Shane has been working from home on and off since mid March. He started out at the kitchen table but that just wasn't working. He needed a space where he could shut the door and have it be a bit more quiet and private. I had already painted the cabinets green this spring. I decided to finally get around to finishing the office makeover to create a home office for Shane!
This post is sponsored by Rug Pad USA but all opinions and ideas are 100% my own.
Create A Home Office
I think the best home offices have a nice desk area that is kept clean of clutter, lots of storage, a great view (natural light baby!), and is cozy. If you are going to spend HOURS of each day in that space, you want it to look nice and be comfortable.
The layout of the home office is pretty much the same as before. I offered my desk to Shane but he didn't want it. He has a small laptop and said he would prefer to have something else. Since my computer is large, it made sense to keep it on the bigger desk.
I am still in love with the olive green color I chose for the filing cabinets!
Since Shane wanted a smaller desk for his home office , I bought up the the hairpin leg desk I made that was being used for the keyboard in the boys' music themed room.
Shane's view from the window is the Secret Garden.
Part of the makeover was choosing a new rug. The previous rug got moved downstairs so we have been without one for a while. I found one I really liked on Home Depot's website. It is the perfect warm gray and has a fun pattern. The one thing I didn't have, was a rug pad.
RugPadUSA offered to send one over that would fit my new rug perfectly. It is called Superior Lock and is made from recycled felt and natural rubber. I actually bought one for my living room room rug several months ago from RugPadUSA before they contacted me so I already knew I liked this type of rug pad.
In the past I had a very cheap, thin rug pad that left a dull, sticky residue on my old floors. When we got new flooring last year, I knew I wanted to get a nice, soft, quality rug pad. I did some research and decided to go with the Superior Lock 7/16". It is great for medium to large rugs, helps soundproof, and is non-slip for high traffic areas. It is so cushy too!
Kevin takes most of his naps in here while we work and it is definitely Kevin approved :)
If you use the promocode STACYLOVES, it is good for $50 off orders of $200 or more, which you can also apply on top of their existing 20% Overstock Sale that they are running now through the weekend.
My wall of shelves got a refresh as well. I painted some of the boxes to better match the green cabinets. I used three different shades of green from sage to olive.
It is my prop shelf and storage for all the random things that don't have a home. Things like cloth napkins, candlesticks, small home decor items, vases, and other things I use to stage photoshoots.
It was a challenge to store as much as humanly possible without it looking too cluttered or busy. If I had styled these shelves to just be pretty, they would look different. But these shelves really need to function as storage since we have such a small house.
I painted all the doors in our house a new color recently. Instead of charcoal gray, I went with a lighter gray this time. It is called Barnwood and is by Behr.
This space also functions as a mudroom, so the crates hold shoes and the hooks behind the door are for jackets and backpacks. My kids were at school the other day when I did the photoshoot, so it is a bit sparse, but normally it is filled with things.
The boys wanted the bench I built to go in their room so they confiscated it for their space. But I may just bring it back up!
The barn wood shelves I built years ago do help with storage but I don't feel like I have to fill them to capacity and can style them for fun.
How has this year affected your or your spouse's work situation? Any tips for Shane that might make working from home a bit easier?
Well done! Great office space.
Thank you :)
Stacy, I love your solution for Shane's working station! Perfect! The view from his spot makes everything look clean and larger. I can't tell you how much I love you new rug in both design and color! And finding the right pad is sooo important! You have done your homework! As I see you back wall I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all the organization! It's so beautiful I could just cry! (for joy! :-)
And finally the back wall by the door with a place for every back pack is just perfect! No more, "I can't find my bag?" "Where did you leave it?" Well there are only two places I can think of in your home...on these organized hooks or the ones in their rooms! Ha ha, You have out smarted every teen I've ever run into! You rock, Mom!
This room has grown and added to your family as needed. I love that you have made all the transitions with common scene, practically and keeping to your core values! Just beautiful! Thanks for share my friend! So beautiful! I'm jumping up and down for you in my mind!!!
Thank you Danita! You are always so kind :) The wall of shelves makes me happy too. I like that I can find things easily.
Looks good. I tried to find more info on those filing cabinets, but didn’t. Did you do a post on them? If so, do you have a link? Thanks.
I should have linked to it! Thanks for letting me know :) I’ll add a link to the post. https://www.notjustahousewife.net/wood-filing-cabinet/
Love all your choices, every detail, every color!
Thank you! Green is my favorite color right now :)
Very nice as usual. The green is beautiful.
Thanks Elizabeth!
Looks great! Do you have any suggestions for soundproofing my home office which is next door to my daughter's room where she is virtual learning? Apparently I talk very loudly on conference calls! Thanks
Thanks Becki!
Include as many soft surfaces as you can to absorb the sound. Before photographing this space I took down the curtains and rolled up the rug so I could deep clean everything and I was surprised how echo-y it was! Curtains The thicker the better), rugs, pillows, ect will help so much. You could also get a white noise machine for your daughter's space or use an app if she has a phone.
Hi Stacy,
Do you have building plans for the file cabinet?
I do not. I built them a very long time ago before I offered tutorials. I sure wish I did!
I love this! Perfectly timed with everyone working from home and virtual learning! Do you have a source for your light? I need something like that for my office area
The light is from Amazon and is currently out of stock but if you click the link for it and then scroll down, it has a ton of really similar light options. https://amzn.to/32X1dQA
Hi Stacey. I'm greatly enjoying your blog. I love how you decorated/filled your shelves, I have a really hard time making shelves look pretty while using them for storage, but your are an inspiration. I think the pretty storage options help, so I'll keep trying! To your question about tips for working at home - my husband and I recently retired but he and I both worked at home several days a week for the last 20+ years, from the time we had small children to the time when we were competing with them for wifi bandwidth! Tips differ depending on his work - for me I was on the phone all the time so it was important to have a room with a door that I could shut. The other tip is to try to "draw boundaries" between work and home, otherwise it's easy to work all the time. My husband worked at home fulltime and it worked great for him to manage the house at the same time, he could take a break after submitting a computer run and throw in a load of laundry or empty the dishwasher, etc. Thanks again!
My favorite part of Shane being home working full time is the fact that he can help more. If I need help moving something or any other 2 person job, he can step away for a minute. The hardest part is making sure all the kids and animals are quiet when he's on a call :) Great tips! Thank you.
So beautiful and those greens are my very favorite colors. I would so love to have this for a home office! I am working on "creating" one for my writing room, but we have an extremely small house and the only space possible for it is currently the TV room. It is hard to figure out where to put things to be functional in small homes. This room of yours looks bigger than pretty much every room in my house but I will find a way to make what I have work! Great job.
Your office is so nice! Your blog is also lovely! If you have time, I 'd love for you to link up with us at Embracing Home and Family
Gorgeous remodel and those pops of green are beautiful to pull everything together!! I'd love for you to share over at our weekly Wednesday Creative Crafts Linky Party
Have a great week!
Creatively, Beth