Home office/craft room/homeschool room reveal!

I am so excited to finally be able to share my office/craft room/homeschool room reveal with you!  I fell in love with this room the first time we looked at this house and now to see it all done and get to use it on a daily basis is a dream come true! 

Let’s go back and look at the before and the process to get it here first.  So this was the room the day we closed on the house.  Coral/orange colored walls and nasty carpet but all of that was easy to change. I had a wish list in my mind for what I wanted in my future office and this room literally met every one – huge 2 door closet, big window right off the front porch, and french doors. 

We immediately changed out the flooring and then the room was filled with boxes for months. I had a baby 3 weeks after moving and this room was definitely on the back burner to get set up/unpacked.   Slowly over time I worked on it – painting the walls first, unpacking boxes, then I bought this IKEA cube unit and filled it all up with all kinds of things we need to store and access here in the office – extra paper, things to file, records, supplies and more.  I also worked on the closet adding 5 long wood shelves in there instead of the 1 wire hanging shelf so I could store all my extra decor, craft supplies, and more.  I really have spent quite a bit of time working on it over the years but it never was completely FINISHED. This past July I determined to get this room completely set up, decorated, and done so I could start fully using it to do some simple K-3 homeschool with my little girl.  This is what it looked like mid-July…

So it went from this the day we closed…

to looking like this today!

I just love how this room all came together!  I love the way the sun pours in the windows in the afternoon and the view of the front porch out the window. 

The desk was a $20 Goodwill find that I actually found before we moved… but I didn’t get a chance to refinish it until after we moved.  I did that a while back using Rust-Oleum milk paint and I LOVE how it turned out! 

So many thrifted and yard sale finds fill this room and it makes my heart happy!  The chandelier was a $10 yard sale finds, curtains are IKEA curtains I found at Goodwill.  I am so glad I decided to go with this solid tone on tone gray curtains – they match the wall color almost perfectly.  First of of all because I found them at Goodwill right after we moved but just hadn’t found a place to use them so I didn’t have to buy anything new.  And also because I love how they add so much softness to the room without adding to or taking away from everything else going on. 

The baskets on the wall were $1 yard sale finds that I loved but just hadn’t found a place to use yet – so glad they worked in here!  The desk chair is a facebook marketplace find. 

Now for the other side of the room… on one side is my little girl’s school corner!   The Pottery Barn kids table and chair was another thrifted find from facebook marketplace and I refinished it immediately to look like a kids farmhouse table.  She used it in her room for a while, then I found another table for in there and moved this one in here.  I made the chalkboard (tutorial here) and love how this little corner turned out – it gets used for pre-k and lots of crafts!

On the other side of the french doors I created this little kids craft station with an IKEA rolling cart filled with tons of craft supplies that the kids can easily access.

 

I just took on old bulletin board, took off the cheap wood frame, covered the cork board part with fabric, and then nailed it onto the back of a DIY stained wood frame.  The words and crayon banner came from the Target dollar spot at different times.

The rolling cart is filled with all kinds of craft supplies and although I love it having everything out and easily accessible it  leads to many “craft” projects and sometimes a mess.   But that’s ok – I love for her to create and want to encourage that in her! 

I found several of these vintage printer trays at a yard sale this past spring for $1 each and was so glad to be able to use 2 of them in here.  This one I hung on this little wall as you enter the office from this side and topped with a metal white wreath that came from 80% off spring shop at Hobby Lobby.

Ok, so now for the closet… keep in mind I do a good bit of crafts, I love to yard sale and shop clearance (which means I find lots of fun decor for cheap!) and part of my job here on my blog is to change things up to show you different ways to decorate.  I also have worked with several paint/craft companies over the years which built up my paint/craft supplies.  So I am not saying everyone should have a closet that looks like this (although I bet some people that scrapbook, sew, or do lots of crafts have a closet like this!)   Just a little disclaimer before I show you and get comments…

The closet started with just wire hanging shelf and I took it down and installed 5 wood shelves just like I did in this closet.  I have fabric and some burlap table runners in the fabric bins at the bottom along with a shredder, ribbon, small craft supplies, sewing supplies, party serving supplies, chalkboards for parties, stamps and more in the small plastic bins on the next shelf, and then the 3 other shelves are filled with all kinds of extra decor – greenery, small signs, candles, lanterns, floral and so much more!  It’s not all perfectly arranged because decor varies in size and shape so that would be hard to do but it is all organized and I know where to find things.  I keep seasonal decor for Christmas and fall in the attic and this houses extra decor that I change out or use as I am decorating a space and then some things that are somewhat seasonal like lots of succulents and greenery/birds for spring/summer. 

