The mapping and planning process in my small office makeover in our three bedroom house has been super fun, yet challenging. Ever since we had our daughter in March of 2014, I have had to join the office and nursery together. At the time, this was completely cool with me since Nora was still sleeping in our room. Now that she sleeps the majority of the night, it is time to move her into her nursery.

Why was it not working out having the two rooms joined?

• Having a baby in a room where the keyboard and mouse are clicking away results in a baby that WON’T sleep.
• The closet was crammed with photography gear and baby things.
• The room had no design – at all! Nora’s design was on one side and the office was just kind of blah with NO design. It was depressing sometimes. It just wasn’t exciting to be in my work space.
• It was dark and dungeon like. No place for someone to work and be completely motivated to do so.
• We just needed our own spaces. Period. That is reason enough, right?

The solution…

I had a few options but the most logical one was to take the 10×11 guest room and completely transform that into my new office space. To make the process official, we immediately tossed the near 10 year old guest bed out. Once it was gone and out of the house, there was no turning back. This made it real for me and the makeover was going to happen. The room is small but I was going to make it work.

 

Mapping out the new space…

Before starting anything, I took the time to draw up a scaled version of the room on a large board along with the current furniture pieces that I already had. This is a method I have seen from watching too much HGTV throughout the years. I tried so hard to make my current office furniture work in the room, but it was pretty much impossible. I was a tad bummed because the desk I bought [off of a local yard sale Facebook page] about a year ago would soon have to go to a new home. It was an L-shaped desk with a hutch and was just too darn big for the new space. It was a dark espresso color and would have had to be painted white and it was huge, especially if it was going in a small space where lighter colors are crucial. So too dark and too big…not the best fit for my new space.

The design idea…

The color choices were an easy thing to decide on since I was going with my brand colors. My brand consists of two shades of sea blues, a pale pink, two shades of grey and gold. As far as the style goes, I wanted it to reflect me with soft textures, keeping it light and airy, feminine, and contemporary chic.

 

I started shopping in my own home.

Once I decided what things would stay and what would go, I started shopping within my own home. Some things I found were:

• A tall 3-way Walmart lamp that I bought when I moved into my first apartment. It was originally dull silver but with a little gold paint it was perfect for my new space.
• A bed side table that was a natural wood color. I painted this white to match the desk. I have yet to decide what spot I want this table in. I have two ideas so you will have to wait and see in the final blog post when I share everything to find out where it ended up.
• Baby food jars for storage
• A super awesome grey fuzzy blanket that was gifted to me by another photographer this past Christmas. Thank you Tina with Christina Elliget Photography.
• A couple photo frames that I painted gold.
• An extra lamp that just so happened to be the perfect color.

Then it was time to start retail shopping.

I started making a list of things that were necessary; like a new desk, office chair, and a sofa sleeper since we threw out the guest bed. The office chair was a no brainer, as I have been eyeing a certain one for months now. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. When I went to purchase it, they said it was discontinued and had one left! How flipping lucky was I??? Seriously, though! The couch took some time to find. Apparently sofa sleepers are harder to come by in Vegas. The sales associate said that they are just not popular in this city. I didn’t want a very white couch but I still wanted it lighter in color.  I ended up going with a light cream color sofa sleeper that is so darn soft! I love it! I ended up finding it at Walker Furniture here in town. The office desk just had to be white, no exceptions.  With my super small space, I had to stick to lighter colors to avoid making the room look even smaller. Where would you find a white desk? Ikea, of course!

After picking my main pieces, I headed out on the town to some of my favorite shops to look for accents. I seemed to have found everything at Pier 1, Home Goods, and Target. This part was super fun, but it was hard to stay within a budget. There were SO many things that I loved! I did look at some local thrift stores but was super bummed that absolutely nothing jumped out at me. You know, like the Pier 1 commercials where the cute little accents talk to the customers and tell them to take them home. Yup, didn’t have that moment at any of our second hand stores.

So right now, I sit and stare at the collection of beautiful pieces and wonder where I want to put everything and making my list of things that still needs to be done.

My short to-do list before the debut…

• Put final coat of polycrylic on the side table.
• Paint the doors to the side table.
• Order and pick up custom glass top
• Paint shelving unit
• Hang floating shelves
• Find homes for my accent pieces
• Paint various size thrift store frames
• Design some artwork to display
• Bring in the electronics
• Organize my desk top and drawers
• Sit in my beautiful throne, take it all in, and smile from ear to ear.

Gosh, that list was longer than I thought it would be. One thing at a time, Myrna. I can do this. I will do this. I must do this. For me and for my business. I deserve this.

Want to see some sneak peeks of the space?

Are you excited to see the new space??? I have been posting my journey and little peeks at some things on instagram, so if you aren’t following me – get on over there! My goal is to be completely finished by February 15th but we will see. Wish me luck!