Having just completely redesigned my own home office, I was of course quite interested when I saw Crystal's makeover. She decided to take her rarely used dining room and turn it into a functional (and stylish) new home office…
There were a few ups and downs along the way — including the purchase and re-selling of bookshelves and deciding to make this a two-person office — but Crystal eventually put together this stylish space. And, are you ready for this, she did it all on a budget of under $105! By selling the old dining furniture and picking up new office pieces via Craigslist and IKEA, Crystal was able to achieve this makeover on the cheap. Of course, you totally wouldn't know it by looking at it. This office appears much more luxe than its price tag indicates!
Check out the full post, with plenty of details on Crystal's makeover process — The Weekend Homemaker: Home Office Before and After.
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Good for her! Who uses the second workstation, or is one for business and the other for hobbies?
$105?! Those chairs must have been a steal!
i'm seconding and_scene's comment on the chairs! were they a craigslist find? if not please share source; i am way jealous.
Crab crab crab.
The desk concept (two person, white cabinets, wood top) and even the curtain fabric are dead ringers for the office/dining room at the blog Young House Love. I didn't read her blog post in too much depth, but I'm really surprised that a little credit wasn't given to the inspiration.
Guys, she spent more than $105. She sold her dinning room furniture, THEN used the proceeds from that PLUS $105 more than what she got for her dinning room set. Even so, it's still impressive!
Sweet job Crystal.
This looks just like the young house love office. Nice, just...nearly identical.
I just googled "young house love office" Is this the one you are talking about?
http://www.younghouselove.com/2010/08/office-progress-the-big-reveal/
It really doesn't look that identical to me :/
totally gorgeous home office makeover! I've been working on a bit of my own too and I love it!
Is the "after" a new paint color? Love it if so. Would love to know what it is.
Identical in the sense that.... there's a two-person desk? There's a chair rail in the room? The chairs are different, the cabinets are different, the shelves/cork board are different, there's no stencil, the colors are different. If two people have desks in their office do we need to credit the person in whose office we first saw a desk? Seriously?
That means the chairs were free. $105... doubtful.
Some harsh comments! I noticed the YHL curtains too. Love how you put your own spin on things though Crystal, looks great!
Here are some pics of the YHL office/curtains in question: http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/10/office-chair-makeover-in-progress/
@krgr1428- no, that is not the office. That is from their first house. Elise890 linked their new office.
Young House Love was my first thought as well. The resemblance is impossible to miss if you read YHL. Those are the same curtains! As well the lighting is similar and the overall twin desk setup. I know the concept is not unique but this could not be a coincidence, right?
I like the new office, but credit should be given where credit is due...
I've been a reader of YHL for years. I actually think this looks nothing like their newest office. Aside from the fabric, what's the same? If using a twin desk set up is worth of giving "credit where its due" I'm SURE YHL wasn't the first...
worth = worthy
I like it. It's smart use of formerly wasted space, and it's pretty to boot!
That's obviously inspired by YHL's office: apart from the double seating arrangement, it's the idea of a single work surface placed on top of cabinets to create a wall to wall desk. But if I recall correctly, YHL were inspired by someone else... so, what's the problem? We all read magazines and visit design sites and blogs for inspiration. The point is to make it work for oneself. How many of us are truly original? Picassos are few and far between.
Nice. I have a technical question. I have the same shelves from IKEA and have not ever installed them because I am not sure how to anchor them to the wall. There will be a lot of weight on them and you just can't screw them into the sheetrock. To screw them into the stud is much more difficult. You may have one bracket on the stud, but the other one will not line up with a stud. Any suggestions?
The room, and the blog post, are heavily infuenced by YHL. From the curtains to the spray-painted blue chandelier mock-up (on the blog), the ultimate light fixture choice, and even the tone of writing. Nothing wrong with being inspired and a blog is not exactly a peer-reviewed scientific paper, but YHL usually credits the source of their inspiration.
Nice room, though.
I'll have to admit, I've dreamt of recreating the YHL's office. This is an ok interpretation. Pretty sweet for $100. And I'm pretty sure those curtains use the exact same fabric as YHL.
Thanks for your comments. The color in the office is Ben Moore Palladian Blue. The office cost more than $105. It was more like $830 but I was able to sell my old desk, desk chair, dining chairs, and some bookcases so all that I had to spend out of pocket was an additional $105. YHL is one of my favorite blogs and besides having them on my blog roll, I credit them quite a bit. I've even shared my office progress with John and Sherry, letting them know how much they inspire me. I don't think my office looks 1/10th as good as theirs but it looks 100 times better than our old dining room :) Oh - I caught a great sale on Lampsplus.com and got the white leather desk chairs for $99 each! They are back up to $199 now.
@wmjr, I agree with hooksies, what a crab! What's the point of posting completely unconstructive negativity? How about a constructive suggestion for improvement?
love this!
Even though I want lots of bright color at home for its beauty and energy, less color in the office than in most home rooms helps me to focus calmly on the work. For me, this palette is fine for a home office, especially considering that this room has a view.
nicely done.
Inspired. =) Well done. What is that quote about the sincerest form of flattery? Help me here...
I think one of the most obvious results of so much online sharing (whether this is good or bad) is that its pretty easy to use the work of other's for inspiration- and pretty difficult to be the first to do anything. Crystal, I think that if you were going to pick an example of wise space planning and creative DIY's, you couldn't do better than the YHL. And I think its great that you mentioned them and filled them in as well, I'm sure they were flattered. So thanks for letting us know- that was the exactly the part I was curious about.