I found these over the door wire hanging shelves on Amazon and used them on the doors to house my craft paint supply, mod podge, crafting stuff and then battery operated candles on the bottom.  During the fall/winter many of the those lanterns and all of those candles will be spread throughout the house and porch.

I literally grab decor from this closet several times a week as I am working on decorating an area or a project.  Once I finish decorating several other areas in our house I will go through and purge a bit more of this decor that I didn’t end up using and keep only things I truly love and use/change out from time to time.  I took these closet pictures a week ago and since then several things have already been used in my master bedroom and all the olive buckets on the top are now on my front porch holding mums.   

Love having this closet in here!  This room literally met every single one of my wants/needs in an office/school room/craft room – lots of light, big closet for storage, and beautiful french doors.  I’d love it if it were just a tad bigger since the closet, window, and doors take up 75% of the wall space but I am just so thankful for this space.    The office sign was a DIY (tutorial here) and the large wood/iron wall piece was an 75% off Hobby Lobby decor find. 

I love my Rae Dunn collection (especially my coffee mugs) and since I didn’t have any desk organizational pieces, I had fun adding these to a basket on my desk.  The real touch tulips are my favorite and will probably stay in here year round.  It looks like I have fresh cut flowers at my desk which I love.  I get questions about my twine holder every time I share it and it was a 75% off Hobby Lobby find last year and they don’t seem to have anything like it anymore.  If I ever see another one I will be sure to share. 

I had wanted to use a lamp on my desk but haven’t quite figured out how to manage the cords since my desk is floating in the middle of the room.    So for now I used this Target dollar spot tiered tray and filled it with some fun things.  I plan to fill with with seasonal decor which will be fun for me to look at as I sit at my desk.

Here’s a better picture of the refinished desk…

Can you believe it started out looking like this?  You can see the entire makeover along with details on how I did it in this post.

The top stained so pretty!

This corner cabinet is actually a sewing machine cabinet and houses my sewing machine and sewing supplies.  I don’t do a lot of sewing anymore but I hope to again in the next few years.  I actually started a quilt I’d love to finish along with smaller craft projects and maybe another quilt.  It actually fit perfectly to flip it against the back wall instead of the window wall and I like it so much better!  It’s the perfect spot to use for a lamp and our printer. 

This IKEA unit is such an amazing storage piece – I just love these cube units for kids rooms and for office/craft supplies too.   Something in it is accessed daily from adding bills or papers to file, from school books, cd’s and more!  The baskets are all thrifted and the fabric bins on the bottom are from the BHG line at Walmart.

And of course the top was perfect space to add some of my favorite vintage and thrifted finds.

Back picket piece, large black clock, stool, old crock pitcher, ruler, pedestal are all from yard sales – did I mention I like to shop yard sales?   This is the reason why!   Both signs are Hobby Lobby clearance and the little white and black house are Target after Christmas 90% off clearance finds. 

Literally when you step in our front door this is the immediate view to the left… I kept a curtain or paper over these doors for a while because it was such a mess in the process of working on it.  So yay for no more hiding this room and having this view instead! 🙂

I had this grateful sign (I think Kirkland’s fall clearance from last year?) and hung it above the french doors so I see it when I sit at my desk.  Because I am truly grateful for not only this physical room in our house but for all it entails… a job that is truly an answer to prayer that I get to do what I love and work from home… and now also a schoolroom that I get to homeschool my little girl in.  If you have followed me for a long time, you know that she came along later in life for us so that I have a little girl to homeschool is another huge answer to prayer.  I am truly grateful!! 

So excited to have this room done, get to enjoy using it, and love how it came out!  Hope you’ve enjoyed this office tour!