Hey! I’m back for part two of my office refresh. Redesigning my office space was part of my plan for a fresh start to the New Year. I wanted to start 2020 on the right foot, and for me a big part of that was getting my office space whipped into shape. I had given it an update a few years ago, but I’ve learned since then that the functionally the space wasn’t working for me, and it wasn’t inspiring. There was a lack of storage and things I used on a regular basis seemed to pile up. It was necessary that I create a system to keep my office clean, uncluttered and inspiring.

I started with updating my desk, clearing off my work space, organizing cords and adding an inspiring plant shelf. You can check out that facelift in this post in this post.

Today I wanted to share the other side of my small office – the business end of it. This is the side where all of my stuff stacks up. I had added two Ikea cabinets with doors a few years back, but they weren’t being used to their full potential. They were overflowing with samples and magazines. It was stuff that I never ever looked at or needed. What I did need was a place to stow away all my camera equipment that stacks up and spills out of the space and into our adjoining master bedroom. Since I had installed the older Ikea cabinets (circa 2014), Ikea had come up with a whole new cabinet system. The new system is way slicker and offers a lot more configurations. I decided that I wanted to reuse the same concept of floating shelves. Also, as to not get ahead of myself, I’m using floating cabinets because our floor has a slope – the space use to be a sleeping porch and the floor was sloped to allow for rain run off, anyway it makes it super tricky to set furniture on top of and floating cabinets provides me with the storage I need.

I removed the old cabinets and replaced them with deeper and longer cabinet boxes. Ikea’s new system allows for drawers to be inserted into their Sektion wall hung cabinets, this was not possible with the old cabinets. I decided on a drawer configuration that would allow for a deep set of drawers on the bottom, and a more narrow drawer on the top. The bottom drawers fit all of my camera gear and the top drawers allow a space for all my day-to-day office stuff that typically would find its home on a pile on the sofa.

Just as I did on the desk side of the room, I covered a piece of lumber in faux marble contact paper. It elevates the look without costing me a fortune and looks better than raw plywood. It works for me. I also hung a favorite piece of large artwork by my friend Isaac Gale on the framing of the windows. I hung it right in front of those windows! There are so many windows in this room, nine to be exact that I didn’t mind covering up the windows that looked out on the second story of my neighbors house.

I am one of those people that actually really enjoys putting together Ikea products. I’m always fascinated with how well designed it is, and how much planning and effort goes into make each piece multifunctional. I think that the cabinetry is pretty straightforward, you’re basically assembling a box that hooks onto a rail.

 

That wraps up the office makeover, onward to the kids’ bedroom! As always, thanks for being here!