One Room Challenge – Fall 2020: Week 2, The Design Plan

Welcome back and thanks for joining me for Week 2 of the One Room Challenge (ORC)!  Last week (Week 1), was my first blog post ever!  Yay!!  In case you missed it, I shared a little background on the ORC and the home office that I selected for the challenge.  Check out last week’s post for the before picture here.

The home office in its current state is not a good representation of my husband’s personality and style.  He always greets you with a big smile….everyone knows he loves to laugh, he’s super warm and friendly and is a big time joker.  I don’t always find the things he says funny at the time, but…..when I retell the stories to my friends we all can’t help but laugh hard.  He’s funny even when he’s not trying to be.  As far as his appearance goes, he’s always well put together and he’s not afraid of color.

The goal for this space is to create a home office that looks and feels like my husband’s personal sanctuary and is also functional for his needs.  Yes, he’ll mostly do work there, but I want it to feel and look like it’s his space from the moment he walks in.  It should have his personality and style written all over all it.  This week I’ll walk you through the inspiration behind the design and space planning.

THE DESIGN

To start, I made a list of must-haves and wants for the space and explored color options for the room.

Must-haves and Wants:

1. Storage is definitely a top priority.  Keeping the existing furniture checked that box.  We’ve known since day one of acquiring our office furniture that it would stay forever! Here’s an interesting background story:

   Several years ago, my husband’s job had a moving sale and we took advantage and purchased an entire set which included an L-shaped desk, a bookcase, a cabinet and two arm chairs. It was pretty much a giveaway at the time considering how cheap they were selling them.  Plus, they were in great condition.  It was pretty hard to resist, however, the one thing we didn’t take into consideration was the weight and how we would manage moving the pieces home.

   Let me tell you, they were a back breaker.  It took 4 really strong guys and myself to move just the desk (just to put it into perspective).  One thing’s for sure…..if we ever move, these pieces are staying right here!  Sorry, I didn’t mean to digress, but I needed to take you on that little journey so that you can appreciate one of the reasons why we’re keeping the furniture.

   Despite the little drama regarding moving the office furniture pieces, I actually do love them!  We fell in love with the color and the clean lines.  I think they are just one-of-a-kind pieces.  This type of furniture may not be on trend, but I’m not a big fan of trends anyway so this is perfect.  I love timeless designs and this will challenge me to design around it.  It’s in great shape and yep, I’m keeping the existing finish.  I am not painting them because I love the color!

{TIP}

You should always shop your home first before deciding on new furnishings or accessories. It’s not always necessary to start from scratch, and you can save some money and/or have extra in the budget to splurge on other things. 

2. A Comfortable Office Chair is absolutely necessary for the long hours of sitting. The chair I selected is manufactured by La-Z-Boy.  I have not received it yet, but I am looking for comfort and La-Z-Boy is known for quality and comfort.  I also fell in love with the copper-finished wheeled base.  It looks sleek and has a high-end look.  I really hope it doesn’t disappoint, but I’ll be sure to give a review once we get to test it out.  Stay tuned for more on that.

3. Additional seating option for comfort. I wanted to include an area for relaxation and comfort, plus a view of our beautiful backyard.  It will be perfect for those days when he needs a power nap or he’s just tired of working from his desk.  I thought about adding just a regular arm chair, but honestly that wouldn’t serve the purpose of comfort that I was looking for.  I didn’t want to sacrifice style, so I am happy I found this sleek glider recliner and it’s everything!  The office space isn’t very large and the recliner does take up a lot of room, but it was definitely a must-have for comfort.  The Leggett & Platt reclining mechanism is super comfortable and with this quality I know it will last for years.  This recliner also comes with a USB input which will allow for charging his devices.  The leather feels amazing too!
4. A laptop/side table for placing items within easy reach such as a cup, laptop, etc. I was drooling when I came across this blue side table.  It’s perfect for the space and adds so much character!  I love it!

5. An area rug. I wanted to add some warmth to the room, instead of the stark ivory carpet.  The nuLOOM area rug I chose is a stunner!  It will provide a nice balance and will elevate the ambiance of the room.

6. Overhead lighting. Love at first sight!  It’s perfect in every way!  It was really time to upgrade the lighting fixture which was pretty dull.  The black and gold open frame of this fixture is just beautiful!  I purchased this beauty from my local Lowe’s Home Improvement store and the selections for lighting is amazing.

7. Snack bar for the times he’ll need a little energy in the middle of the day or a quick snack to fight off hunger before meals.

Color Palette:

This is an absolute no-no for designers, but I actually chose my paint colors first!  Paint colors are usually chosen last because it’s easier to find a paint color that coordinates with your fabric and artwork than it is to find fabric and artwork to go with your paint color. So don’t do as I do 😊

I just knew the room had to be blue.  After trying a few samples of blue hues, I chose Indigo by Sherwin Williams for the accent wall and Gray Screen also by Sherwin Williams for the other three walls.  I wanted colors that would instantly make the existing furnishings look new again.  We’re not afraid of bold colors so Indigo was the perfect choice and really just says hello when you walk in the room.  It’s also a color choice that brings back great memories to the time we lived in New York.  We had a “blue room” in our first condo and I thought it would be fun to bring back the “blue room”.  The Indigo color chosen for the accent wall definitely matches my husband’s personality.  Bright and cheery!

Red is actually his favorite color, but the shade of red we had in the office made it feel outdated and I didn’t think any other shade would compliment the furnishings to my liking.

SPACE PLANNING

The layout of the furniture was not ideal.  For one, having the window behind the desk created a lot of glare on the computer screen.  This made it hard to see the screen at times. I repositioned the desk and now he’ll have a view of the backyard.  I also relocated the bookcase and cabinet.  I often see beautifully styled bookcases, but they are usually behind the desk and out of view for the person sitting at the desk. It’s not my office space but I just thought it would be great to be able to look up and enjoy the beautifully styled bookcase and shelving.  Therefore, I’m putting them on the wall in front of the desk.  😊

Next week I’ll get into the DIYs I have planned for the space.

The room is now fully painted…..it’s no longer red.  Yay!

I plan to create a board and batten accent wall.  This will be my first time using some serious power tools.  Stay tuned to Instagram and Facebook for sneak peaks and next week for the full details!

There are a few more items on my list of things to purchase (additional bookcase accessories and wall art).

If you’re looking for more inspiration and design tips, be sure to visit the featured designers, as well as the other guest participants!