residue spider webs... thanks.  It was my idea after all.

I loved the water stains and chipped parts of the wood planks.  It was important to me to have wood that was naturally distressed.

My husband also found some pea green planks, which we ended up making a table out of.

First, we drilled some brackets into the walls.  Since the planks are heavy and would become working shelves we first located the studs in the walls before we drilled.  My husband used a Black & Decker stud finder to accurately find the studs.  And yes, he would also point it at his chest to locate the "stud." Any of your husbands do that?  Moving on...

After drilling the brackets into the walls, we drilled the planks to the brackets.  

My stud then applied a stain to the fresh cut portion of the planks, which gave it a weathered look that was consistent with the rest of the wood.

Lastly, we decorated.  I tried to weave in work stuff with decor stuff. 

A butterfly knob was added to my desk.

The prima ballerina that I made for my daughter peacefully sits at the end of a shelf and watches me type.  The silhouette is of my husband when he was a little boy.

My mom gave me this vintage pin cushion.

Three little bird candles.  I just don't have it in me to light their little backs on fire.

At night, I light the tea candles that are randomly placed throughout the shelves.

And here is where I write, work, and play.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Jamie