Neutral Home Office – A Work in Progress

I am so excited to start diving into this new house (we’ve been here for 8 months now, but who’s counting!) and want to start off first with my home office. It’s come a long way since moving in, but this room is definitely a work in progress kind of space! I keep switching things up, have hung approximately 6 different curtains up so far, and the only thing that’s not going anywhere is an amazing desk that I found, that’s actually a dining room table!

Before we get in too far, let’s chat design board! I am a very visual person, and always have better success at bringing a room together when I can get all of the elements together at once. The easiest way to do this with the least amount of return trips, is a design board.

I normally share this once everything is 100% in place, but because that sometimes takes a bit of time, I thought it might be fun to show the progress this time instead.

After a few different versions of the basics, here’s where the design board is at right now!

The room we’re transforming into the office is actually the formal living room. But I love how open it is, how it’s right off the front door, and how it has clear sight lines to the playroom. Here’s the room “before” from the listing photos when we purchased the house.

I wanted a light and bright space but needed a little drama in my life to balance out all of the white. The walls right now are Simply White by BM (contemplating switching them to White Dove to match the rest of the house though!), the trim is Chantilly Lace, and I wanted to go bold on the ceiling by painting it a dark color, so the fireplace color, Flint by BM seemed like a fun option!

There’s no overhead light in this space so I wanted to bring in lighting options through a floor lamp and wall sconces (I found amazing ones on Pottery Barn on sale but it doesn’t look like they’re available anymore – what’s in the board is really close to them!). And that huge table? It was a Homegoods steal and is actually a Magnolia Home dining table! I LOVE how it has 8 small drawers for office accessories.

Also new as of this weekend, is a fun wingback chair from Restoration Hardware outlet that’s actually a dining chair on wheels. I love the shape and color and am so excited about our newest find! At 40% off the already low price, it was basically free.

The rest of the furniture is a little up in the air. Right now I’m using an old family buffet that I’m hoping to refinish once it gets warmer out, and an old china cabinet that I painted at our last house for storage. The curtains have been changed out so many times I’ve lost count, but sometimes that’s what it takes!

Okay enough chatter, here’s a few more pictures of the room from today!

The magnolia flowers are faux stems from Hobby Lobby, but I love how large and neutral they are! If I could fill the vase with fresh flowers every week I would, but in the meantime I’ll just enjoy the view of something I can’t kill or forget to fill with water 🙂 And the frames! They’re just inexpensive Ikea Ribba frames. I printed off a photo as a 2×3 poster size, and cut it into 6 pieces. Super easy and inexpensive and fills up that huge wall!

The progress on this room is giving me life to keep tackling the rest of our house! I feel like this balance of bright and neutral along with a bold pop is something that I can see guiding every space in this house, and I can’t wait to keep it going.

I still have to decide what to do with that old buffet, decide if the curtains are staying or going, do a little accessorizing and steaming, but she’s come a long way! So, after seeing the progress so far, what do you think?