One Room Challenge: A Zen Home Office

The six week #OneRoomChallenge for spring 2016 is officially over! 200+ bloggers participated in this season’s design challenge to tackle one room (or more) and transform it into an intentional space that is as beautiful as it is inspiring. While I started out with high hopes to complete our new master bath this go around, I had to put that project on hold as a result of time and resource coordination issues. But I had a back-up plan ... my home office which has been neglected for years. And even though I attempted this project back in the fall, I never really finished what I started. So today I can finally say that I have made a huge improvement in my every day life just by creating a room of my own that will serve the needs of my home-based creative businesses as well as providing a designated spot to incorporate exercise into my daily routine. 

– Room to work –

– Room to work out –

And to be honest, I wasn’t even planning on adding a space to work out in my office, but once I cleared the unused, unwanted furniture and boxes of clutter, I noticed there was a perfect spot behind my desk to fit an exercise ball, yoga mat and set of weights. I figure if I see it every day, it will be easy to take a break from my computer and get up for even 10 or 20 minutes to do something good for my body. I anticipate that it will be much more enjoyable for me to work out in a room that is free of visual distractions and reminders of obligations. This makeover is a real lesson in less is more. It’s not always what you put into a room that matters, sometimes it’s what you edit out that makes the real difference.

Lighting: Schonbeck Crystal Chandelier

Ceiling: Benjamin Moore China White

Walls: Sherwin Williams Pewter Tankard

Trim: Benjamin Moore Manchester Tan

Framed signed print from designer Jason Wu

Scallop-edged black trash can from Brizo

Brass-trimmed storage chest (side of the road find)

Black, gray, white and acrylic storage boxes

from The Container Store

Black Windsor Chair from Bassett Furniture

with animal print pillow from Home Goods

Custom vintage chair purchased at a summer design show

(perfect spot for my sons to sit when they visit my office)

Custom black vinyl covered 8 ft. long office table

Staples: animal print mouse pad

Smith + Noble: linen-style roller shades

The Container Store: storage pieces

Everything in this farmhouse-meets-modern designed room has a place now. I got rid of all the little objects and stacks of paperwork. My new storage system relies on neat and tidy letter size boxes designated for various projects. Lacquered boxes are for odds and ends that I need on hand. I don’t want to see anything until I actually need it. I believe this is going to make for a much more pleasant experience in this space, and it will force me to let go of what I don’t need in the future and be more conscious of removing what does not bring me joy (yes, all learned from the KonMari method!)

Below are some of the details of what remains in my office. There is still some room left for a vision board that I will be working on, but for now, I just have the essentials paired with a few inspiring images from special events in my design life ...

Box of samples for one of my interior design client projects

Framed signed illustrated print from designer Jason Wu

received during NY Fashion Week courtesy of Brizo

My large format print of New York as seen

from inside Hearst Tower during BlogFest

Narcissus from my backyard garden in Tiffany bud vase

(because a room is not complete without a touch of nature!) 

Thank you once again to Linda Weinstein from Calling it Home for setting forth this design challenge! It’s so motivating to have a shared creative deadline with so many other bloggers who are working towards similar design goals. Check out how they all did by following the links below. And if you have a room in your house that needs finishing, set your calendar for the fall of 2016 and join the fun! You will be glad you did : )

 Guest Participants

Featured Designers

And be sure to look for future One Room Challenge recaps from media sponsor, House Beautiful. They have discovered that the ORC is a great way to capture current design trends, DIY tips and creative inspiration worth sharing with their devoted audience. Search #oneroomchallenge on Instagram for even more! Enjoy!

One Room Challenge: Fashionably Late

Jason Wu signed print that will soon hang in my office.

Over the years, I have participated in eight different show house type events, including small 10 x 10 foot vignette-like spaces to somewhat challenging bathrooms to a suite of rooms for a holiday design show. I typically am ready for the opening day regardless of how much time I have to prepare, although I have been found hanging art or walking in with a key design piece at the very last minute on several occasions. This One Room Challenge has been a bit of an exception. When you are working on your own surroundings, even if your business is designing for others, it often is a much more emotional process to get through. That can slow things down ... a lot.

