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We all need a creative space of our own. A “safe place” where thoughts are not judged and ideas flow freely. Well, our office was NOT that creative space I craved! It was full of clutter, therefore cluttered my mind, not allowing me to tap into that imaginative corner that produces magical things. Yes, MAGICAL is what I’m going for here!
The struggle we have with our office is that it must also accommodate a guest when one shall visit and areas for our two sweet daughters to also practice their creativity and the occasional homework. We equipped our office a few years ago with a murphy bed from Wayfair by simply removing the closet doors and inserting said bed. So the guest situation was taken care of.
We have two daughters, therefore two work spaces was a must! My husband and I also have two butts respectively so when it was time to do our own work we needed our own spaces as well. So two desks was the way to go!
It started with these two tables from Ikea and I built the space around them. My hubby made the executive decision to get stools instead of rolly, swiveling chairs because, well, 5 & 6 year olds will be sitting on them and we don’t need chair races going out of the room and down the hall! So here are the stools we chose and they are the perfect size for adult and child-sized rear ends.
With the desks and chairs checked off the list, lighting was next. We purchased a beautiful modern fan light (yes fan) from Home Depot and I love it! However, it doesn’t produce much light so I wanted some lights for the desk spaces. I picked these out from Ikea but on our trip there I said, “Oh well we don’t need to get them RIGHT now.” I was wrong…we needed them right then and there because Ikea is an hour away. But that was a blessing in disguise because I had made some drop lights a while back and saw a post on Pinterest on wrapping them around a bracket and letting them hang. I found the PERFECT brackets from Hobby Lobby that brought the right warmth to the space.
Let’s now move onto the walls of this refresh. I love Behr paint + primer and that’s all we use in our home. The black is called Totally Black and the white is Ultra Pure White both in eggshell. The black surprisingly only took 2 coats so it covered REALLY well. The white only took one because the bottom half was already white so we got away easy with that one!
The artwork, signs, and other fun things were like the finishing touches to bring back the warmth I was talking about earlier. The framed art prints are a DIY project that you can read about here and the prints are available in my Etsy shop here. The basket was a Goodwill find and if you’re looking for wall baskets…that’s the place to go!
The beautiful “Dear Children” sign is from an Etsy shop My Trusted Treasures and it is one of my favorite signs in my home. It’s a perfect addition to this kiddie corner with the wooden beer caddy filled with colorful markers and pencils.
Over on the opposite wall I kept it pretty simple with this vintage window frame I found at an antique store that I DIY’d a bit. I added the chicken wire so I could attach pictures of our cuties and some crystal knobs to hold small metal buckets of adult things like permanent markers, pens, scissors, etc.
Now I would like to bring your attention down to the floor. The anchor of the space, the thing most people talk about and love to walk on…our stunning area rug from Well Woven Rugs. This rug is the Primavera Inspiration Vintage and the print is bound to hide any oopsies from dropping markers and even if there was a mark to be seen, their rugs are extremely durable and can be easily cleaned. I have another one of their rugs in our living room (see that post here) and my dog got blood on it and with a few sprays with Thieves cleaner and wipes with a paper towel, it was gone! So I have no fears of messes or spills in here.
As a family of 4 now sharing this space we have accumulated a lot of, what I like to call, necessities. My husband’s opinion on that may differ slightly but he has his fair share of IT wires, cables, boxes, and what-nots in here too. These storage units from Ikea along with these bins from Walmart hold (and hide) most of our daily items. Everything has its place and there’s a running bet between me and the hubs on how long everything will stay in its place. Wish me luck, there’s 50 bucks riding on this!
I also wanted a place to just relax when the girls were busy at their desks creating or doing homework so I made this little hangout spot with two chairs I rescued from a thrift store and refinished with some new stain, fabric, and sweat! Seriously, it was a project! The pillows are from Target but no longer available so here’s a great alternative! The throw is from Home Goods but here’s a great textured one from TJ Maxx.
I think that about wraps up the office/guest room/kids creative corner/safe space/whatever else. I tried to link as much as I could but if anyone has any questions on where I purchased something or how I created it please let me know in the comments.
Loves, come follow along on my Instagram for more pics, life and decor, and be sure to check out the Avelyn Lane Pinterest and Facebook page, too!
Health, Happiness, and Abundance!
Jess
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