My Happy Place!

Pre-warning:  The logic is NOT smart!

Last summer when my design firm job

suddenly, without a minutes notice went down the drain...

I weighed many options as far as future career moves.  

A little of which I have mentioned before on my blog, 

but is a whole other post in itself. 

After lots of thought & a whole lot more discussion... 

as a family we decided that it was best for me to try my hand 

at doing freelance design from our sweet little abode. 

...........................................................

Let me take you back 5 years.

When we purchased our house it was a dump "fixer-up".  

We worked tirelessly to make it "pretty" quickly!  

We didn't, & still don't have...
all the money in the world to make it perfect, 

but by golly it sure is a lot closer than it was on move in day.  

 Someday, I plan to do a whole post on the process... 

A few before pictures & a few afters
to catch you up to speed with what things look like now.  

Our first house will always be a work in progress &

I think that is one of the things that we love most about it.  

It is truly "our home"... our eclectic style, our labor of love!  

It was the place that we started a family & someday, 

will be the place we bring our first child home to.

We "technically" have 3 bedrooms & bonus rooms,
but we don't need 3 functioning bedrooms at all times.

I have a semi-small, but very close knit family...
So we often have several guest all at one time & need bed space.  

We did the "norm" & placed beds in all three bedrooms
& were basically place holding our space!  

I decided on a whim that I was going to sale pretty much
all our hand-me-downs that were not "our style",
or did not go with the function
we were trying to create in our home.  

 Obviously, this is where the logical part comes into play... 

it was NOT so smart to do this without a paying job!  

You live and learn and I do not regret my foolish move in the least bit.  

We now have the most wonderful studio/ office space, 

that gets used more than any other room in our whole house.

Our office/ nursery (in the far distant future) is My Happy Place!  

It is purely delightful & keeps my creative juices flowing daily.  

I am so passionate about my studio, it is the perfect place to design!

I am so dog-gone pleased with the way it turned out that 

I remind my husband probably more often than he cares to hear 

(after all it is his "office" too).

 

This project was a long time coming & took longer than expected... 

We did all the work ourselves & still have plenty of touch-ups 

to finish the project, but overall 95% finished!  

I have reached that point of taking a small break before 

finally deciding it is time to knock out the rest of the dirty work 

(painting a 3rd coat, burying cable cords, painting molding, etc.)!

To see the post I wrote in October of last year about the chaos... 

which was also known as the office, visit this post.  

 We used lots of "sentimental items" to complete the room 

& that makes the finished product even more special to us!

Below are a few of the items & what they mean to us:

*Wooden craft table~ was my Grandmother and Grandfathers dining room table, they used it as their table their whole married life

*Upholstered Rocker~ was my husband's Great Aunt's rocker & we had it recovered from a gold velour fabric to an over sized hounds tooth print... I LOVE IT!

*Hill painting~ I painted this once returning from my life abroad.  This was an old fort that we visited as a going away toast w/ the group during my last week in Denmark

*Wooden side tables~ These were also our "Aunt Chattie's"  I loved the modern design of the side tables and when Aunt Chattie went to be with our father, they were passed down to us to treasure

*Modern Dresser~ This piece was our craigslist find... we gave it some TLC and a fresh new coat of paint & it is good as gold

This is how our project turned out!
Do you like it?  Is it fabulous or what?

 

Organizationally savvy, fun & funky,
& all around an inspirational space!!

Truly what makes my "Design Brain" tick & I love it!