$100 Home Office Makeover: Budget Breakdown (Day 4)

November 17, 2012 by

This is the final post in a series about revamping the largest room in my house to serve as a home office.  

The work is done and the room has been put back in order!  Just in time for the weekend, too.

Budget breakdown:

For $100, I gave this room a whole new look and layout.  My workspace feels refreshing and different – the perfect way to start a new adventure.  My desk space doubled thanks to a fabulous free desktop found on a neighbor’s curb, but the room is still able to serve as a part-time guest room.  I even built my own photography corner by painting the walls of one corner white.

 


Glitter Text Generator

 

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$100 Home Office Makeover: Painting Progress and Furniture Re-Arrangement (Day 2)

November 15, 2012 by

This is the second post in a series about revamping the largest room in my house to serve as a home office.  

It’s now Thursday. Here’s what I need to finish before Saturday morning:

  • Two more walls to paint
  • All of the wood trim along the carpet needs to be painted white
  • Put all the furniture / computers back into place

Some bits of advice from the first day:

  • Don’t let being alone slow you down – you’ll be amazed at how much you can do just by yourself! This is a one-person effort so far, and I shouldn’t need any help from Jim until it’s time to actually move furniture into position.
  • You should spend the five minutes it takes to cover the room in plastic This will save you horrible heartbreak and pain later if (when) you drizzle some paint somewhere you didn’t mean to.
  • Do that crazy thing you want to do with paint colors – I wasn’t sure my white and grey combo would look fab, so I started in the corner where the colors meet. They look fab.
  • Just keep going, get it done! I worked from about 9am to 7pm yesterday, will do the same today and tomorrow. When you are doing a big project, the most important thing is to just. keep. going!!

 

Layout before:

Layout after (including Freebie Desk!):

 

 

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$100 Home Office Makeover: Painting (Day 1)

November 14, 2012 by

This is the first post in a series about improving my computer room to serve as a full-time office.

Big news! I was laid off yesterday. It was not a surprise at all, no hard feelings, the company I used to work for was bought by a company a year ago that has struggled to turn a profit on their purchase. A ton of talented, hard-working people were let go. My former employer’s loss is every competitor’s gain!

To celebrate and welcome this change, I am going to give the computer room a major update.

The computer room was hastily painted and set up during our late 2010 move. Not much thought was given to how to best utilize the space and we used the same workstation equipment we used in our apartment (and before that, our Illinois house). Two years later, though, we have a better idea of how we use the room.

Things I want to improve:

  • Jim and I would both like larger work spaces / desks (so we can stop augmenting them with TV trays and bar tables)
  • I would like to not face the window that features blinding sunshine every afternoon
  • Fresh wall color: I think the entrance hall grey would both brighten up and class up the room
  • I would like a permanent location for photographing plush for Etsy / DeviantArt

But here are the catches:

  • Jim and I must be able to see each others’ monitors. No getting up and walking around
  • I do not want to sit with my back to a doorway (perhaps I am a long lost member of House Atreides? Honestly, it just freaks me out.)
  • The bed and its nightstand must stay in this room for now (the walk in junk closet small bedroom simply isn’t ready to become a guest bedroom)
  • Budget: < $100

Before shots, including our normal amount of mess:

 Day 1 Progress:  Three walls painted grey and white.  The white corner will be useful for taking photos of things for my websites.

 

Check out Day 2, where I plan the new furniture arrangement and continue painting walls.

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