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Love The Home You’re With: Office Space

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I love a good project, y’all.

Our house is…old. Not old in the sense that it’s charming and full of character. Old in the sense that it’s smack out of the middle of the 1980s and there’s little about it that’s architecturally interesting. Except the fireplace. I kind of like the fireplace.

It’s also sort of small, maybe not by some people’s standards or average home-size square footage or whatever, but with four people and a dog living here, it feels small. Kind of cramped and full of stuff.

When I started decorating this house almost a decade ago, I was a different person. I picked colors that I now look at and go “what was I thinking?” I routinely have the urge to go through room by room and redecorate top to bottom but I lack the funds to do that so it doesn’t get done and I sit and stare at the blank walls painted colors I don’t like and mull over the things I want to do to this place to make it a home.

Right now it doesn’t really feel like a home. It just feels like the place we live, if that makes sense. Nothing really fits together and not in a way that’s kitschy. Just in a way that sort of looks like our house is having an identity crisis.

We also don’t make great use of the space that we have in this house full of people and stuff and I know that. Which is where my desire to make this house our home and my love of a good project come into play.

It’s time to love the home we’re with.

One room at a time, slowly, I’m going to make this house a home that reflects our family and the things we love to do here. I’m going to make this house rooms of functional space. By the time I complete my project we’ll probably be ready to set sail for bigger and better, but maybe we won’t. Maybe we’ll find we love this house and that it works for us after all.

I’m starting with the dining room.

Right now, we don’t need a dining room. I’m kind of sad to be giving up the option, but we entertain twice a year, if that, so that room sits kind of vacant most of the time. We eat meals in there, but we also have a kitchen table where we can do that. We don’t need two places to eat.

I’m turning the dining room into a combined office/play room.

Right now, all of the kids’ toys are housed in the living room. Which means walking through here is like navigating a field of land mines. Except the land mines are Legos. Or My Little Ponies.

Here’s what I have in mind:

Office Board #1

 

We already own this table. It used to be my craft table when our craft/office/everything room was in what is now Emma’s bedroom. Right now my table is languishing in storage. I’m ready to have a dedicated writing space and I like that it’s big enough that I can easily bring out my sewing machine if I need to use it.

 

Office board #2

 
I’m in love with the bold stripes on these curtains with that nice greige paint. (Sharkey Gray by Martha Stewart [gasp!] for Home Depot, if you’re wondering.) I’m planning to put that paint throughout the main living areas of the house to unify the space and I’m thinking I want to put the same curtains in the living room since the spaces are so connected.

 

Office #3--kids

 
This will be the best part, I think. I’ve never gotten the kids a kitchen or an art easel because there’s no where for me to put either thing. Having space in a room designated for kid stuff means space for things like those. I also want to build a reading corner into the room because books are so awesome.

Have any of you done anything like this? Repurposed a room so that your house is more functional for your family’s needs? Any words of wisdom? (Or just tell me this is a smart thing I’m doing. I’ll take any words of encouragement you have, faux or otherwise.)

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Mama

Saturday 26th of October 2013

Renovations are great! Very trying. But as I look at the progress made in my own home I say "WOW". It is really a transformation. I am so excited to see the completed efforts. This place looks so different, and when it is completed, pictures will follow..uahem maybe you can come see it in person.. Be patient and look towards the outcome.. Love you!

Isha

Friday 25th of October 2013

I redid a TON of rooms this past summer--entry way, hallway, laundry room (almost done), both bathrooms and our Master. I also decorated our living room (it had previously been painted our chosen color but no decor).

I made a huge spreadsheet before summer began, and I worked through it week by week. So far, all I have left is to install the cabinet in the laundry room and to begin work on the final bedroom.

I cannot tell you--there literally are not WORDS for how much it helped my psyche. Prior to it, I really didn't like our house. Which sucked because we had just bought it! So I did everything possible to make it feel like MINE, my home, my today. And now, I feel so much more at ease there.

There are still things I'd like to do, and we have a TON of work to do outside. I'd like to hang more pictures on the walls in our bedroom, too. But for now? Just the little changes that I made had a huge impact.

Here are some of my posts. http://www.everydayisha.com/search/label/Project%20House

I really need to update since I finished the master.

Miranda

Friday 25th of October 2013

I'm LOLing that you have a spreadsheet. ;)

That's where I am with this house. We live here, have lived here for nearly a decade, and it's just...a house. It doesn't feel like home. Dan doesn't get it. I say he doesn't have to get it as long as he lets me do it.

Susan

Friday 25th of October 2013

Our dining room is a play/music room! We have a breakfast nook in the kitchen, so I figured, why do we need two areas for the kids to get crumby and gooey? I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a separate playroom for the kids to trash. It's the one room in the house I let get messy and I pick it up only once a week or when we start tripping on toys.

Can't wait to see how yours turns out!

Miranda

Friday 25th of October 2013

Exactly! We have two places to eat in this house (plus couches, which I'm sad to say see their fair share of meals...oh well) and we only need one. So one it is. I think we're starting this weekend.

Kelly

Thursday 24th of October 2013

We painted our living room, dining room, and hallway (all connected) that same color and love it! :)

Miranda

Friday 25th of October 2013

Yeah, the color in the dining room is eventually going everywhere. It's all one big space! There's no sense in trying to paint different colors right up to the corners anymore.

Kassie

Thursday 24th of October 2013

Our dining room is a playroom. Works great!

Miranda

Thursday 24th of October 2013

I'm excited about moving forward with this!

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