Tour My Home Office

Thank you so much for the hugely supportive comments earlier this week - my paper was well received!  So many of you have emailed or left comments asking about my research, hoping I'll share a bit more about what I do when I'm not blogging.  I'm completely surprised at the interest, but I promise to share some details next week.

On the topic of work I thought maybe you might like to see where the magic happens.  Of course, you've seen my artful Expedit hack, Hubby's DIY welded desk, my DIY treadle desk, my DIY magnetic board, and the silhouette wall, but not the whole office together. 

Because I work from home almost 100% of the time, it's a bit of a struggle to get functionality, style and affordability to blend together.  With an unlimited budget, there's lots of things I would do, but at the end of the day I have to work with hand-me-downs, cheap big box furniture and homemade desks. I have big plans for our next house: I want to build two new, matching desks that hide the cords and have little stations for hiding the printer, etc.

But for now, I love my treadle desk (I treadle when I'm thinking - I wish I could power my laptop this way).  Plus, I still enjoy the eclecticism of the space, the handmade touches and the fact that it looks less office-y than other offices.

Welcome:

Here's what you see when you first walk in: my DIY treadle sewing machine base desk and Hubby's DIY welded desk. 

From the other side of the office (with the window to your back), you can see the silhouette wall.  I have a new one, plus another being framed, and I promise some details on both - soon.

We haven't finished converting the closet into a nook (it still needs trim to hide the track), but I love the extra space we gained.  The antique chest under the silhouettes is a family heirloom from Hubby's side, and it is crammed full of books and office supplies. 

I still love my DIY magnetic board, I just need to use extra strong magnets.

The sculpture on top of the filing cabinet (as well as the bird sculpture on the wall beside my desk) was made by my Papa, the same talented man who welded our headboard. 

You remember Hubby's desk.  He plonks his laptop there but, because he also takes it to work, sometimes the desk is bare.  And then sometimes I pile my stacks of reading onto it and use both desks.

I still love the design of his desk.  It doesn't "go" with my desk but we've punched his desk up with a black painting, chair and vintage dish to tie in the black.  And the Expedit and silhouette wall repeat the black, cream and white theme.  When you see the whole room, in that elusive third dimension, it works.  Someday, when we build two matching desks, his desk will be come a console table somewhere and his chair will live in a bedroom.  I specifically picked this design because of its versatility.

P.S. Today is your last chance to enter to win some customized art.

Silhouette Wall

Sunday was a momentous day: for the first time in the years & years of my collecting (and now months of blogging about) silhouettes, my collection is finally on the wall in my office.  Without further ado, behold:

That is my new DIY'd magnetic board in the centre

I first fiddled with my arrangement on the floor, then used templates to "test" it out on the wall.  But, I ended up shifting around a few as we were hanging anyway. 

Playing with the arrangement before committing

Anyone who has said that a gallery wall is an easy project LIES, or else I am doing it wrong.  It took bloody forever to decide on arrangement, then get everything straight & balanced.  We missed dinner for this project and ate at 9:00p.m!  (Perhaps I am extra cranky because of the frame fiasco).  But, the before & after difference makes me happy enough to forget the headache and tell everyone how easy this was.

The REAL "Before"

The latest "Before"

Here it is, one last time . . .

Still to do: hide the closet track to make my closet-to-nook conversion complete.  We have kept the doors in case the next owners want to convert this back into a closet.  Because we installed new floors when we moved in, there are no holes for the doors on the floor.  Regardless, the doors will be an easy install project should they been needed again.  But I like the openness of the office without a closet and it suits my purposes.

Tomorrow I will tell you about Phase I of my DIY magnetic chalkboard, seen on the silhouette wall.

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My DIY Fail

You know I've been getting closer to finally hanging my silhouette collection (which, aside from two my Hubby gifted me, has never, EVER been hung).  I've blogged about silhouette arrangement inspiration twice (see here & here) so that is a good clue as to what is brewing in the townhouse.  I thought the collection would look more sharp if I painted some of the random, tacky frames (see pics below) black so they all match in colour, but differ in texture.  And, it would save some bucks (as opposed to buying new frames).  I even bragged about the saving money part to Hubby.

