Today, I want to share a little progress in our dining room that has made such a big difference. If you are a regular around here, you may already know that our dining room serves double duty as a home office. We don’t have a lot of extra space in our home, so we had to carve out a spot where we could, and this was the best solution we could come up with, and so far, it is working out splendidly! Especially because we do not allow the kids to have computers in their bedrooms, so this is is a centralized spot in our house where everyone can have access to the computer. And, my friends, this is where all of the blogging magic happens! Ha!
So, for as long as we have been living here (1 1/2 yrs.) I have been itching for some shelving over our desk. And I am so happy to announce that I finally have it! Allow me to point out at this juncture that I am well aware that our chandelier is hanging in the middle of the room, not over the table. That is on our list of things to do, along with give the chandelier a makeover.
These are the Ekby Wall Shelves from Ikea. Our desk is also from Ikea, so they match perfectly. And I love the brackets, although I did change them up to make them work better in this room. Can you tell what I did?
I still have some tweaking to do here and there, but for the most part, this area is finished! Yay! If you would like to know more about the barrel cane chairs, you can click here. I need to hide the mish mash of cords under the desk. Someday, but honestly that is the last thing on my list of things to do. You can only see them if you are standing there taking a picture of them, really. The pale yellow boxes on the top shelf have been in my closet for a year. I bought them for only $1 a piece, and they already had the cute little label plates on them. The little boxes to the left on the top shelf are going to get a makeover. They are holding things like memory cards, rubber bands, paper clips and push pins. The blue boxes are from the Martha Stewart Collection, you can read about how I won these in a giveaway here.
These bulletin boards were a little DIY project of mine last weekend. I bought these bulletin board squares at AC Moore along with a white sharpie paint marker. I simply drew a different pattern onto each board and stuck them on the wall with self adhesive squares that came in the package. Um, yes, I do know that the one on the far left is sideways. When I first hung it, it was straight, then it fell down, and I accidentally put it back up that way. And I didn’t want to pull it back off for fear that it would not stick. And of course, it has not fallen again, so there you have it! The white mail sorter on the desk is going to be getting a makeover soon.
See, it is straight in this picture! I used a stencil I had to trace that pattern on the left. I used a ruler to do the pattern next to it.
The circles were simple, just used a bottle to trace them, and the one second from the left I mimicked a ruler across the bottom. Yes, that is a picture of LC with another woman, ha! It was a charity even he hosted for the Women’s League For Service, and they were so happy to have him, and raised a bunch of money for a good cause, so she mailed him this cute little picture along with a really sweet note.
I moved the framed photograph of the NYC skyline over to the left a little, and I need to move the hanging baskets, but I think they were hung using drywall anchors, so I just haven’t asked LC to do it for me yet. The calendar hanging on the wall was made by LC’s sister. It’s full of fun family photo’s. The basket on top of the printer was a Goodwill find. It is the perfect place to drop my camera, since I usually have it sitting around somewhere. I am really bad about putting it away. I use it too often for that!
So, I covered these shoe boxes with craft paper. And it was a freaking nightmare people! I mean, I can wrap a package really well, but these shoe boxes were almost the death of me! For starters, they have one of those lids that flip open, so I had to deal with that. That is what screwed me. But they were all exactly the same, so I wanted to use them. I tried using Modge Podge to clue the paper down on the first one, and that turned out to be a big mistake. I just didn’t like the way it looked. It made the paper lay weird, so I resorted to tape, which wasn’t great either. You can see the tape in a few spots if you look really closely. They are far from perfect, but they will do for now. I put chalkboard labels on them, and they gave me some much needed organization is this area.
These brackets were originally a brushed silver. I bought some rub and buff and made them gold, and I LOVE the way they turned out! Silver wouldn’t have worked in this room, because it already has gold accents. this was the perfect solution!
Also, just so you know, we were only able to get these shelves into a stud on one side. We used drywall anchors on the other side, and so far so good.
I kind of fell in love with the rub and buff! I had never used it before, I had to hold myself back from rub and buffing the entire house, ha! I did use it on this little pedestal, which was black before.
It made a cute little spot for this candle. And do you love that bark chalk pencil? I found that for a steal at Marshall’s one day.
And in case you have never seen it, here is my dining room looking in from the living room. You can see that the desk is to the right, but you can’t really see the office part of the room unless you walk into it, so I like that. I kept it pretty sparse after I took down the Christmas décor. I just felt that the house needed room to breathe after all of the clutter of Christmas.
A very simple table. I am sure it will change but right now I am enjoying the simplicity.
I am loving this update to my dining room/office. We actually have places to store some of my office and crafting supplies. If you would like to see the evolution of this room so far, you can click here, here and here. In case you are wondering, here is a list of what still needs to
- Paint the walls
- Add shelving and organization over the computer desk
- Add art to the walls
- Relocate the Chandelier
- DIY the chandelier
- Paint the buffet
- Paint the table and chairs or even better, replace them???
- Replace the area rug
- Stencil an accent wall
- Add bamboo blinds
- Add crown molding (in my dreams)
- Add new lighting to the desk area (thanks Vel, for the suggestion)
Link parties:
Monday:
Between Naps on the Porch
Monday Funday
The Dedicated House
Give Me The Goods
The DIYers
Home Stories A to Z
Project Inspired
Thrifty Decor Chick
Tuesday:
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Coastal Charm
Cozy Little House
The View From 510
Homework
A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday:
Savvy Southern Style
Work it Wednesday
I Heart Organizing
Friday:
The Shabby Nest
Inspire Me Please
Remodelaholic
Sunday:
DIY Showoff
DIY Sunday Showcase
Monday Funday
The Dedicated House
Give Me The Goods
The DIYers
Home Stories A to Z
Project Inspired
Thrifty Decor Chick
Tuesday:
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Coastal Charm
Cozy Little House
The View From 510
Homework
A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday:
Savvy Southern Style
Work it Wednesday
I Heart Organizing
Friday:
The Shabby Nest
Inspire Me Please
Remodelaholic
Sunday:
DIY Showoff
DIY Sunday Showcase
I would like to know where to buy that computer desk. Thank you
This desk and the shelves above are all from Ikea and I believe they still sell them. But I bought mine several years ago!