Renovation - Home Office

When we were looking at houses, space for a home office was a must and after some minor #renovations and some major #redecorating the home office we've created makes working from home a dream! It's certainly one of my favourite rooms in the house.

Office when we first viewed the property.

It's not the biggest room but with a few handmade bespoke pieces of furniture we've created a workable space for two people as well as being home to a few decent size techy bits, lots of books, and art supplies galore.

One of the first jobs for us was to strip the room back to basics, the wallpaper was peeling badly so we had a suspicion that there might be some #damp hiding, but on closer inspection it seemed more like the wallpaper, which had been previously painted over, had sweated slightly. It did make removing the old wallpaper an easier job though! So, nothing major but, as we have in all rooms here, we needed to pick a hardwearing and breathable paint. This is really important if you're renovating or decorating an old house with thick stone walls. The stone alters with external and internal temperature and moisture changes a lot more than modern brick built buildings, so allowing it to breath can really help manage damp. After covering the dining table in different #paint swatches (much to Ric's amusement), we finally decided on #Frenchic chalk wall paint in shades 'Fennec' (a warm oatmeal/brown) and 'Olivia' (a mossy green). If you're painting straight onto plaster, don't forget a mist coat! We spend quite a lot of time in the office so it was important that the room felt cosy and comforting, a space where inspiration can flow, and it doesn't harm that they're outdoorsy colours so that even when we're inside it still resembles a forest! We also decided natural was the way to go in the office, so we sanded and browning waxed the skirting boards, which really finished it off.

Next we donned the marigolds and ripped out the carpet, taking with it the faint smell of cat pee which we were quite pleased to get rid off! I chatted to a few over friendly carpet sales men and we finally decided on a durable but soft oatmeal colour (bright but pretty good at hiding muddy paw prints). We measured and thought how hard could laying carpet be, so we ordered a roll and braved doing it ourselves... the answer if you're wondering is actually quite hard... #Carpet laying, not our favourite activity but we did it and had a well deserved brew after. If you don't need to save money or have an incessant need to learn skills yourself like we do, we recommend hiring a professional for ease and to eliminate the risk of panic every time your cut goes slightly off track so you're suddenly scared you'll end up with a doormat instead of a nice carpeted room! We reused the old underlay which thankfully didn't smell and, whilst being a tiny bit small, was in good nick... and yes, the carpet did have to come through the window much to the amusement of passers by...

Now, my little #millennial heart has been obsessed with panelling of all kinds for years so as soon as we had our own house, there was never any doubt that panelling would be coming out of our ears (it didn't help fuel my passion for #panelling when B&Q sent seven more packs of shiplap panelling than we ordered and didn't want it back... yes, it was enough to do another room, and yes, the utility is now also panelled but that's another post...). We decided that the end wall in the office was to have some vertical panel strips on, this makes the room feel taller which is good for us both at 5' 11" and 6' 3". We also chose not to border the panelling off by putting a strip at each edge of the wall, this allows it to flow into the side walls without you getting the feeling of it closing into the centre of the room.

It was finally time to get the furniture in, we chose a couple of leather look chairs from Habitat, very comfy if we do say so ourselves and made an 'L' shape #desk with monitor shelf out of the old boards that had made up my potting shed table in the old house... And people raised their eyebrows when I said we needed to take all the wood! I used the old faithful browning wax and painted the legs the same green shade of Frenchic, 'Olivia'. The desk was one of the best things we made for this room, it fills the width of the space and gives us room for computer monitors, paints, trinkets and is the perfect height for us taller folk. We also added #blinds (from 'Blinds2go', really easy process and installation) instead of curtains, the window sills here are wide so using blinds set into the window gives the feeling of a bigger room.

I wanted something pretty for #storage, don't get me wrong, we've got the #Ikea pegboards and the #Hobbycraft trolly but for paperwork and art supplies, something else was needed. So, I spent some time scouring the internet and local charity shops to find two big beautiful vintage #suitcases for the job. The office should feel like it's full of things that inspire creativity, like a room full of trinkets collected on wild and magical adventures so the suitcases were perfect.

Don't be afraid to think out of the box when it comes to storage!

The light over my side of the desk is a #vintage bulb wrapped around a gnarled old branch from the garden, covered in faux mossy vines with mini mushrooms and butterfly's on it... told you, magical inspiration and the forest wherever you go! We found the perfect branch, cleaned it off and sealed it, we then attached it to the wall using a double ended screw and no more nails, it's as sturdy as anything and looks great in our opinion. Ric's light is a vintage bankers table light in black and gold. There's a gallery wall complete with maps and vintage hobby magazines, a pennant and even a mini cable car which goes from one side of the room to the other, Caractacus Potts style!

Finally, we did up an Ikea Billy Bookcase into a Flourish and Blotts #magical cabinet, turning it into a fitted piece of furniture and more of a display case for lots of bits and pieces, everything from models and Lego (we're big children at heart... plus it's relaxing don't knock it till you've tried it!) to memories of our wedding and vintage books.

The Bespoke 'L' Shape Desk is a great use of space, allowing us both somewhere to work!

It's a perfect space for us, we can sit and look out onto the fields full of sheep with natural light flooding in, it even catches the dreamiest sunsets, all while feeling cocooned and like you're in a creative bubble. I saw something the other day that said 'I don't want my home to feel staged or #minimalistic (we understand some people do and go for it, it's your home, do what you like), we want our home to tell our story and be a place where we can be ourselves', our office feels like the office of a #witch or #traveller who has stored all the trinkets from their travels and quests... and for us, that's spot on!

Until next time,