So, I got MYSELF the gift I wanted most for my 5 year anniversary. A new office! Well, not new. It's the same 5 walls, but they're a soft gray instead of institutional off-white. Gone is the 6.5 foot desk wedged into my 8 feet of usable floor space. Gone is my ugly bulletin board. Gone are the WWII era paper holders.
What did I replace them with?
Pink. Antique Medical Equipment. Vintage Nursing Books. A custom painted owl lamp. And, a pink moose with glitter antlers. Aw, yeah. I said it. GLITTER. ANTLERS.
So, I'll start with the "naked" befores. I'm so sad I didn't think to get a good picture of what it looked like with all the crap we had wedged in here. It was impressive. My office is, at its widest point, about 7.5 feet, and then there are cabinets. So, if you count them, maybe 10 feet. It was the med room, originally. So, it has no windows. And, it has an odd little nook that was some leftover space from the bathroom. There is a whopping total of ONE outlet in the office, and a strip of plug mold that was cantaloupe orange against the blue/gray cabinets. Yeah, it was stunning. ANYWAY...
Notice the test patch of paint on the wall.
The mural was the ONLY thing I liked in my office, so it stayed. Notice the ring where my chair has been for years, and how horrible the floors were. It was so jam packed in there, you could honestly not even get to the area under the desk to mop it. SO NASTY.
In the bottom of the wall, see my ONE outlet. Also, notice the steel plate that's not a light switch. My office is pass card set-up. So, when the door closes, it automatically locks. People can never find the button to get out, so it's kind of funny. 'Cause... it's RIGHT THERE!!
So, the first step was paint. I wanted something very neutral, but not white or beige or any combo. So, I went with the softest gray I could find. Woodsmoke by Valspar at Lowes. The walls were wiped down and it actually covered everything in one coat! My office is so tiny that one gallon completely covered the walls, and I had some left for touch-ups if I need it. TEENY TINY. But, mine all mine and I love it so!
The inspiration for me to redo the whole darn office, started with a quote. I saw a painting on Etsy that I just loved the quote. But, the colors were all wrong. So, enter my friend Fallon, who can paint like a fiend. I gave her the quote, and free reign. She knocked it out of the park!
She even added the little nurses hat without any input from me. Can you say PERFECT?! The quote to me is all about my job. I have always loved being a nurse, but never so much as I do where I am now. It's an odd environment, and people ask me all the time, "Aren't you afraid?" Yes, I work with inmates. Yes, I've treated murderers and some other scary folks. But, I'm not afraid. I was born to do this. This is my calling. This is where I belong. So... my sign!
Poor Fallon had no idea what she was getting into. I'm hooked. And, I've asked her to make me 2 more companion pieces for it. So, I'll have more pictures of the office later on when those 2 are done! By the way, she has an Etsy shop that has a handful of her best sellers, but she can do anything!!! Fallon's Etsy Store (and, no I'm not getting paid to plug her, I'm just in love with her cool stuff).
So, with the color palette in place, I got to go crazy girl shopping! I really tried to do this on the cheap. So, I hit Ikea for my desk. Now, Ikea can, and will, drive you to drink, if you are shopping online and don't have a store near you. They will sell a 700 pound item online, but not a 2 oz cup. They will charge you freight shipping on one desk, but will UPS another. It took me HOURS to figure out what I could get shipped. But, I managed to pick out this little number.
Micke Desk with Drawer Unit. Thankfully, I ordered it in solid white. They did have it in pink, but I restrained myself!
Thank goodness, I work with amazingly sweet people who tolerate me well. Our sweet maintenance guys took one look at the multiple boxes, Picture instructions and my confused face and put the desk together for me. After my 6.5 foot long, 3 foot deep desk... this thing looks so tiny! But, I really need a small desk. I tend to cover up any available space with junk and papers. So, instead of having to wedge the desk in across the room, it fits up against the wall with door, and even has room to spare!
Then, you gotta have CUTE STUFF! I love mid-century modern stuff, and especially the old starburst clocks.
But, at $399, I do not see that hitting my budget. So, away we go! Hello, Amazon!
I added a groovy bulletin board that I already had from a long, long ago trip to TJ Maxx that I'd never found a true home for. And, then... my favorite piece.
Thusly named, because as a moose, he's got to be Canadian. That's where the best moose live. Everyone knows this. But, since Monsieur Moose is not afraid to show his softer side, in shades of pink and chunky silver glitter, he must be French Canadian. No?
I've actually wanted one of the giant, white moose that White Faux Taxidermy sells for years. I want one over a mantel in my home. Our only mantle is in Mom's part of the house and she says no. Mean ol' mama. So, I got the mini version in a color dark enough to show on the pale gray walls and jazzed him up, so as to be Emily Appropriate.
I added a cute floor protector for my chair, too. $10 at Big Lots! Score! I tried a super-cute pink rug here, but it got so nasty in just a month that I knew I'd never be able to keep it clean. The chair mat works much better, and is easy to just wipe off.
So, all that fun, and we're just up to the first wall! HOLY COW!!!
We also left the mural up, but didn't even attempt to paint around it. We just left the top half as is, even though it had a few dings and paint drips. I love the mural enough to look over those.
We just added a cheap chair rail that was pre-painted white, and painted the bottom half the same gray as the rest of the walls.
Ze finished product (please say that in an outrageously over the top French accent. One worthy of Monisuer Moose).
Still trying to figure out what to do with the tower. It's ugly, but I don't want it ON my desk, so there it is. Also, I need a cute trash can. Anyone? Volunteers? Something cute? I may just vinyl the heck out of the plain black one I have.
You can see the chair mat a little better in this one. And, you can see my beloved mural. The quote is from one of my nurses, Stephanie. She said it to me the first time she met me. I had no idea how prophetic that quote was. "They will wear the nice off you like the shine off a penny."
A note about the pictures: My office is so tiny you can't get back far enough to get an entire wall in one picture. So, I had to use a picture stitching panorama app. It does great, but it makes it look like my office has sort of rounded walls. It doesn't. It's all square, just a photo thing.
OK, that's it for today. I'm sick of typing and I have to put together the new pink chair that I got for the office. I'll take pictures of it later.
Total so far on my redo:
Moose $89
Paint: $27
Labor: FREE
Mat: $10
Desk: $54 & $49
Clock: $35
TOTAL: $264
Tomorrow: Shelves in the weird nook, the most difficult vinyl project I've done so far, and a plea for design help!
I love it! It's so you. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you!! I love it so much! I just feel better sitting in there now that it's "me-i-fied".
ReplyDelete