I've been on a personal project kick the last couple weeks, and one such project was refreshing Larry's office. This was once space in the house where I wasn't convinced about the layout of hte space, and I had some ideas about how to fix that.
Here's a photo of his office from a while back. I sadly, as I'm won't to do, didn't think to take "before" photos before I started moving stuff around...I just get too excited!! So let me fill in the picture: beneath the large artwork, we had added a long narrow console to hold more books, and the record and CD player lived on top of that. The bench in front of the sofa had been removed, and we replaced it with a smaller floor pouf. I think that's pretty much where I started from...
I PROMISE TO TRY TO GET BETTER AT BEFORE PHOTOS!!!!
The Office Space Before(ish)
I'd originally had Larry's desk (which is a large dining table I'd purchased with an entirely different plan, and which we repurposed here) in what's called the "Power Position". This is where the desk faces outward from some point in the room toward the main doorway, so that you can always see when someone walks into the space and not have your back to the door.
When it's possible to use the power position well, I do like to do so, but the reality is that it requires a bit of SPACE to do so, and with this massive dining table as a desk, the room felt quite squishy.
My goal was to keep at least the desk, piano, and sofa in the space, as well as the record player and speakers. Since starting his PhD program, many of Larry's books ended up getting a new home, so I felt we could get rid of the console below the artwork (you know, the one that isn't pictured LOL).
My next hunch was that I wanted the desk to be against either the back or the window wall so that the room would have a more open feel. I tried the desk on the back wall, but only because it would mean not having to move the piano, which would be annoying to do on my own.
As I suspected, the table looked strange there because it jutted out into the built-ins and overlapped with the piano in a weird way. Alas...it was time to move the piano.
I very slowly scooched the piano bit by bit over to the back wall, and slid the massive desk beneath the window, and I immediately knew I was onto something! I loved the way the desked looked beneath the scale of the open window, and in our time of zoom, I knew the natural lighting from the window would be better than any ring light.
The piano worked great on the back wall because it's much more narrow, and so it didn't jut out in front of either the built-ins or the desk. I decided to flip the artwork horizontally (it's okay because it's artwork I made myself and I get to decide which way is up...bahahaha). I loved the scale and height it gave this vignette, and it helped the painting feel fresh to me.
I tried the speakers in a few different locations, as well as the CD and record players, and in the end landed on flanking the piano with the two floor speakers, and housing the music players stacked on this interesting little block Larry and I had purchased long ago from a vintage sale in Grand Rapids. I appreciated that the music players were accessible, but not taking up prime real estate—the reality is that that, though Larry has an extensive CD and record collection, we most often use our Sonos bluetooth speakers, so they won't get used super often.
Once I had the main pieces in place, I noticed that the room felt almost TOO open. I had this cute MCM arm chair in storage in our basement (the matching one is in my office), so I used that to round out the seating area. I like to use small side tables to fill in gaps and create balance when I have a piece floating out from the wall like this, so I stole a little table from my office an tried it out beside the chair. I liked how the height worked out just perfectly below the stack of frames on the wall there, and I thought the raw edge had a nice masculine touch.
Another major change is that I moved the area rug from below the sofa to being more centered on the room/desk/piano. I wasn't sold on this at first, but after living with it for a while, I prefer this to the way it was before. If I were starting this design from scratch, I would have opted for a larger rug that would reach below the sofa as well, but this was a no-buy re-work, and done is better than perfect :)
I played around with the locations of the lamps, and created some simple styling on the desk with a couple potted plants, books, and containers for supplies. I wanted to keep this simple to provide maximum space for spreading out to work.
So! This was the result without purchasing anything new. HOWEVER. If you read my previous post on my sun porch refresh, you'll remember that I hit the jackpot at Re-Store with lamps, and also found some fantastic frames at Salvation Army.
I decided to swap/add two new lamps to this space, which added a whole different vibe as well as some much needed color. I also added one simple little frame beside the plant to round out the vignette, and also frame a couple pieces of art on Larry's bookshelves. So, it was ALMOST a no-buy makeover, but all in, I probably spent about $35 to finish it out, so, I think I'm gonna let that slide!
The Wrap Up
These personal projects renewed my desire to help folks figure out how to make their home special AND function for them, even if their working on a very small budget. As I mentioned, this re-work was possible without buying anything new—just some creative thinking and muscle. I shopped my house literally just PLAYED.
Play is such a big part of the design process—as you do it, you begin to feel what works for you and what doesn't, you learn what you like to look at, you make discoveries, and you begin to feel a deeper connection to your space.
A no-buy or low-buy makeover is absolutely something we could work on during a Designed in a Day Session, so if you're worried about the fact that you'd like to work with what you already have or supplement with a few thrifted finds, NO worries at all! I love the creativity and resourcefulness that arises when you have a container like thats to work within. If that sounds fun to you, this is the best pace to start ☺️
Do you have and example of your own low-buy makeover? What discoveries did you make along the way that you didn't "plan in advance"? Share them with me below!
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