Steal this look: My office

I recently moved to a different office in our suite, and being the kind of person who likes to put my stamp on things, I took this as an opportunity to have some fun.  In this post, I'll show you the before and after of my office and then provide links so you can Steal This Look (because I'm nice like that).

My office opens up to a larger area of our space, so a lot of people walk by and see it throughout the day.  This is what my office looked like before I moved to it:

Pretty underwhelming, right?

I mean, if you saw this picture, who would you think sat in this office...
    (a) a world-class remodeling professional
            or
    (b) an intern at a middling insurance company

To make it even worse, this space is not only uninspiring for the person sitting in the office, but also for all the passers-by.  I knew something drastic had to happen - and fast.

Here were my goals when I started putting together my design:
    (1) Have a neutral color palette
    (2) Create a focal wall in said palette with an interesting pattern
    (3) Find fun art pieces
    (4) Use functional day-to-day pieces to introduce pops of color. 
    (5) Create a space that will make me and others feel happy
    (6) Do it in a way that would allow me to change it up if/when I get bored

So how did those goals turn in to an amazing new office?  Glad you asked.  Here's the after:

Big difference, right? 

Want to see the two pics right next to one another to better appreciate the huge transformation?

Here's how you can Steal This Look:

Paint
Sherwin Williams: Agreeable Gray
I love this color.  It is dark enough to contrast with white trim, but light enough to keep your space feeling bright and airy.  I use it all the time. 

Accent Wall
Chevron Contact Paper
Contact paper you say?  Yes, contact paper.  The same stuff you use as a shelf liner.  I wanted something with a bold graphic that was easy to remove.  Paint would have been easy to remove with more paint, but it would literally have taken forever to tape off all of those lines.  I didn't want to do wall paper because it isn't easy to remove.  Then I thought...if only there were a product that combined the convenience of paint with the patterns of wall paper.  Then contact paper popped into my head.  When I searched Amazon for it, I was delighted to find a bevy of fun options.  I chose this chevron because the warm gray was neutral and complimented the Agreeable Gray paint.  There is definitely a learning curve to installing a long sheet of contact paper, but once you learn how to work through the stickiness and air bubbles, it was pretty straight forward.

Artwork
XL Glasses
Full disclosure...I actually didn't find these glasses myself.  Pancake was flipping through a PB Teen catalog, and said, "hey, these look like you'd like them."  As the spectacle-wearing, fun-art-loving, Pottern-Barn-Gift-Certificate-Having guy that I am, I bought them immediately. 

AWESOME
So, I didn't pick this piece out either...this was Pancake too.  So perhaps if you need an art consultant, you should just contact her.

Colorful Chachkies
Tea Pot
I drink a lot of tea.  Like, a lot a lot.  I switch between loose leaf and bagged, which is why you'll see a tea pot as well as a bunch of empty tea bag canisters in my office.  Why save the empty canisters?  I don't know.  I just like them.  Let's focus on the tea pot though, OK?  I love how the bold yellow really pops and brightens up the space.  It's fun.  Unfortunately, you can't get yellow on the Teavana website...I don't know if it's discontinued or only available in the store (which is where I got mine).

Desk Fans
I came across these fans in Target one day.  They're great.  They're small, colorful, and have a USB connection, so if you wanted to, you could plug them into a laptop for a quick on-the-go breeze.

Family Pictures
I'm not including a link here because you should probably use pictures of your family.  Putting pictures of my family in your office would be weird.

So there you have it.  A fun, happy, adaptable office design that inspires the creativity necessary to exceed my clients' expectations.

After you steal this look, be sure to share the before and after pics with me.

Bye for now,
TJ

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