I am so excited to share a client project reveal with you all today! A big thank you to my clients Natasha and Geoff for allowing me to photograph and share their space.
Last winter Natasha reached out to me for some help with pulling together her living room and helping to create a functional office space for herself and Geoff, as they work together from home. I am going to save the living room reveal for another post so I don’t overwhelm you with photos, but I will tell you it is such a beautiful space and I can’t wait to share it with you!
But for today, get a load of the office space! This room had lots of great things going for it – tons of natural light, a storage closet and existing built-in shelves.
One of the biggest challenges they were facing was desk space. There was an existing built-in desk on the wall facing the built in shelving unit, but it was a really shallow piece that was barely functioning for one person to use, let alone two! I can’t find the “before” photos I took of the space, sigh#badblogger, but trust me when I tell you that it was not working out very well.
I suggested we remove the built in desk, and we brainstormed a few different layout possibilities. We could buy a bigger set of desks and put them on the same wall, but we weren’t in love with that idea. Facing the wall just didn’t seem like an inspiring way to spend your work day, especially with the large window and view to the yard and street outside…way more interesting! I suggested having a large table in the middle of the room and in front of the window, almost like two desks facing each other. The clients loved the idea and we were off and running.
I had seen this table from IKEA and thought it was a really beautiful piece, and as a bonus, there is a gap in the middle of the table that is meant to be a style feature, but that actually worked perfectly for them to run their computer cords through…
They already had a comfortable and stylish office chair, and luckily they were still available so we got another one. Bam, desk with seating for two!
I really love this table and the warmth the wood tone brings to the space. It has a traditional shape but with sleek lines that give it a contemporary feel. I think this is my favourite element in the room.
Next came the question of what to do with the blank wall where the built in desk had been…Natasha and I quickly agreed that you can’t have too much storage in a home office, especially when it is the main office space for their business. We decided upon two IKEA Hemnes bookcases agains the wall, and I think they look amazing!
I love these bookcases because they have upper shelves behind glass that are perfect for styling, and then super functional drawers on the bottom for storage. This was especially necessary given that we chose to use a table as a desk because it doesn’t have any storage. We also had enough wall space left over to hang their degrees. Natasha went to Michaels to switch out the frames so that they were all sleek and black.
On the opposite side of the room you have the built-in bookcase that I mentioned as a bonus earlier. There is tons of storage here, but all of it was open. It’s hard to make that many shelves look neat and tidy unless you have a huge book collection.
We found some beautiful hyacinth baskets at Michaels that were the perfect fit, so this gave us some much needed hidden storage, plus I love how rattan and wicker add warmth and texture.
Natasha and Geoff had a large TV on the top of the built in shelves, but they wanted to sell it because they didn’t need it…wouldn’t you just know that we were looking for a used TV for our basement…sold! Once we got rid of the TV, we had a surface to style, yay!
We kept it pretty simple with some greenery and pretty vases, of course I had to use my favourite faux Eucalyptus stems from Trims, a local store here in North Vancouver. I also wanted to make sure to incorporate some personal items like this work out art from their youngest kiddo…so cute!
The wall space above the built in was a bit tricky because it was big space to fill. Natasha fell in love with these prints from Society 6, and we chose three that had both personal meaning and also complimentary colorways. We used Ribba Frames from IKEA, and I love the result!
So colorful and interesting. It was hard to capture a great picture because of the reflection from the windows, but you get the idea! The last decorative element I want to highlight is this amazing rug! Wayfair is my current favourite place to find affordable area rugs, so Natasha and I turned there first. We both loved the idea of bringing some color and pattern to the room because everything else was really neutral. She found this rug and we were both sold.
You can see how the warm tones are a perfect compliment to the hardwood flooring. The distressed style keeps it from being too overwhelming, it is a really muted rug but full of color and personality.
I just love how this room came together and Natasha and Geoff are so happy with the way it looks and funtions, yay!
Here is a source list of the items we purchased:
(Diploma framing and hyacinth baskets are from Michaels, no links are available)
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them for me below! If you are local and you find yourself in need of some help with decorating an area of your home, please send me an email at khansen@littlenestdesign.com and I would love to talk to you about how I might be of help!
Best,
Kerri
