So I don’t think I mentioned before that we are in the process of re-doing our home office.
Basically it’s a slightly odd-shaped room with a vaulted ceiling that is on the right once you walk through the front door. Optionally I guess it could be another guest bedroom too (although it has no closet) but we’ve always used it as an office. When we were building the house several years ago, we toured a model that had a beautiful built-in desk with cabinets and bookshelves underneath and a way for two people to sit side-by-side. Perfect for us! So that’s what we requested. I know you know where this is going…yeah we didn’t quite get the “model” version.
Anyway, lesson learned, but now that we are using the office a lot more (that’s where I sit typing right now, with a “baby” squirrel cat on my lap), we really need to make it a lot more functional. Unfortunately, the carpet does not extend under the desk, and let’s say replacing the carpet right now was not in the budget. At all. Really the whole office re-do wasn’t in the budget either, so we tried to keep costs as low as possible.
We decided to keep the existing cabinets (they match the cabinets in the rest of the house) but add shelves inside for more organization and cabinet pulls so that I would stop bending a nail every time I opened anything! We removed the bookshelves (which ironically, only fit small paperbacks, so essentially none of the books we owned) and then we were left to deal with the top of the desk. Oh the darn top! It was always way too narrow, far more narrow than any desk either of us had ever used before! And as a special bonus, only1/2 inch plywood was used (it should have been 1 inch, at least) so it bowed. And it was caulked to the wall, so every time either of us used the desk, it would bend and the caulk would split. Lovely.
We looked at oh so many, many options. At every store we could think of. I had a vague idea of using butcher block (the cabinets are white) but it was so expensive, of course. Except at the best place in the world, IKEA. Yes, IKEA saves the day, once again!
I could go on and on and on (clearly) and there will be many more posts (with pictures) in the next few days with more detail! But for now, the whole reason I wrote this post was to say hey, we’re re-doing the office. And look at these cool things I just bought!
Images courtesy of (clockwise) One Fine Dae, Heartfish Press, and See Jane Work.
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