He did not want to spend ANY MONEY!!! NO MONEY!!! NO MONEY!!! In addition, this move was a hasty one--the space became available and we had to grab it and get set up before Mark leaves town for a month. So I was forced to use ONLY WHAT I HAD, IN ITS CURRENT CONDITION (no time to reupholster, paint, etc) to transform this dump, I mean office suite, into a pleasant professional work space.
He's cute, so I did it.
I dug thru the attic, thru the basement, stripped his current home office and made a couple of trips to Mom's warehouse in north Arkansas and with the exception of window coverings, we are set! I will not pretend this is a perfect silk purse. There are lots of things that I would do differently with a nice budget and a wonderful, large, well-equipped space. It is, however, a great example of using what you have and adapting, improvising, and overcoming some design challenges. I hope you enjoy the before and after photos!
BEFORE: This is the front office, the glass doors lead to the hallway/elevator area
AFTER: Antique desk, salvaged wooden guest chair, trout prints, lamp and inexpensive ceramic horse from the basement.
BEFORE: The front office, view from the entry--I'm not exactly sure what the niche space on the left is or was supposed to be, It could use some shelving and/or cabinetry, but remember we couldn't spend any money--NO MONEY, NO MONEY!!!! And since I didn't have a big naked David sculpture, I had to think about it The space behind the louvered doors is full of wiring and some lower cabinets
AFTER: Barbara A. Wood's "The Violinist" print (which I still LOVE) and a couple of flanking gold medallion prints were substantial enough to fill the wall that faces the hallway
AFTER: Original abstract by local artist Jeannene Vowell adds some color to the front office, and a Nest Blue Garden candle makes the whole place smell heavenly!!
AFTER: And then there's that wacky niche--it will just have to be until we can have some shelving and cabinetry work added. I have a super bad feeling that when I am not in this office every day there will be junk stacked here, paper boxes, printers, etc. But that's ok--eventually maybe we can get some doors:)
BEFORE: This is the larger office, look at that light fixture! There are two of them in this space, I kind of like them!
BEFORE: Opposite view of the larger office, note the wet carpet, that's a small air conditioner issue that we feel certain will be addressed later this week (hahahaha)
AFTER: All kinds of treasures from our attic and basement, including our first breakfast room keeping table that Mark is using as a desk now and the host chairs from our very first dining room when we lived in NLR so long ago!
AFTER: small round table from our old friend Wayne Hogan and antique chairs my precious Betsy Pickle left me when she moved to DC create a conference area
AFTER