Having the office done is Such. A. Relief. From day one, I set out to create a space that would really help get the team’s creative juices flowing. I wanted ideas to literally bounce off the white walls. But trying to stay minimal can be a bit tricky – design is very much in the details when every piece counts. And when you’re working on a budget making the perfect choices definitely took more time than expected!
But as promised, we’re breaking down some of those details today {and over the next couple of weeks!}, first focusing on the upgrades to the walls. We found affordable, simple and most importantly fun ways to really make the space feel brand new!
We spend the vast majority of our time glued to screens, so I really wanted to capture wall space for old school inspiration. I used to have boxes and boxes of magazine tears, people – that I moved cross country…twice! As we worked on the redesign, we always kept our eyes peeled for new and interesting ways to display pieces of tangible, physical inspiration. That hunt became the source for our most economical DIY yet! Can you guess what it was??
We’d been seeing metal grates pop up all over our fave Scandinavian blogs, so we decided to try and make one ourselves! A simple trip to the hardware store yielded the perfect large scale wire grating for $7! To take it a little beyond junk yard chic, we simply laid it down on some cardboard and spray painted it white. Now it simply hangs from picture hooks. We call it our modern pin board and we’re all obsessed.
The grate is the perfect solution for an awkward wall space that needs some visual interest {it hangs on this weird blank spot right before you enter the bathroom!}. It adds texture and interest all on its own, but we use it to hang styling ideas for upcoming shoots, odd knick knacks and our favorite art for a seriously cool 3-D statement!
Since half of the team is facing a wall when sitting at our new co-working desk {the now iconic Strut Table from Blu Dot, btw!}, we needed something inspiring to look at there too. Instead of doing a typical gallery wall, we loved the idea of creating a rotating inspiration shelf. With acrylic clipboards from Muji {they proved more economical than these gorgeous ones from Russel & Hazel!} and a simple picture rail, we have a chic and quickly interchangeable moodboard to display our most recent magazine musings!
In our book, no office is complete without a bar and we wanted ours to be a highlight of the space! We started out by creating a black statement wall {painted with Flat Silhouette by Martha Stewart Living for The Home Depot}. Keeping with the minimal style, we floated a clean-lined Ikea console with white lacquer doors and Ikea-hacked it with a customized black surface {aka $10 black contact paper purchased on Amazon!} Then we brought in one major piece of artwork. This is an especially meaningful piece, as we commissioned our very own Editorial Director to make it! Bianca recently discovered this stunning hidden talent {you may remember the piece she did in her own living room here!} and her gorgeous abstract ink on canvas really brought the wall to life {inquire about your own piece here!}.
When it came to lighting, we didn’t have the luxury of installing a “major moment” over our new desk due to a concrete ceiling, so we figured out how to work with the tracking lighting that was already there. We used a simple custom brass pendant {made by studioPGRB!} to make a stunning, singular statement. We also added a monochromatic black wall sconce by OneFortyThree to instantly upgrade our lighting game!
Finally, we created a mini-gallery moment in our “creativity corner.” Still wanting to keep things as uncluttered as possible, we focused on four art pieces all with a similar color palette and gold frames. The two new ones are original works by fave artist Jennifer Ament and the last little detail is simply a hand-painted watercolor card that we slapped up, unframed, but it totally rounded out the moment. The fresh combo made us fall in love with our favorite art piece from the original design all over again – our Life Magazine image of Vegas showgirls playing chess backstage! J’adore.
That’s detail on just a few of our favorite mini moments around the office. We hope you can see how the simplest changes can have the biggest impact on a room. Next week we’ll break down the creativity corner, the supply closet {remember our most popular DIY to date!} and what’s on our prop shelves! Stay tuned.
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SHOP the Office Makeover Sources
> Strut Table, Blu Dot
> Slope Chairs, Dot & Bo
> Black & White Rug, Lulu & Georgia
> Pendant light, studioPGRB
> Wall sconce, OneFortyThree
> Throw pillows, Designer Fluff
> Dipped natural wood tray, The Vintage Vogue
original photography for apartment 34 by Aubrie Pick // moodboard image 1 via Lotta Agaton // 2 via Design Sponge // 3 via Style At Home // 4 via Trendenser // 5 via Stylizimo // 6 via Rebecca Centren
