The Office – A Little Catch Up

Over this past week, I should either have been finishing painting the spare room OR tackling another weekly mini-house project. But as it happens sometimes the other jobs get in the way and with a full-time job plus running DaisychainBaby I can’t always fit in as much as I want to (although there is an exciting project in conjunction with Wayfair that has been taking some of my attention too, take a peep at my Instagram feed for some preview pics).

So instead this is a mini post with a little catch up on the office which we started renovating back in May 2014 and is almost, finally finished (this is why the house is a 20 year project, it takes us a long time to get stuff done!). We’re just waiting for the shutters which should be any week now and a couple of bits for the wall and then it will be done, done, DONE and I’ll do a proper little room tour.

For now, here’s a catch up! When we moved in, it looked like this. 1970s woodchip wallpaper, a green carpet. One electricity socket. Technically this is the 4th bedroom and there was a bed in here. There’s not enough room to swing a mouse let alone a cat.

Office beforeNonetheless we soon filled it with crap very important and valuable possessions.

Office thenThen we got fed up and decided to renovate it. Which involved stripping the walls, which took us both pretty much an entire day and pulled off all the plaster work.

Project Office! The first May Bank Holiday we stripped off the wallpaper. And half the wall. Eventually we got the room re-plastered and extra sockets added. We needed a new floor too but because I’m me, this meant the skirting boards had to come off too (I refuse to even acknowledge the existence of beading, I will never let a floor be laid if it’s not finished properly. Anal much? Yes!)

The night before new flooring was due to be fit. We left it until the night before to try and pull the skirting off. Never. Take. The. Skirting. Off. An. Old. House.

And then there was new floor! We've found a brilliant family run company. This is a wood/laminate hybrid which looks and feels beautiful. Our formerly squeaky, holey floor is now solid as a rock.Then, finally, it looked like this and I did a little dance of joy. I started to see what we could achieve with the entire house if we just persevered and did projects when we could afford them.

And now with the new windows and our furniture in, it looks like this – from a dingy cramped old-fashioned tiny bedroom to a modern, stylish his ‘n’ hers office. There’s just enough space for a little desk each for us so it’s perfect. There’ll be a lot more piccies once it’s finished but it’s definitely love. Sometimes I just open the door as I walk past and peep in 🙂

theend

What projects are you working on? Does it take you forever to get things done?

24 Comments

  1. Molly
    August 12, 2015 / 12:51 pm

    Wow, what a lot of work and what a fab job you have done – a total transformation. I absolutely love the dark walls, and it’s funny, because just two minutes ago before reading your post I decided on such a grey for a project I am working on.
    Look forward to seeing more photos.
    (And yes, it does take me forever to get things done!)

    • Lins
      August 12, 2015 / 11:10 pm

      Ah thanks Molly, I totally recommend dark grey. Far from worrying that it would make the room seem smaller, it actually makes it feel bigger than the previous white wallpaper did! Look forward to seeing how your grey turns out 🙂

  2. August 12, 2015 / 3:07 pm

    Oh I love this! The colour of the wall is perfect and the dark colour just enhances where I’d had advised against if you’d have asked. Where did you get those little pots on the shelves? #homeetc love it

    • Lins
      August 12, 2015 / 11:32 pm

      Funnily enough I got the dark grey inspiration from Pinterest, I’m such a colour lover I could never have imagined loving grey as much as I now do. We had 3 different shades and the other 2 were much paler, so we decided if we were going to go grey we had to really go grey. It works so well. The pots were from Waitrose and housed little hyacinths earlier this year, so I rinsed them out for the office when the plants were done X

  3. August 12, 2015 / 10:01 pm

    Oh I love it! The colour is beautiful and I love the strip at the top of the walls. That window lets so much light in too. Just from this post I’m imagining that you live in a victorian/period property x

    • Lins
      August 12, 2015 / 11:37 pm

      Thanks so much Donna, I couldn’t have imagined ever loving grey as much as I do. I really wanted a Victorian house, we were renting a little Victorian terrace before buying this, but they proved just too expensive so I had to concede with a 1930s house instead. I soon got over it, we have about 4 times the amount of space and garden than our previous home and still a good build quality 🙂 x

