Bedroom/Office Swap!

I've lived in my new place for over half a year now. Every room has been painted and fixed up except for the kitchen and bathroom. And I've managed to do fairly well when it comes to re-arranging. You see, I inherited a compulsive furniture re-arranger gene from my grandma. ;) We like to re-position chairs, couches, and tables – and sometimes, when we're feeling crazy, swap entire rooms.

I tried to resist the urge to swap rooms, but last week after a busy week at my full-time job... I gave in. I'd been itching to switch my bedroom and office. Mainly because I hated keeping the double pocket doors closed that separated the living room and bedroom. They needed to stay closed to keep my long-haired cat Cotton out of the bedroom. (She sheds like crazy and I couldn't stand it in my bed.) However, I don't mind if my short-hair cat Dahlia curls up in bed. She hardly sheds and is a tolerable bed buddy. 

I started around eight and finished around midnight. It was quite the workout – mostly from lifting and carrying books, typewriters, and taking my entire bed apart. Plus, I have to be extra careful about how I move furniture to avoid scratching up the hardwood floors. But after a lot of sweat and one cat fight when the two cats ended up in the tiny knee-hole space of my desk... I did it! And I'm quite happy with the results.

Here's the office before. There was no great place to position the desk when it came to outlets. And even though it was nice to have a window there, I found myself constantly distracted by the passersby and goings-on outside. 

Here's the office half-way through my re-arranging. I love the gray floral curtains in this gray room. And the turquoise desk pops more than ever.

And here's the office now! I love that my desk can sit right underneath my giant bulletin board. And it's hard to see, but to the right I have another inspiration board. So I can sit there with inspiration all around without the distraction of a street-facing window.

Here's the other side, where my typewriters are lined up on top of my bookshelves and underneath my new gallery wall. In the old office, I had pictures hung all over the walls in little groupings around the room. Here, I've got a full-blown gallery wall and I love it. I'm already planning a thrifting trip to acquire more frames so I can fill it up to the ceiling. 

This was taken half-way through my re-arranging, but you get the picture. It shows how I can now have my pocket doors wide open again! Cotton is free to come into the office and roll all over the floor, but she can't get to my bedroom to shed her thick, white fur all over the bed. (Seriously, I used to wake up pulling cat hair out of my eyeballs and mouth.)

Here's the bedroom before. I loved it, I really did. The red and bright colors pop very nicely against the gray. And the burlap accents (lamp shade, coffee sacks, pillows) worked well as a neutral alongside the gray. But really, I just hated having those pocket doors shut all the time. I considered building another cat fence like the once separating my living room and entry room, but it wouldn't be a good idea. Cotton would just sit there on the other side of the fence watching me sleep and crying to get in. Haha. I want more sleep – not less!

Another thing I didn't love about this room is how dark it was. It was nice for falling asleep and sleeping in on the weekends. But since the window got little sunlight and the gray is quite dark, the room stayed pitch-black in the mornings – making it very easy to oversleep for hours if my alarm didn't go off or Cotton's morning meowing didn't kick in.

Here's the bedroom now! My eighth-grade self who hated any red-green pairing because it reminded her of Christmas would be scolding me. But I've learned that red and green can totally be paired in a non-Christmas way. I lucked out that the exact yellow-green of this room is featured in my colorful quilt. (I also have a cardigan in that exact color. I guess I have a habit of buying a certain type of chartreuse green.) 

My bedroom is much smaller now! And it's taken some adjustment to get used to having a window that faces the street rather than the side of my landlord's house – especially during thunderstorms and July 4th fireworks. But it's so nice to actually have sunlight pour in during the morning. Plus, Dahlia has easy access to climb up into bed for morning cuddles.  To make up for missed floorspace, I positioned my dresser so that it is close enough to be used as another nightstand.

I still have some changes I want to make in here. Like swapping out the red curtains for light, airy white curtains and swapping out the red duvet under the quilt for a white one. I think adding some more white would lighten things up and make the trim really pop. Plus, I need to swap out the light bulbs for brighter ones and add some art to the walls. I think I'm going to put my burlap coffee sacks in the kitchen, but I'm not totally convinced yet.

What do you think? Did you prefer the bedroom with a gray backdrop or the color overload that it is now? Did you like the office with a nice window facing the street, or as an extension of my living room and kitchen space?

I'm pretty sure I like it this way better. :)

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