A FAMILY OFFICE SPACE

I mentioned last week that we ditched our dining room in favor for a family work space.

Its the best thing we have done to our house to date. Except maybe the patio… The patio is pretty sick.

I have the best husband in the world because when I have a vision he lets me run with it – within reason. So, while a bit tentative when I suggested a spontaneous IKEA run to put desks in our dining room, he only balked for a moment. And then took the car seats out of the car so we’d have more room to bring home our purchases.

We bought 2 table tops, 3 sets of drawers, a support leg, and a bookshelf. We put all of the items together and secured the table tops to the drawers with Liquid Nails.

I added 3 magnetic chalkboards I found at Michaels, 3 photo ledges from Target, and an assortment of odds and ends to finish off the look.

Each shelf holds one of the boys’ initials and some random accessories – like a neon blue octopus or a doodle of a fox.

Although I have the $4 blue chandelier in the room that gives off lots of light (see the tutorial here), I added a table lamp from Target to add some softer light in our work area.

Over the window, I have curtains, customized from inexpensive white ones found at Target. Next to the windows, we have the art that inspired the neon color scheme of the room and the fingerprint balloon art project I featured a few months ago.

I had an hand-me-down IKEA sleeper sofa that had turned flesh-colored over the years (it was beige back in the day), so I gave it some new life with some RIT dye (2 big plastic tubs, 3 containers of dye, and 40 minutes gave this sad sofa new life as a sweet gray sofa). My oldest has claimed this as his spot, and can be found throughout the day lounging away reading here.

Behind the sofa, the DIY cork board rail, a metal 6 sign from Fresh Vintage, my beloved Zach O’Hora print, and a Dr. Seuss pen and ink print adorn the walls.

Looking for any of the items listed above? Here’s where I found them: