It's something that spans back to our time of house searching (can't believe that was over 4 years ago!). While touring some homes, they would have an office space or dining area toward the front of the the house that they converted to a playroom. There were toys and colors all over the place. It was never very attractive (esp to someone without kids), and I told my-self that I never wanted to have that. Fast forward a few years and a 16 month old son later. I've always used our office as a place for the computer and camera gear, my sort-of 'business office', which worked great baiscally until Isaiah started walking. Then I couldn't even go in there without him pulling CD's off the shelves (of course after I had just reoginized them all!). I tried to give him toys to play with, but I never really could spend any time in there without him tearing everything up. I then saw some rooms of pintrest and got the crazy idea to put a bed in the room (since we haven't had a guest room since Isaiah's been here). I thought of a murphy bed, two storage bentched that could be pulled together, a beautiful but super expensive day bed. Basically it was all out of our budget (of next-to-nothing). One day in Hobby Lobby I was looking at some wood letters, when the word "create" came to me. I thought what a perfect idea for the office! (*Note: this is me justifying myself that I don't have a 'playroom' at the front of my house ;c) Instead I had a "Creative" room where Isaiah and I can both use the right side of our brains. I flipped my IKEA shelf on it's side (removing the center section for CD's). Finally filled the empty frame that's been at the back of the office with my inspiration (I purchased the letters, then decorated them with things I had around the house). Pulled the rug from my closet (I had found it on sale at Walmart for $20 one day and couldn't pass it up, not realizing how perfect it would be for this space!). Purchased an awesome antique glider, thanks to my cousin Lindsey, at a consignment shop in Kansas over Thanksgiving (I originally had one of my green chairs there, but it took up too much space and I loooove the floral pattern on this chair, plus it was $25 bucks and only needed a good scrubbing with oxyclean! The green chairs are now in my bedroom). As you can see below, Isaiah enjoys the space :c)
This is the collage of hand-made goodness I put together. The picture on the left is from photo-friend Mike, the wreath my SIL Judy made, the drawing on the right is my grandma's, the IKEA frames were ones that I had in the garage, which will get filled with photos and drawings (Isaiah's first drawing is on the bottom left), and the cork boards are actually IKEA hot pads that I thought would be great to pin up different art projects on!
My office part didn't change much. I need to organize it better, but it's functional.
A close up of the rockin' (har-har) chair!
Aaaand, the back wall, which I actually painted to be a chalkboard wall! Ray was nervous that this would teach Isaiah to draw on any wall, but he's actually done really well and hasn't drawn anywhere but there. It was a
Martha Stewart trick of just adding non-sanded tile group to pain and turning anything into a chalkboard surface. I liked the idea that I could use some left over paint from the room and not have to have it standout too much (It seems to have worked, but i didn't see a real big difference after testing a mark on the other walls). This honestly has been Isaiah's favorite part, he loves to cheer for himself after he draws :c)
Not to say it's a totally clean activity, but whats a creative room without a bit of chalk dust?!
The thing I spent the most money on were the baskets for the toys. I didn't think how difficult it would be to find the dimensions for baskets to fit when the shelf was on it's side. It's a very narrow, tall area, and although I wish the baskets would have gone all the way to the top, these were the only ones I could find to fit (and they were on the pricer side too $60 for 4) but I've learned that baskets are just a pricey thing because you are usually buying multiples.
These two give the room a thumbs up, so I guess that's all that counts!
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I spent some time trying to find a before pic of the office since I forgot to take one (I"m kinda terrible at that) but can tell that we didn't do much 'living' in this space because I couldn't find any since the day we moved in (and it was a terrible salmon color and not at all what it's been for the past few years). So sorry, I failed there.
