Office Transformation

We are moving in a few weeks and I've been madly sorting, purging, packing, fixing, and painting the house to get it ready for it's new owners.  As I was packing up my husband's office this weekend, I thought of the surprise office makeover I gave him a few winters ago, while he was out of town for work.  As a musician, he had been wishing he had an office to write and practice in, and since the spare bedroom was just collecting junk, I decided to surprise him and turn it into his office/studio!  I needed inspiration and found the perfect solution from a book we received for Christmas that year called Junk Beautiful by Sue Whitney & Ki Nassauer.  

These brilliant women redo rooms by using flea market finds--and this book was right up my alley!  I found an office makeover in their book that became the inspiration room by which I made over Taco's office.  (Yes, my husband's nickname is "Taco".)  What I liked about this inspiration room were the colors, the layout, and the use of vintage finds to create a one-of-a-kind office space!


Here are some photos from the inspiration room:

 Here are the before and after photos of Taco's office makeover:

As you can see, the spare bedroom happened to have a closet perfect for duplicating the desk space similar to the inspiration photo above.  I made the desk by taking an old door and adding banquet table legs and plexiglass on top.  I inserted photos of Taco's family and friends between the plexiglass and the top of the table.  I attached an old, red, retro lamp to the table for added light.

To the right of the table I hung an old window frame without the glass, and painted a layer of magnetic paint and then chalkboard paint inside.  

I removed the closet doors, put an extra table inside the closet and added old jars to hold change, business cards and receipts.  A wire basket contained journals and notebooks.

When I saw the red chairs in the inspiration photo, I just knew this was the room for Taco!  We acquired two, red, retro chairs a few years ago that would look perfect in that space!  I turned upside down an old flour barrel to create an impromptu table top.  We also just happened to have a few black screens to add to the wall decor.  The rest just fell into place!

In addition: I added another window pane on the wall between the two windows and painted chalkboard paint inside; hung an old crate from shelf brackets; leaned an old ladder in the corner of the room and hung magazines on the rungs; and put the rest of the magazines in an old bucket on the floor.

Against the spare wall I put our Ikea bookshelf and filled it with Taco's expansive book collection.  On top I displayed our collection of old cameras and reel to reel projectors.

The result: Taco flipped out when he came home from his trip and immediately put his new office/studio to use!  


Recently, Taco recorded his first album and one of the songs was produced in this room.  What a great memory to hold on to as we move out and say goodbye to five great years in this house!


A quick photo recap:

Clockwise from top: inspiration photo, after, before

Clockwise from top: inspiration photo, after, before

For more inspiration from Sue Whitney, visit her website at: www.junkmarketstyle.com  
For more information about Taco's album, visit his page on Facebook: Mike Romero Music, or visit www.mikeromeromusic.com (coming soon!)