Check out this home office makeover plan. A dark office will be transformed to a lighter and brighter work space.
Have you ever read the children’s book “When You Give a Mouse a Cookie”?
Well, that’s how this home office makeover got started.
My husband, Chris’s office is dark…he has black furniture and the walls are painted a deep blue.
It’s actually a really cool color scheme.
But several years ago we got a chandelier in the family room, so we moved the ceiling fan that was in the family room into Chris’s office.
He still had the dreaded “boob light” in there from when we moved into our house, so the ceiling fan was great in his office.
Especially, since it gets hot in that room when he’s in there all day working with the door closed.
However, it has a frosted glass light cover which makes the room even darker.
This past Christmas, I had his three autographed Pittsburgh Steelers football jerseys framed for him as a gift.
That was a tough surprise to pull off…let me tell ya!
If you’re not a football fan and didn’t know…the Steelers colors are black & gold.
Can you guess where I’m going with this?
Yup…the framed jerseys weren’t going to look amazing hanging on a blue wall.
And I wanted them to look absolutely amazing!
If you knew how much I spent having them framed you’d know that they need to be amazing!
So…it was time to repaint the walls in the office.
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Home Office Before
Can you believe I didn’t get pictures of the office before Chris moved his furniture so we could start the room makeover?
I mean seriously…what kind of blogger am I?! LOL
Please just use your imagination as I walk you through the home office before photos.
Thanks friend!
The office has a double door entry which I’d love to change to barn doors…some day.
It’s a good size at 16′ 7″ by 13′ 4″ and has great natural light with the triple windows on the far wall.
Chris’s desk is about 13 years old and it will go back on that wall where it’s pulled away from.
We talked about different places for it, but he likes the storage of the hutch and doesn’t want to remove it so the desk has to go against a wall.
But I will be decluttering those cubbies and shelves on his desk hutch.
What a mess!
After discussing the other options, we decided the best place for the desk was back in the same spot.
And that ceiling fan is going away too.
See the frosted light cover sitting on the desk and those little light bulbs on the ceiling fan…no wonder it’s dark in this room.
I know it may not look dark in the photos because I took them at the brightest time of the day, but believe me, it’s pretty dim in there.
Framed Autographed Football Jerseys
The framed jerseys are wider than I anticipated.
I thought they’d be more tall than wide, but Chris absolutely loves them so that’s all that matters.
Now I just need to get this office makeover done so we can hang them up.
Paint Colors for the Home Office
My goal was to lighten the room so I decided to go with a warm white to paint the walls of the office.
If you struggle choosing white paint colors, I wrote this post all about the differences in warm, cool and neutral whites.
I love White Dove OC-17 by Benjamin Moore, it’s a perfect creamy white and will look amazing in the office.
The framed jerseys will pop against a white wall too.
And after all that’s the reason for this makeover!
But I don’t want the room too look boring with all white walls, so I’m planning to paint an accent wall in Kendall Charcoal HC-166 also by Benjamin Moore.
Can you guess what wall will be painted dark?
Stay tuned for the reveal!
Existing Furniture and Lighting
We have some solid pieces of furniture that we’ll be keeping in the office.
When planning a makeover using your existing furniture will help with the budget.
And you can always make changes to update your furniture by painting it another color like I did in our main bedroom.
Or even just swapping our or painting the hardware.
We’ve had the Ikea Expedite storage shelf for years and have started to slowly replace the old fabric bins with water hyacinth baskets.
Ikea no longer sells the expedite but here is a similar option.
A storage shelf is perfect for storing office supplies.
I’ll add a pharmacy style floor lamp that I’ve had in my storage closet but I think will look great in the office.
Another tip when planning room makeovers is to shop your home before going out to buy something new.
You may have something that didn’t work any longer for one space that works in another.
New Furniture and Lighting
That beautiful leather couch is actually new (did you see it in the before pictures?).
I bought it a couple weeks after Christmas when an influencer I follow shared it on Instagram.
I’m so glad I happened to see her story that day because it’s seriously a great sofa.
And I got it for a really good deal…like $75 less than it’s selling for now…even though at it’s current price it’s a steal.
We decided to take the couch out of the box and put it together so I could see it in person before starting the room transformation.
And I loved it even more…it’s the perfect color!
The sofa will go against the wall when you walk into the room with the framed jerseys hung on the wall above.
An ivory throw pillow and a cozy blanket will work great with the couch and the new color scheme in the office.
The old ceiling fan will be replaced with something more modern and updated with an industrial style vibe.
And most importantly a light that provides enough brightness to the office on dark days.
This metal cage style fan is similar to the light fixture that was originally in my son, Gavin’s room then moved to the laundry room.
And it provides so much light to our windowless laundry room!
I’d love to find a set of nesting tables to place together in front of the sofa or even separated with the smaller one to the side of the couch.
These metal and wood tables would coordinate perfectly with the rest of the office makeover.
Home Office Inspiration Mood Board
Creating a inspiration mood board with all of the existing furniture pieces and the ones you want to purchase helps to see everything together.
A mood board along with a spreadsheet of purchases keeps your project organized and the budget in check.
If you want to shop for anything on my mood board just click the photo to shop!
Be sure to check back to see this home office makeover reveal!
If you have any questions or suggestions, contact me or leave a comment!
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