I have an obsession with squeezing as much square footage out of a house as possible. In both the townhouse and our current lakehouse, I've crammed closets full of furniture, art - basically treating some closets as mini rooms. Now I'm transitioning our office closet into the most ambitious purpose yet: a teeny, tiny home gym.
I loved how we turned the office closet into a little nook and there was still lots of storage space, but eventually we realized that we didn't really need the storage space. I had emptied those pink bins
awhile ago and we spent December and January shredding files so we could
ditch the filing cabinet altogether. After a little de-cluttering, we removed
the shelf, repaired the wall, rolled on a can of (slightly off-tint
white) paint, and were left with this blank slate:
Now the office closet is home to our sleek new SpaceWalker treadmill and
we'll be tackling some more projects, like adding a fan, installing and outlet, and storing our weights, etc.
Even though the new treadmill is so gorgeous, I still wanted the option to conceal
this space so I enlisted my Mom to sew a DIY closet curtain. When we moved here, I had to choose between the existing bi-fold closet doors and a smaller Ikea Expedit, or no closet doors and the bigger Expedit - I chose the latter, with no regrets! A sliding door like the beachy glass one in our bedroom would be lovely but so awkward, because the bookcase is pretty close to the closet opening. One day maybe we'll
spring for a pocket door (or ditch the Expedit?), but we had leftover curtain track from the laundry room curtain system, and I found a
gorgeous cream linen for only $3 per meter - so clearly the Universe was steering me in the direction of a closet curtain.
I wanted to do the closet curtain the same way my Mom and I did the laundry room curtains, because seeing the track never bothers me, but my Mom is so ambitious. She's always thinking big and she has so many clever ideas. With some work reflection, she came up with a simple DIY curtain that easily hides the curtain track and looks so seamless.
Here's how to easily sew a curtain that hides a curtain track.
The process was actually very straightforward. First we washed and dried the fabric to settle any shrinkage and then gave it a quick iron. The edges and bottom were hemmed as usual (folded over, ironed, sewn down) - pretty basic for a curtain. The top is where we got creative. To stiffen the top and keep it from drooping and exposing the clips and curtain track, we used non-woven interfacing, which was sewn right into the top seam to give it some stiffness.
Next we sewed on some shirring tape, focusing the stitching on the bottom third so the top edge of it was loose.
This is where we attached the clips from the curtain track and - voila! - a super simple curtain that hides the track! We didn't do any ruching or shirring, we just evenly spaced the clips and so when the curtain is closed it has some soft folds.
Here's a peek at the back:
When the closet curtain is open, it looks like this:
I love this as a solution because it was fast and easy! I know not everyone would opt for a closet curtain because it can look dangerously student-y, but living in this cottage on the lake I think I can get away with some relaxed design choices. I wanted to share because if anyone liked the idea of a curtain track - but not how I opted to keep the track visible in the laundry room - then this is an easy alternative.
After living with the space for awhile, Hubby and I devised a wishlist for the perfect home office:
Desk for two
Hidden cords and simplified tech (no more hulking printer sitting on the desk)
Minimal office clutter
Space for Hubby's great-grandfather's trunk (there's NO room elsewhere and it's special)
Comfy chair to curl up in and read
Uplifting color palette
Design that feels cohesive with the rest of the lakehouse
Room for a treadmill
Check, check, check! Here's our home office today:
I can't even walk down the hall without peeking my head in and smiling, plus working in here is an absolute dream. We still have a few small projects we'll tackle over the next few months, but I'm loving the new home office! Here's a closer look at everything we chose:
I'm embarrassed to say that I ordered this turquoise tweed fabric in back in the spring of last year! It's the perfect turquoise, shot with shimmering cream so it's a soft hue. Using the same back tab curtain sewing tutorial we used for the original bedroom drapes (and my new green tweed curtains in the master bedroom), Mom and I whipped up a set for the office as well, so both bedrooms have the same style of window treatment now.
With the curtains squared away, next we figured out the ideal desk proportions/measurements we wanted and built a solid walnut waterfall desk with Hubby's Dad, using solid walnut counter top from Craft-Art.
Remember how I mentioned that the cords will be hidden with our simple desk design? The magic is in that little inset panel of walnut wood we added to the back of the desk. I pulled the desk away from the wall so you can see how we used some screws to affix our power bar back there and then used screw-in hooks to corral the wires. It's such a simple cable management system, but everything is tucked behind the desk neatly, between the wall and the inset walnut panel, so not a single cord can be seen from the front or side - just the tiny tail of our laptop cords and the lamp cords disappearing behind the desk.
We ran the power bar cord down the leg of the desk and to the left where it plugs into the wall. I have a woven storage basket tucked there so we can collect paper to recycle or burn, and it hides the outlet and plug. As much as I enjoyed my DIY treadle sewing machine base desk, it was a challenge to corral all of the wires, so I just love how all of our cables and junk are completely hidden with this desk.
You might have noticed that I ditched my big monitor and keyboard. I needed those to write a 300+ page dissertation, but I prefer just using my laptop these days. I also no longer need to print hundreds of pages and scan dozens of book chapters, so we gave my old beast of a laser printer to my Dad and bought a sleek wireless color inkjet that I keep off my desk.
I thought about building a little desk organizer but find that I don't need it - pretty much everything is on my laptop and when I'm furiously making lists (a lot of which I make on my laptop now too), I'll grab a pretty pen and notebook, which I put away at the end of the day. My brain cannot function with a messy desk, but I spent years with my desk piled high with exams to mark and illegible research notes written on receipts in the middle of the night. A perpetual student until only a few years ago, I've dreamed of a clean, uncluttered desk like this for twenty years.
We gave my beloved desk chair to my Dad. He bought it for me in high school and it was a custom fabric choice - don't ask me what I was thinking - so I was sad to see it go, but my Dad was using a really crummy chair in his office so I'm happy he can make use of it now. I really wanted a matching pair for Hubby and I, so we ordered two soft white leather mid-back chairs by Meelano from Wayfair (they come in different colors and also a gold base finish).
I LOVE these chairs so much! They have a much smaller scale that suits the small size of the room. The mid-century inspired design complements the look I'm going for in the lakehouse, plus they tie in the cream leather from the living room. They are really, really comfy, but not as loungey as my old chair (which was comfy enough for me to lose hours watching videos or reading blogs). These days I'm more focused on the task at hand and try to get in and get out of the office efficiently so I can spend less time sitting, which is a health objective of mine. I kind of like that although this chair is fabulous, it doesn't beckon me to put my feet up and take a nap like my old chair did.
Because they're light, I appreciate the brushed aluminum handle on the back so we're not always touching the leather. I love clever design touches like this:
Just in case I decided one day to bring back that ginormous monitor, I wanted really tall desk lamps - but they needed to have a small footprint because our desk is fairly compact. I rounded up a bunch of gorgeous mid-century modern inspired table lamps and was almost ready to order one, but then I found the perfect Stilnovo lamps on Wayfair. These lamps have such a sleek mid-century modern vibe, plus the slim, elegant design and cream finish complement the chairs so well. I've always loved the Serge Mouille lamps and these have a similar look, but a much more realistic price. The simple design allows the height to be adjusted quite dramatically:
The Reading Corner:
The office "nook" is going to be the new home of our treadmill and also some vertical storage, so Hubby's great-grandpa's trunk needed to find a new home in the office. It's not my typical mid-century modern style, but it's super special to Hubby so I really wanted to make room for it. It's also practical: it houses my new wireless printer plus other office supplies.
Beside the trunk I tucked the displaced velvet chair from the living room. It needed a new home, we needed a cozy chair to curl up in... It's deceptively comfy and I love that if I'm working, Hubby can read a magazine or book in here if he doesn't need to use his laptop. We're spending more time together because of the office re-design and I love that. Plus I feel so good that I could use furniture and art that we already had to decorate this corner - my only splurge was the planter!
The corner needed something and when I added this giant, low light loving peace lily, the whole office came to life. I already have one of these planters in the dining room so it helps contribute to that sense of flow and cohesiveness I want to create in the house.
The Ikea Expedit Bookcase
I am still smitten my white Ikea Expedit bookcase - our DIY plywood magazine storage bins and the turquoise Ikea hack are still going strong. My collection of vintage Strawberry Hill Pottery has grown a little, but not much else has changed with the bookshelf. I have a calendar I hang on the left, but I removed it for photos so you can't see what kind of trouble I get into.
Whew! That's the tour of our refreshed home office. I used a wide angle lens (so excuse the distorted proportions) to try to capture the room as a whole. This is the view when you walk by the office:
I couldn't have put together such a beautiful space without the help of U-Fab, Craft-Art, Wayfair (and, of course, my father-in-law!), so I have to say a huge thank you!! And thank YOU to everyone who reads Dans le Lakehouse, because you motivate and inspire me every day.