I signed on to this challenge to motivate myself to tackle the years worth of life accumulations that had ended up in my home office. Being held accountable to others who are working just as hard to meet their own goals is quite inspiring. We are all rooting for each other. This is not about competition. It is about goal setting, being resourceful, and being honest with ourselves and whatever difficulties we may encounter as we strive to bring our design visions to life.

I am proud to say that I have managed to work through the sometimes uncomfortable task of realizing just how much I have neglected to do in my own home. Don’t get me wrong ... we have done a lot with our 1904 farmhouse over the past ten+ years. But for the last five, as my work and family life has gotten busier, I have let a lot of STUFF takeover when I really should have been dealing with it on a regular basis. Keeping it simple is all about establishing routines, and habits, and designing a good system to help deal with what is allowed to enter our spaces while making sure the unnecessary goes out. That is my wish for this makeover.

So while I have not completed my office makeover at the six week mark, I am definitely in a better place than I was even yesterday. I am thankful for the support and encouragement I have been receiving virtually along the way from the Calling It Home One Room Challenge community of design bloggers. It really does make a difference!

So please come back next Thursday to see my final reveal. I was always disappointed when a show house participation ended, so this is one way of keeping it going I guess!

I did take a bit of time today to take note of the accomplished spaces of the other link-up participants. Below are images of just some of the home office transformations that may inspire you to tackle the room where you “make things happen” at home. Visit Calling it Home here to get to each link. Enjoy!

These two by a couple of my local design friends are not offices, but are worth checking out ...

And here is the link to the sponsored participants final reveals.

Would you ever consider participating in the One Room Challenge? The next one begins in April of 2016, so start planning now!

One Room Challenge: Colors + Fabrics

Choosing fabrics and colors for my #OneRoomChallenge office makeover has been pretty simple (although clearing the clutter to empty the space has proved to be far more difficult – I am so very behind in this part of the process!)

Once the space has been cleaned out and freshly painted (see the Sherwin Williams paint swatches that I am considering below) I will be incorporating a set of drapery panels made out of the vintage fabric pictured above into my room, most likely to frame an open closet from which I had previously removed the sliding doors. I am still using the closet to hang my dress clothes, but I would love to make this area work as a place to organize all the bits and pieces of my creative life. The panels are from a design show space that I put together back in 2010. I have been saving them ever since, and they truly bring me joy when I see them (but I am not feeling so happy seeing them folded up and not in use!) I will have to add some fabric to the overall length, however, since they are a little short for where I want to hang them. I am thinking a band of solid color on the bottom will do the trick. 

One of the first steps in “tidying-up” according to the KonMari method, is to pick up each item in your home and either keep it because it brings joy or thank it for its service and then get rid of it. I have managed to remove a bunch of stuff from my office (thank you very much), but I am not doing so well at getting it out of the house. I seriously have issues with letting go. But what can you do if many of your personal belongings are of sentimental value? Just take a look at the design show space that I called a Designers Before + After – where the vintage fabric drapes originated – and you will see actual memorabilia from my childhood used to style the room. I still have ALL of it. Some of it may resurface in my new office.

Colors I am considering ...

Inspiration photo from Nancy Meyers Instagram feed

showing the set design for The Intern

Pinboard from my space designed for the

North Shore Design Show 2010

End note: In case you were wondering if I won the trip to Paris via the Legrand Best Before + After Contest, I sadly did not. But I am still loving my new bathroom and oh so fabulous switches!

My apologies for such a short update, but I obviously still have a lot of work to do over here! Follow the other One Room Challenge participants by visiting the Calling it Home blog. Some of them have been getting it done!!

Guest Participants Week 3

Sponsored Participants Week 3