Office Progress

I’ve been talking about this room…well, a little bit.  Like here, here, here and here, lol.  And finally, I’ve made a move!  I’ve been stalking Craigslist somewhat obsessively for about a month, but I’ve been thinking about doing something, anything in this room since we moved in.  I’ve mentioned how disorganized and inefficient and claustrophobic this room has made me feel.  I’ve never shown it to you.  Because it looks awful.  But for the sake of progress, here is how it looked yesterday.

Shudder.  What a hodge podge.  Now, the corner desk itself is not bad.  If you aren’t us – people who like and need to spread. things. out.  I was constantly driven crazy by feeling like I couldn’t set anything next to me while I was typing.  And all that crap, er…important paperwork on the white drafting table?  That’s my husband’s “filing system.”  It’s next to the full paper tray I bought him specifically for filing lol.  Also, please make note of the wall calendar on the left.  Yep, that’s a Twilight calendar, and my husband received it for Christmas last year from Santa.  Haha.  He highly dislikes it, and is very lucky that I didn’t make him hang it at his work office!

Aaaanyway, like I said, I’ve been looking for the perfect Craigslist table to refinish, and it was so not working.  Everything was too small, too big, too expensive, sold out from under me, etc.  I considered getting something built, but by this point I was consumed and didn’t think I could handle the waiting, not to mention the potential high cost of construction.  So I was visiting a friend last weekend in Chicago, and we found ourselves at the blue behemoth, Ikea.  And lo and behold, I came full circle back to an inspiration from my first post about this saga, the Melltorp table.

The price, $70 for the biggest one, was right on, as I really didn’t want to spend more than $100.  The color is unobtrusive, the style is simple, and it miraculously fit into a VW Jetta after a bit of coaxing, so it came home with me and went up IMMEDIATELY.  If I couldn’t stand the clutter in the office, I couldn’t handle the clutter plus boxes.

And here we are today!

It’s so very unfinished, but I feel better already!  Our crappy plastic drawers even feel a little better as they sort of blend into the legs.  I wonder if it’s worth it to try spray painting the also crappy filing drawers, as I doubt they’re up for replacement in the near future.  Items whose future is less certain…That lovely chair, complete with 3 year old hole in the back (moving incident – we even have a patch kit, but the hole remains!) and the rug, which came with the husband and I’ve never liked.  Also up for design, the vertical space.  I’d love to have almost nothing living on the desk aside from a little light and the laptop!  Therefore, some sort of shelving will happen up there, and I’m considering a large pinboard for some visual interest.  Time will tell!

As far as the chair, I need to decide on a direction.  I’ve always loved these bankers chairs.  (Note to my parents – I’ll take yours any time you decide you don’t want it anymore!)

source

source I think something like this upholstered chair would be fun and a little different, while still being comfy.

source I’ve thought these chairs are really cute and fun for a long time, but I don’t know how my very tall husband would feel about such a low backed chair, especially keeping in mind the type of chair he’s used to.

What do you think?  Tell me in the comments!