Before & After: Wow-Worthy DIY Built-Ins (from IKEA!) Shine in This Houston Home Office
Everyone knows the importance of 1) first impressions in a home and 2) a functional, yet beautiful, home office. Home influencer Ryia Jose (@kinandkasa) was able to address both of these interior concerns at once because her workspace happens to be located in a room that’s immediately visible to guests.
“This is the space you see as soon as you walk into our home,” Jose says of her work station in her Houston, Texas, home. “It was very basic and I wanted to make it special and impactful. We also wanted more storage for this office space.”
Previously, the room didn’t feature any architectural flair or built-in storage. But Jose took matters into her own hands, leveraging her DIY skills to install base cap molding to create a decorative grid. Jose purchased the storage pieces from IKEA (they’re from the IVAR collection) and jazzed them up by adding a plywood piece on top and baseboards at the bottom to make the pieces look more built-in and custom.
Jose spent about two and a half months gradually working on this space and estimates that she spent about $750 in total. This cost includes the IVAR cabinets, eucalyptus board that she used to hide the wall’s existing texture, base cap molding, plywood, primer, paint, and more.
Jose painted the room in a beautiful green hue: Sherwin-Williams’s Andiron. Jose was inspired to try this moody color for several reasons. “We get a lot of natural light in the space and so I picked a dark color. I wanted it to feel vintage, and this muddy green was giving me the feel I wanted for this space.” Jose also enjoys that the hue she chose appears differently depending on how much sunlight the room receives. “It changes throughout the day,” she says. “My favorite is in the morning when the first light hits and during the golden hour in the evening when it turns this beautiful muted olive shade.”
To finish the look, Jose installed a gallery wall featuring photos and prints that are meaningful to her family — she even displays a framed ultrasound photo. While a wood dresser and desk and a natural-fiber rug add an organic element to the design.
Jose says she has zero regrets regarding this project. “I told my husband that I would want to copy paste this space in our next home if we ever move! I love this space, and it really wasn’t that hard to execute.” She adds, “It’s like a jewel box since the rest of the entry is white. It really sets the tone for our home and makes an impactful view as you enter.”