Office Makeover

When last we met we were talking about new walls and floors. So you saw the walls half done and the garage floor the same. Bruce finished his project and now mine is nearly complete. About the floors. For months and months now I knew something had to be done about the bedroom carpeting. Just what I wasn't sure, vacillating between new wall to wall carpeting or wood floors. In the end the carpeting won out. Try as I might I could never get these stains out, nor do I know where they came from. I am not this messy!

I hesitated about making this large because it is so darn ugly, however, believe me, it is worse in person. And these are not the only spots I'm sad to say. Finally it is going away. Thursday afternoon a nice young man came to the house with my requested "medium grade" samples. If there's one thing that confuses me it is picking out carpet amongst the gazillion styles and grades. He made it very easy for me to choose a multi-colored frisee, sort of a very short shag, which I'm happy to report will be installed on Friday, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. They call the color, Shell, which basically means off white and some brownish yarns. Unlike paint, it aint so easy to change if we don't like it so here's hoping we will.

That will be the final part of the puzzle on remodeling my office, really more like redecorating. So how am I coming? Very well thank you.

I took the curtains back to Ikea, coming home with two different ones to choose from. In the end I chose the ones that originally caught my attention. Probably would have saved me some trips to Ikea had I listened to my instinct! You may be wondering how I chose the black/white/green idea. Well the fact is that last year when I initially moved into this room we bought a chair for visitors from Ikea. Perhaps I showed you last year so bear with me on this one.

Pretty bold right? Behind it are the new curtains!!! There is the tiniest dots of orange which really sold me. I'm thinking they are pretty adorable.

I mentioned that I was waiting on Mr. Bruce to come home and take down the shelves which he did and spray painted them no less. Before he did I took a photograph of the shelves to remind me how to recreate them albeit on a different color. This is the before:

And here's the after:

Woohoo!! Bruce built the shelves more years ago than I can remember and I saw no reason to change them except for the color. I was thinking bright and cheerful rather than the old look which at one time looked a bit sophisticated. While I was at the Saturday market Bruce used four cans of spray paint to do these shelves as well as the ones on the opposite wall. Coming home I couldn't wait to get into my paint clothes and finish the walls! Shorts were the order of the day because by late afternoon it was warming up big time. Before dinner the walls were done with the shelves going up after we ate. By now I was very excited, however there was more excitement to come.

Sunday, after setting up the tent and leaving the canvas hanging to me, Bruce made a beeline home to make my new windowsills. That's right, I said windowsills. I've no idea if they were the original ones or not but what I do know is they were do for a makeover. Actually that's a project he'd already completed in the rest of the house. I've tried to crop this photo down so you can see what I'm talking about.

See that yellowish tile? Ready for a makeover. While I was chatting it up at Lake Eola, Bruce was cutting, mitering, sanding, sawing and priming. Now I have some lovely white windowsills!

Love them! See the cute little orange dots? I read in the newspaper over the weekend that Pantone, the color people, have designated Tangerine Tango the color of 2012. Sexy name and great color. Of course I've been preaching the gospel of orange for a while now. Actually they are talking a reddish- orange but anything in that family makes me happy.

Trying to put it all together using new and old stuff, I bought two large black faux crocodile boxes, or at least that's what I think they are supposed to be. The color, shine and texture attracted me as well as their storage potential. They still needed a little pop, jazz, or whatever you want to call it. Before I bought the new drapes I first tried putting some ribbon on the white ones which somehow just didn't work. I thought to myself, "self, maybe you can use it somewhere else." The boxes seemed like the next best thing.

You might think I'm a crafty kind of person but really I'm not. Today I used a hot glue gun for the very first time. No worries about anything getting on the carpet now! So, here we go:

Naturally Baxter had to check things out.

Jim and Kathy always have great plants and they didn't disappoint me yesterday with the selection. The boxes are not only for looks but to store some of my larger prints. This is a working office you know. :)
I believe it was Saturday night that I thought of something along those lines. For quite some time now I have some very predictable prints that always sell. Normally, because of space constraints, I order them two or three at a time at the most. I realized that we have what I call "the twirly thing" hanging up in the garage not earning it's keep. Now, however, Bruce got it down and it has now taken up residence in my office where it can store at least five in each holder. Brilliant. Now I must order, order, order. I believe they call that having inventory. Running out of popular prints will be a thing of the past; at least that's the idea.....

This morning, while returning a tablecloth to Ross I bought for the WG market, which proved to be too short, I found the very fun planter on the ground. Love me some Ross for decorating items. Am I the only one who has noticed that rarely do any television designers use plants? Wonder why?

Woo hoo--spotlight on the stains. I'll be emptying that cardboard box later. As well I need to hem the curtains and that will about do it. I'm sure I'll think of something else but for now it's looking cool and crisp as a cucumber.

The reason I needed another plant was because after I moved the almost blooming orchid into the office a few little buds fell right off. Boohoo! I decided it was too big an environmental shock. What I also learned yesterday from Kathy is that I need to be misting those little buds which I did vigorously this morning.  One of the larger buds has now opened!

The wild green in the background is from the rye grass Bruce planted in the backyard. Backgrounds are a topic I want to discuss with you in the future. Every now and again I like to share some photography tips I've learned over the last four years. Practicing every day will teach a girl a thing or two.

Ready to put the office to good use,
Gail