I just had to share my brand new office with you!

If you've been a long time reader, you may know that in 2013 I had all kinds of home goals. One of my goals for the year was to take back my office and make it someplace I could actually create--and now, two years later I'm actually doing it. You know, instead of having it be a large storage closet for my stash? Yeah, that didn't happen in 2013 or 2014--in fact, it got worse. But this year, in order to keep myself accountable, I joined Serena from ThriftDiving for one of her 30-Day Challenges. This month, it was a challenge to bust some clutter in a Junk-Free Challenge, and as you can tell, I needed some clutter busting!

WOW! How did my husband and I let it get so. amazingly. crazy? There were a lot of issues in this room, including:

-A too small desk

-Projects all over the place that either needed to be completed, or just needed to be put in the right place (like putting art on the wall!)

-No command center

-Storage that didn't work.

-Too much paper, too much craft supplies, too much everything!

-The cat litter—need I say more?

Keep in mind that this is an office/library that I share with my husband. He loves the dark wood look, and when we had to replace both of our furnaces a few days into the challenge, I knew that the budget was minimal. Also, my hubby wasn't ready to make significant changes to his "side" of the room. Other challenges include my work schedule (crazy this month), my husband's work schedule (two out-of-town overnight trips), and the usual challenges of my kiddos running amuck as is their habit.

I went through all of my stuff. I had 5 "piles":

-belongs in the office

-belongs somewhere else in the house

-projects to complete

-trash

-stuff to sell/donate

I quickly finished some projects that were really just waiting for final touches to get them out of the space. Then I went back to my keep pile and whittled it down even more. I think I ended up throwing away about a half-dozen large trash bags full of stuff.

I have a good size pile of items to sell at consignment (which is coming up in about a month or so) and some items to donate. I put away the items that belonged somewhere else in the house.

And then, I got to work on using the pieces of art that I had to create a gallery wall. Stay tuned on how to easily create a huge gallery wall! The best part—I had everything on hand and made with the exception of the letter I (and I had all the supplies for that). All it took was some tape, mod podge, and glitter to glam it up a little.

My new "desk" is actually 2 end tables with a piece of wood we had on hand on top. I'm using little rubber anti-skid pads right now to keep the top from moving. The existing wood tones actually coordinated nicely with the roll top desk and the bookshelves which are definitely in the room for the long term. Rotating the desk hides the cat litter. We really don't have another place for the litter box, so we're stuck with it. Once the cats are no longer with us, I may move the desk chair around to the other side. But in the meantime, I am loving having an actual craft desk with my sewing machine right here where I will be sewing! And the shelves of the end tables hold my sewing box and some ikea tubs holding some craft supplies. My fabric is in a cloth tub next to the desk.

My storage unit is actually an old shoe organizer. I had already removed the drawer, but with this makeover I removed the dividers, too. This allows me to stack big items down below, and up above I made custom drawers for each type of supply out of old wallcovering sample boxes just like I did on this French box for my living room and these Frozen themed boxes for my daughter. On top of the shoe organizer I placed jars of beads, findings, buttons and glue sticks.

My 5 minute command center on top of the shelf is a super simple upcycle! I love how I used items I already had (and I broken one at that!) to make a functional magnet board and calendar command center. And I love these elegant magnets I made, too! It ties in so well with the gallery wall.

My final project is actually for my husband's side of the office. Do you know how expensive it is to frame a large format piece? Well, this map is 50"x32" which is way too big for any size poster frame. So, I made mine! Stay tuned later this week for how to make it!

So, how much did this makeover cost? Are you ready? Less than $50!! I think with taxes and all, it was about $49. All of that was for a couple of frames, some hanging hardware, and the wood for the custom frame. It's amazing what you can do when you just get rid of stuff, finish projects, and look around your house with new eyes. Here's one more after picture:


In case you're curious, here is a summary of all the projects that went into this room:

5 Minute Command Center
Easy Elegant Mod Melt Magnets
Butterfly Burlap Letters
Color Outside the Lines Art
Glitter Stripe Letter
Faux Gold Leaf Letter
How to Do A Gallery Wall--The Easy Way!
How to Frame Large Art on a Budget

Enjoy! (I know I am!)