Home Office Makeover

home office makeover after picture

Our house is 22 years old and we will have lived here 13 years this July. So, for the last couple of years we’ve been going through the house a little at a time and doing what we’ve come to think of as a room refresh.

Actually, our handyman, Dave, has been doing the refreshes, which consist of scraping the popcorn ceilings, repainting the walls and woodwork, changing out the door hardware (from shiny brass to brushed nickel) and the switch plates (from off-white to white), and – in some cases – replacing the lighting.

So far we’ve refreshed the master bedroom, master bath, my son’s bedroom, the downstairs half bath, and the family room. The kitchen got a little more than a refresh.

In between we let the dust settle (literally) and allow our bank account breathe a bit, and then we move onto the next space.

When Tom and I were discussing which room should be up next, he suggested the office, since I spend so much time there.

Following are a couple of before pictures. Actually, they’re more like in between pictures because I had already started to pack up and clear out the office.

home office before picture

The walls and woodwork in here definitely needed a new paint job, and I’m always happy to get rid of another popcorn ceiling, and we also decided to address the floor in this room. The carpeting had seen better days but we weren’t quite ready to replace the rest of the carpeting upstairs, so we needed a solution for just this room.

home office makeover before picture

That’s when I asked Dave about pulling up the carpeting and painting the plywood subfloor.

He had never heard of that, but I had seen it herehere and here, so he was game to try. In the end he decided that rather than patching and sanding the subfloor, it would be easier to lay a thin layer of new plywood on top of it and attach it with glue and finish nails. Then he painted the whole thing with porch paint, tinted the color of the woodwork, followed by a sealer.

home office before and after pictures

It looks great and – while I’m prepared that I’ll have to eventually embrace the worn look in a room with a white painted floor – so far it seems to be wearing well, even where my chair’s wheels roll on it. (I loved getting rid of that plastic chair mat that I needed with the carpeting.)

corner desk in home office makeover

There were only a few new additions to this room, including a couple of seagrass rugs and a new corner desk. I toyed with getting rid of the corner desk arrangement, but kept it because it gives me a big work surface and also lets me take advantage of the view out the second floor windows. The tree line in our backyard is still bare from winter, but when it has leaves in the spring, summer, and fall, it feels a little like working in a treehouse, which I love.

home office with corner desk

We switched out the ceiling fan for the new light fixture that I told you about earlier.

home office before and after pictures

Everything else had been in the room before, including the floral club chair

home office club chair and artwork

and the cabinet from my grandma’s kitchen (filled with items for a new project in the works).

vintage kitchen cabinet in home office

That’s the overview of what was done to the office, but I want to share with you some of the little details as well. I’ll save those for the next post.

This post is part of Sunday Link-UpMetamorphosis Monday and The Scoop.

12 Comments

  1. Julie – it looks great! I don’t think I ever would have thought of doing the white floors but I love them. Your grandma’s cabinet and corner desk are also great. What a nice space to work in!
    love and blessings~
    Lynda @ Gates of Crystal

    1. Thank you, Lynda! 🙂

  2. This looks great. I not normally a fan of corner desks, but with those windows — yes! My favorite thing is your grandmother’s cabinet with the lovely scallop at the bottom. Look forward to the “details”.

  3. Julie,
    Love the idea of the treehouse effect, and look forward to seeing pictures when the leaves are on the trees 😉
    We rennovated our bathroom a couple of years ago, and there were layers and layers and layers of what I’d call “turn of the century linoleum” (invented in 1860 !), on hardwood floors…. There were lots of nail markings, so we sanded it all down, and then painted white, and it’s been just fine, really nice actually, ever since…
    and love your grandma’s kitchen hutch, and the “keep calm and carry on” frame – I have the same in my kitchen 😉

  4. It looks so bright and fresh! I would love to work in a space like that!

  5. Oh.my.gosh. Julie! This is a beautiful room! I would love to have an office like this one. Simple but elegant! A beautiful place to work, read and relax. I may have to rethink my office. :)!

  6. I LOVE this office! You did a great job. I love all the white. It looks so calming and so fresh.

  7. Julie! I am SO trying the painted floors in my house! I have a house full of girls and dogs, but I think I could embrace the worn look, especially if it isn’t worn CARPET. Ugh!

    1. Carmen, I’d love to see pics if you give them a try. So far I’m loving mine.

  8. Love all the personal items, especially the painting. I recently moved and am feeling a bit overwhelmed. Our house is relatively new but just isn’t my style at all. Your method of updating/refreshing your home may be the perfect solution. Now if I can just find a really good handyman…

  9. Hello…I’m searching for lights and have been watching that chandelier on eBay. Does one bulb give off much light for that room? Thanks!

    1. I think it gives off quite a bit of light, Corrie, but I do have a couple of lamps in that room too. I prefer lamps to overhead lights, so I don’t really have the light on that much. Hope that helps.

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