  4. Stephanie Robinson
    August 12, 2015 / 10:18 pm

    What a transformation – it looks great, and it’s so nice to finally get things finished isn’t it? Actually I’ll get back to you on that one 🙂 #homeetc

    • Lins
      August 12, 2015 / 11:40 pm

      Haha yes it is although definitely worth the wait! x

  5. August 12, 2015 / 10:50 pm

    Oh that looks great! A real transformation. It is a pain when work gets in the way of stuff – I feel your pain xx

  6. Lucy
    August 13, 2015 / 9:53 am

    Wait, you have a full time job, run your own company AND find the time to do up your house and blog about it?! Seriously impressive! Your office looks absolutely lovely, I don’t blame you for having a peep when you walk by. The paint colour is ace x

    • Lins
      August 16, 2015 / 10:43 pm

      Haha Lucy yes! I don’t know how to rest I don’t think, my Mum is still working at nearly 66 so she always instilled a very hard-working ethic in me. Keeps me out of trouble 😉 X

  7. August 13, 2015 / 12:25 pm

    It’s looking so, so good. I can’t believe how much you’re doing to your house at the moment as well as juggling everything else. You’re amazing! xx

    • Lins
      August 16, 2015 / 10:43 pm

      Aww it’s only because I’m so inspired by others (including you!) – there’s such a fab network of lovely supportive bloggers out there and I’m so glad to have finally joined the blogging world. Thank YOU! X

  8. August 13, 2015 / 5:43 pm

    Wow it looks fab, I love the flooring and the colours you have chosen.
    Becky x
    #HomesETC

    • Lins
      August 16, 2015 / 10:42 pm

      Thank you Becky, it’s been so reassuring to see how it looks now, and know that the rest of the house could one day look like this! X

  9. mummyofboygirltwins
    August 13, 2015 / 7:33 pm

    WOW! That preparation looked horrendous….I have spent many an evening doing that! But look at it now! Love, love, love that colour on the walls. And the shelving is so practical but really stylish. Great job.

    Thanks for linking up – much appreciated. Jess x

    #HomeEtc

    • Lins
      August 16, 2015 / 10:41 pm

      Thanks Jess, ugh it’s exhausting work isn’t it but so worth it once finished. We’re thrilled with how that colour turned out X

  10. August 13, 2015 / 9:40 pm

    It’s a lovely room! I am very envious as I’d love my own little office space. We use our spare bedroom as a clothes airing place – not very exciting! #HomeEtc

    • Lins
      August 16, 2015 / 10:40 pm

      Ha yes Lizzie us too! The room which will eventually hopefully be a guest bedroom is currently home to junk and our clothes airer! X

  11. Saskia
    August 14, 2015 / 9:20 am

    Oh wow!! what a transformation. Love it. I so enjoy the sight of perfect plaster on walls. It means the fun part of painting and decorating is about to begin. Really like the colour choice!

    Going to peruse around the rest of your website too! 🙂

    • Lins
      August 16, 2015 / 10:39 pm

      Thank you Saskia yes I agree, definitely something lovely about new plaster, a totally blank canvas. We’ve also learned there’s an order to these things – plastering the walls and then getting new sockets fitted is NOT the way to do it! X

  12. August 15, 2015 / 12:04 am

    Fab office space.. mine currently looks how yours once did, only smaller and with more junk everywhere. We are due to be moving soon and I am so looking forward to a better, larger (if only marginally) office space. So I’ll be back to take another look for inspiration

    by the way, I nominated you for Sisterhood of the World Blogger if you fancy taking part … http://ourdalylife.co.uk/2015/08/13/in-the-sisterhood/

  13. September 10, 2015 / 9:22 pm

    Gorgeous, I love the matching desks! What a transformation. Becky x #HomeEtc

    • Lins
      September 12, 2015 / 11:00 pm

      Thank you, we really love this room now. If only all the others looked like this… X

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