We downsized about 500 sq. ft. from our Kansas to our Alabama home, so we thankfully had an excess amount of furniture and decor to fill our new space until we decide to focus more intentionally on decorating each nook and cranny of the house to fit this specific home. The only room I’ve worked intentionally on purchasing things for and redecorating is the shared home office space that Jamie, the kids, and me all share.
I worked really hard on this room back in July and August, and for 7ish months, we have really loved being in this bright space.
Sadly though, we’re about to say goodbye to it already. Womp womp. A complete overhaul of this shared home office is coming because we’ve decided after sooooo much hemming and hawing that this is the best space for baby #3 to call her own. I think this room is just made to be a nursery though! It’s the prettiest bedroom in our home.
Shared Home Office Space
I have waited to share a post about this shared home office space because I still had a checklist of things that I wanted to do decor-wise, but since we’re about to start listing furniture and clearing this room out, I figured I would take a few pictures to document the progress that was made. 🙂
I have a difficult time putting together interior designs on my own in my head, so Pinterest is my bestie in the interior design department! I searched high and low for weeks looking for inspiration to put together a shared home office that would not only be an attractive space that we comfortably enjoyed being in, but one that was also super functional for all four of us.
Once I saw this picture on Pinterest from TidyMom’s blog, I knew this was it! The room looked to be about the same size, layout, etc., and I loved how it functioned for both her and her husband. Boom! This is what I’d be striving to create. There wasn’t much I wanted to change, so I got to work.
We already owned Jamie’s desk, so I painted it black, waxed it, and then added some of his wall decor. That little rolling bar cart has been such a functional piece as his “drop zone” for all kinds of paper work that he tackles in this room. He uses our office a lot!
We had a built-in bookcase in our office in Kansas that we obviously couldn’t take with us, so my parents handed down an older honey oak bookcase that they had on hand but rarely used. I painted it white (it took four coats and wore me out!) and then waxed it. We ditched most of our books when we moved in last spring, but we held on to a few and have them here along with some other random items from around the home that hadn’t been properly placed anywhere yet. 😉
And then of course, there’s the infamous fig. It likes this spot right in front of the window!
Because this is an office that we all wanted to be in together if necessary, I made Teddy a little spot too. He’s actually laying in his dog bed while I type this. He always does. He likes the sun!
I loved how TidyMom stored some of her DSLR camera equipment on her shelves, so I pulled out some of my lens, my tripod, my battery charger, etc. and stuck them up there for easy access. Maybe not the most attractive, but it’s been so easy just reaching up there, grabbing what I need, and shooting!
Because Jamie and I do a good amount of random work in this space, I wanted the girls to be able to use this space as well so that I could still be with them physically if I needed/wanted to work on something on my computer while they’re at home. We put their little table in here with a plastic three-drawer storage container for their stickers and coloring books, and then put all of their crayons in an over-the-door organizer inside the closet to the right of the table.
Young House Love created their kids an art area in their home office as well, and I have always loved the cork board where the kids can hang their creations. I found this one at At Home and grabbed it! I loved the chunky white trim and thought it was a great size for this space. The girls really like pinning up their work, as you can tell!
This method of storing crayons has been THE BEST! They usually only want a few crayons at a time anyway, so they’re able to grab the ones they want, use them, and then quickly put them back in their right spots (after some prompting to clean up, of course! They’re kids.)
For my desk, I just wanted a place to type, so this inexpensive writing desk has been absolutely perfect. It has two drawers to keep a few of my journals, pens, etc. which is handy. The foot pouf is from Sadie’s nursery that added a nice pop of color in this room. I use it to prop my feet up almost every time I work in here.
The reason I wanted this space to be functional and semi-attractive is because it’s behind a glass door close to our front door. Our guests are able to very clearly peer into this room as they’re walking out or using the nearby restroom.
So there ya have it! We have really enjoyed and gotten a lot of use out of our shared home office, but I guess a new family member is as good of a reason as any to shuffle things around and make some room. 😉
We’ll be keeping the shelves, bookcase, and possibly the rug in here, but everything else will go. We have room in our bedroom for the slim, white desk, so that’s what we’ll use as a desk area if necessary. I’m a little sad to see Jamie’s desk go because it was such an amazing find ($60 at a thrift store in Kansas!), but we will be just fine sharing a desk again. 😉 I’m not 100% sure where we are going to set up a craft/coloring area for the girls yet, but that’s a tiny detail we will figure out soon!
Sources:
Kids’ cork board (similar)
Rolling bar cart (similar)
Black wire rack hanging on the wall (similar)
Gold/natural wood shelves (similar)
Black two-drawer filing cabinet (similar)
Gray chairs (similar)
More from our Alabama home:
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Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo
