There were so many things we liked about this place while house hunting. One of them was that it had a good sized den. My fiancé and I are graphic designers and love doing other projects outside our nine to five jobs. Oftentimes, we work from home. So having a home office is a must for us. Our goal for the office is to be a place where we can work, read books, draw, etc… so we decided to call the room “Creative Space”. We thought about using the basement for an office but with limited natural light, it might just be too dark and depressing to work underground.
Before – Original paint
The original color of the den is not bad. It was neutral yellow with mid-tone gray. But it would not have worked with the look and feel that I wanted to create. The plan was to make the room feel modern and contemporary – kind of like a mini design studio in a house. I tend to think and work better in a place that feel light and airy. So I decided to paint the whole room in white. Light color makes the room feel bigger. Another thing I thought about when I picked a color to paint with is the flow and the cohesion of colors from room to room. We have an open floor plan. The living room and dining room have light gray paint which connects to the den. Painting the den in white gives a good flow from room to room.
After – New color
We ended up putting about three layers of paint to cover the previous color. Even though the label said one coat 🙁 I get it…the colors that we are trying to cover are dark colors so one coat was not going to work. But I am happy with how the room turned out. Using the right light bulb that have the right brightness for the room was just as important as picking the color for the room. The brightness of the bulb can create a certain mood to the room or alter the intensity of the paint. From the photos above, the light bulb that we used in the lamp had a warm yellow tone to it. And so the white walls looked a bit yellow. We needed white light mostly for projects we work on. Since there were no ceiling lights with a true white light, we needed an electrician to install it for us.
After a while…
After we were done with the paint. The room became a dumping ground for a while. I was still planning what to do with the room. Everything that had no place to go or still waiting to be organized went into this room. Pretty scary to go in 🙂
In Process – planning, planning, planning…
Must-haves in the office: two good sized desks (oftentimes we work on a desk for a long period of time – I know it’s not good) so a sit-to-stand height-adjustable desk is the way to go for us; we have a lot of books so bookcases are needed; a place to store two easy-to-access bulky printers without making them eyesore pieces; a magnet board to compare colors, concept sketch, pin board (like Pinterest before it became an app); a storage for tools like glues, scissors, rulers, paper, and office accessories.
In Process – Piece by piece…
We spend our weekends walking around Home Depot, Home Goods, and other furniture stores. Dania is one of my favorite furniture store. I love their Scandinavian designs – modern, clean and simple. Unfortunately one of it branches were closing down. Luckily, we saw a big sale and they have the desk we were looking for only $299 (Regular price was $499 and some are even higher). So we bought two. Sit-to-stand elevating desks can be expensive but it is worth it to invest in if your work requires long sittings and have a bad back. It gives you the option to change your work position by standing up. The office is done for now 🙂 To be continued…
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