Our Working (Out) Office!

I’m so so so so happy, and so so so so tired. Redoing the office has been quite an ordeal for me to plan, purchase, put together those purchases, clean, clean, clean (did I say that already?) and organize our office/workout room. I’d really hoped to repaint the room, but alas that was simply not possible. Oh well.

You can read my “pre” drama here and here.

Check out this before picture from a previous post:

And here’s that same shot today:

Another before picture- this is utterly embarassing and the worst of the worst. Junk everywhere. No “theme”. Ugh.

Same shot today:

Here’s a similar angle– before:

After:

We upgraded the treadmill and are waiting for it to be delivered- it will go in the same place as the previous one. The elliptical is temporarily housed in the Family Room which the kids are loving- they are on it all the time to watch TV. Not a fan of how it looks in there, but I’m not opposed to keeping it in the Family Room for a while. We’ll see what Jim thinks when he gets home.

Anyway- here’s the details on the new office:

1) First goal- we needed storage….and concealed storage was my ultimate desire. I had this cabinet in mind as I went to IKEA:

But after seeing it in person I wasn’t such a fan. It was complicated…and the metal front looked kind of chintzy. It was also $399 for just the bottom half (31″ wide x 31″ tall). The upper cabinet was going to be another $80.

Across the aisle was this beauty:

It was $459 but twice the width (so a better overall value) and I love the solid sliding doors. I figured I could always cover the doors with sheets of stainless steel (if I needed more stainless steel for aesthetics), but after having them in place I don’t think that’s necessary.

There was a shelf upper that could be added (like the image above), but it would have blocked our window. The guy told me I could take the shelf upper from the other unit and put it on top of this one so that half the unit had a shelf attachment, but I thought that would look weird so I opted to skip that altogether.

Long term I’d like to keep the surface clear and empty. Maybe I’ll make a stainless steel top for it- who knows.

Here’s the cabinet in action:

I also love the stainless steel detail.

2) Next on the buying list was a new desk. This was our old one and we all hated it:

I wanted to go for a table-top surface rather than a desk, and had this beauty in mind before going to IKEA.

When I saw it in real life I was definitely sold. There’s several leg choices and my plan was to buy 2 stainless steel looking legs and use their VIKA computer cabinet base for the other supporting end, but I opted to buy 4 legs just in case we eventually want to use it as a table. The tabletop was $129.

Although I love the stainless steel look, I’ll admit now (less than 24 hours after putting it together) that it is a nightmare to keep clean. I plan to get a sheet of glass cut to size to use as a table top “protector” so that the stainless steel is still visible and pretty.

Something unexpected- the table surface is magnetic! My magnet tins stay in place as I pull the lids off which is great- to be able to do that one handed- love it! I’m sure once we have a glass top we’ll lose that feature, but that’s OK.

The VIKA computer cabinet- I wouldn’t buy again. For some reason it makes the computer sound really loud, and I think it’s too bulky of a look. I think if I put in a thinner shelf in it (instead of the bulky one) it would look better. Stay tuned for that one….requires a saw and drilling new support holes and stuff.

The rest of the office make-over was fine tuning additional storage options and decorating!

First up- I wanted to keep my desk area as clear as possible. Shelving was going to be a must. I found these guys at IKEA and I’m so happy with them:

Next, I wanted a shelving/storage option way up high- not sure what I’ll put in there yet, but I know something will come to mind eventually. This EXPEDIT cubby was the perfect solution. Mounting it to the wall was a little complicated, but I got it to work. I want to have Jim double-check it’s durability before I start loading it up.

The beige file cabinet stays- although I’m not a fan of the color, I think it works out OK.

The small oak file cabinet was supposed to go, but I have a little spot where I need “something” and we can always use more filing storage space, so it’ll stay, although I’m going to wreck it by repainting it an espresso color to match the rest of the room.

As for decor- I found this cute little keepsake when I was emptying out photo frames to take to Goodwill. I re-framed it and hung it up to see every day.