Moody Office Moment: Pt. 1

The Office: Where My Love for Big Projects Began

My office is where I spend most of my time dreaming up future projects. There is a list of tasks I want to get accomplished before Chris gets home. The goal is for Chris to be AMAZED at how productive I was this year. There are some projects that I’ve already started, and even better, some that I’ve finished! For now, I want to talk about my dreamy office…

The Office Build Out

We did a lot of work on this house when we bought it. We wanted functional spaces for our family. This room was originally one of two formal dining room, which made no sense to us. So, I decided an office would be a better use for this space. I’d like to point out that I was VERY pregnant when I did this project. So, I’m especially proud of it.

So, lets just dive right in. If you want to see the “before” of this project, you can check out my reel! And go check out the Office Project highlight on my IG page to see how we got it done. 🙂

Planning Out The Space

When I started dreaming of this space, I reached out to Pleasant Hill Home for renderings for the project. If you don’t follow Pleasant Hill Home, I highly recommend giving them a follow now! The renderings they sent over were EXACTLY what I imagined for this project!

I started by using painter’s tape to mark the spaces where the furniture (desk, hutch, etc.) would be. The baseboards had to be cut, so that we could eliminate the space between the built-ins and the wall. Because it was not quite as tidy as I wanted it to look. For this step I used this multitool to cut the baseboards.

When doing any project that creates a mess like sawdust or paint, I strongly suggest covering any furniture you don’t want ruined with plastic wrap! Chris loves his chair, so I wanted to win some points by making sure I preserved it in all it’s glory.

Built-In Things

To fill spaces for the builtin-ins we used caulk, and I drilled 3” screws in, to attach the spacers. It worked really well! This office needed to be fully functional for Chris + I, so for the outlets, I used The Honest Home’s outlet hack. We simply reversed the outlet covers, painted them, then pressed the built-in up against the outlet to mark the spot where I would cut the hole in the built-in to be able to use the plugs. I used a jigsaw for the outlet hole in the built-ins.

I was able to find plywood that matched the built-ins to help fill in the spaces above the baseboards, while also covering the cork on the side of the pre-made cabinets. So, we attached the plywood with a nail gun. After the plywood was attached, we cut the wood for the countertop to create a seamless workspace. We placed clamps on the wood to hold it to the top of the cabinets and just nailed it down. 

We did have to take a circular saw to the top of the cabinets to cut them down a little bit. Then we just placed spacers between the top and bottom to fill in the gaps and make them look like one piece. And I had to move the hinges to the opposite side on my left-hand cabinets, because the hinges were on the same side for both vertical cabinets and I wanted them to mirror each other. 

You can visit my Playroom Havsta Built-Ins blog post for more info on built-in hacks! 🙂

It’s All About the Details

Before we painted all the things, I added trim . Finally, the last thing we installed before we painted was the moulding for the ceiling. I wanted a somewhat moody and dramatic feel for the office, so this panel moulding and corner moulding was perfect!

I have gotten so many compliments on my double doors for the office. The kicker is, they’re actually mahogany side lights from a front door package. If you have a space that you’d like to use sidelights for, I 10/10 recommend these! To install the double doors, we did eliminate the arched doorways that were originally there. We did have to frame them out and add sheetrock for this part. And my entry way is so dreamy now!

Not Finished Yet

I know this seems like a lot, and to be honest, it was a pretty big project to take on at 8 months pregnant. But I cannot even explain how much I love this space and how special it is to me. Accomplishing a goal that is this ambitious just makes you feel so good! Stay tuned for part 2, that’s where the real fun begins!