Before - all different frames

Here's a close up of one of the offending frames



Pouncing on a rare warm day, I set to work.  I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed.  I'm no stranger to this kind of project but I tend to only buy Tremclad paint as I typically paint metal surfaces (like the base of my DIY'd desk).  But this (new to me) brand did something weird.  From afar the frames look okay:

But close up, the surface has turned all bumpy in some areas.  Perhaps the weather wasn't warm enough (the instructions suggested 10 degrees celsius + and it was . . . ), or the can was defective.  Anyway, take a look at the damage:

DIY gone wrong.

They would pass in the dark with a shove, but I just gave up & bought new frames to replace the damaged ones.  I even found the perfect sized round frame for my newest silhouette! 

BIM - Bought It Myself

Next up: I finally found a frame for my magnetic chalkboard project.  Let's hope I don't goof this up too.



P.S. Hubby was so cute: he thoughtfully helped me pick out new frames and never once laughed about my genius plan to refurbish the old frames.  He didn't complain that I stunk up the garage for no reason, or got paint on the floor, or left him with a pile of random junk to deal with when the project & I decided to abruptly part ways. 

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DIY Potential: Silhouette Inspired Art

In the comments from yesterday's post about silhouettes, Dana, from the fabulous Mid2Mod, mentioned that silhouettes tend to be a bit less modern than her style and taste dictate.  And she's right.  I have some funky mid-century silhouettes but also some older, late 1800's silhouettes.  (As a bonus history tip, the art of making silhouettes originated in the 18th century but has remained popular for centuries!)  If you like the idea of a silhouette, here are some lovely modern (and DIY friendly) ideas for artwork that capture the feel of a silhouette in a fresh new way. 

You could try a silhouette of a flower or leaf in a fun, crisp colour:

Via Made by Girl

Or, instead of a bust or stuffy pose, try silhouettes of fun poses - you could trace family pictures or even magazine images and then cut out of black paper.  Gina, from the Temporary Nest, has a great tutorial - click here.



Photo Source

Or try a bold colour combo, like this red silhouette on a printed fabric stretched and mounted:

Curbly

Have you seen any great modern takes on silhouettes?  Speaking of DIY, I'm almost finished the painting I started weeks ago.  Once it is dry, I will attach some hanging hardware and post some pics.

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Silhouette Display

You know I love a good silhouette (you've seen my growing collection) and I'm always looking for a neat way to display them.  Currently, they are languishing in my basement.  But I just added another to my collection so I think it is plain silly not to put them up somewhere (finally).  Below is a great idea: just mix one in with a random assortment of art, gallery style.  I love how the silhouette was just mixed in with brighter, modern pieces.  Hmmmmm.
 

Domino Magazine Via Fabulous K

But, I think I like them all together, like in the pictures in this previous post, or those below.  I have so many, its a shame to only hang one.  But, I do like the idea of "brightening" up the display with something more colourful.  The cogs are turning.  I'll hang mine soon!

Country Living

Via Oh So Darling

The newest addition to my collection!

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Silhouettes Go Where?

Seriously.  Where?  Below is my collection, thusfar:

Tried to crop my crap out of the way . . .
and used "auto-edit" which seemed to deem lighter, better
odd.

But it has been in limbo for awhile.  The pair, second from the end on the right, were a gift from my hubby and really the only ones that have made it onto a wall for a substantial amount of time.  The rest of the collection didn't feel "full" enough.  Ever.  And then when I thought I finally had "enough" for now, I didn't know where to put them . . .

But, I found this awesome post on Design is Mine, via Making it Lovely, and now I feel inspired.  Below are my three favorite pictures, which might just help me get my silhouettes outta the basement, and onto a wall.  Any other ideas?  Should I reframe them? Some of mine are in new frames, others are not.

Via



Via



Via

On the topic of collecting . . . some more inspirational photos.

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