One Room Challenge: Micro-Office / Week 1
Hi Everyone!
I am so excited to participate as a guest in the Spring 2020 edition of the One Room Challenge. They bring together designers from all over that make over a space in 8 weeks. . It is not a competition but rather a way for designers to connect and encourage one another with the added bonus of getting a space finished! You can check out other participants here, on the One Room Challenge Blog.
My home office has been waiting to be completed for so long, so it was an obvious choice that this was the space I would focus on for the next 8 weeks!
Thats my dad (the one dresses like Marty McFly and my grandparents, Nana and Popise
Background:
I have lived in this house for about 22 years of my 32 years of life! It was built In 1954 by my grandfather and my father was raised here. In the mid 90’s my family moved in after my grandparents decided they needed somewhere bigger to host all the grandkids! After spending my adolescence and teenage years here, I was off living in a few other place but ultimately ended up BACK here in 2014 (I think) after my parents decided they needed a fresh start. My then boyfriend, now husband (now proud father) moved in with our pups and started making this house our home. It has been no small task trying to make it comfortable and livable for our needs as a family in 2020, but we are getting there!
The space I am working was actually part the original patio from 1954. My grandfather enclosed the patio when he added the master bedroom. This resulted in a quaint little room to display glassware and other treasures. He traveled all over the world and had a very unique design sense that you can see through out our house. The office is located off our dining room where you step down through these amazing pink sliding doors that I had installed last year, into a small space with a stone floor and just oodles of natural light! Now, it is SMALL but it is just big enough for a small office at 4’6” x 6’. With some clever use of space and smart furniture selections this will work perfectly!
First Rendering
The Plan:
First things first, a list of needs/wants:
desk
vertical storage
neutral walls (for being able to see true colors while I work)
lighting
general
task
floor covering
repair
paint
electrical
desk level outlets
adding hardwired light fixture
SO, my plan was to keep the cabinets and glass shelves on the right wall, take out the ones across from the door opening, add a floating desk in the window nook to maximize space, paint the cool angled coffered ceiling that was underneath the suspended ceiling, repair and paint the floors the pink color of the doors and hang a really amazing pendant I found on Charish. I even made this pretty rendering, it was my PLAN after all…
Well, you know what they say about plans…
Long story short, all the cabinets had to go. My grandfather built them in place and there was no way to get one out without the other. The glass shelves are in great shape and came out with no issues. I will save those for somewhere else. maybe the bathroom. The ceiling was a little more work than I expected, also. Behind the suspended ceiling with plastic grids there is an angled ceiling with shallow coffers that would look so nice all fixed up but that might be for another day. Now with a super blank canvas, it was time to regroup.
I still need all the things I listed above, but now I had to find storage to make up for taking out both cabinets. Here we have a few issues. The shelves can only be on that wall (for several reasons that you don’t care about) and that area is only 10.5”deep. I have a tiny bit of wiggle room with the depth of the storage unit I choose because if I put it in the corner across from the door you can’t really tell a 2” depth discrepancy. I landed on the Billy Bookcase from Ikea in black/brown. It will give me all the storage I need. Im going to paint the back of the cabinet with the same paint treatment as the walls to give it a built-in look at a serious FRACTION of the price.
I decided the extra wall space would be perfect for a pegboard wall with all my tape measures, levels, command strips and all the fun stuff that I constantly loose but need to have on hand!
For now, this is the plan. FOR NOW.
Pink floors to match the doors, abstract paint treatment on the walls, a tall bookshelf from Ikea if it is in stock and I can make it to Memphis, floating desk, pegboard storage wall, badass chain metal pendant that I just got in along with the directors chair.
Concept Board
Floor Plan
Second Rendering
I’m going to leave yall with some goals for next week and a few progress pictures of the space!
Week 2 Goals:
finalizing paint colors
repairing the stone floor
make a final decision on the ceiling. I may keep it white or a bold color, can’t decide. Might make that a surprise for the reveal!
and hopefully get and electrician over
