The Decorating Evolution of my Home Office (It's finally finished!)

I'm so behind on sharing house progress with you! It's been over a month since I posted about my office makeover being underway—and it's been finished for several weeks now. I absolutely love how it turned out. 

It's dark, but colorful. Vintage-y and eclectic. Filled with my favorite art, books, and writing inspiration. A cozy place to work my day job 8-to-5, read in the evenings, and spend the weekends blogging and writing. Out of everywhere in this house, this is where I spend most of my time.

Almost exactly a year ago, this is what my office looked like. Curtains that ended up getting moved to the guestroom. A makeshift desk using file cabinets and an old door. That peachy-pink wallpaper that just isn't my style.

Eventually, I painted those file cabinets and that door, swapped out patterned curtains for solid cream, and brought in a cute rug. 

But I wasn't loving blocking the bay window with a desk that was bigger than I really needed. So this past winter, I treated myself to a smaller desk, rearranged a little, and bought new curtains and a nice, big rug for the space. 

Then, we got to work peeling wallpaper, repairing the plaster walls, and painting. This room was a doozy. There was a lot of plaster repair and sanding to do. But that's what you get with a 100+ year old house and just-as-old walls—and I'm okay with that. :)

Here's how it turned out! I used Cliffside Gray from Dutch Boy at Menards. It's a beautiful, warm, almost charcoal gray that works well with the other lighter shades of gray in the rug and furniture while also complementing the dark wood trim and wood toned furniture.

I tried to get away from putting furniture in front of the bay window, but I really need the storage space. This room is where I keep everything—books, office supplies, crafts supplies, paint chips, etc. So for now I'm using a cubby shelf there. 

My wingback chair and gold floor lamp make for a perfect reading nook—along with the ottomans, which add a little more extra storage space.

Here's my desk area, featuring The Little Artist shelves from Minted. I love how the shelves provide storage space and a display area for the little decorating knick-knacks I like to have around—keeping clutter off my desk for the most part. The gray rug and gray velvet desk chair is from Amazon. The desk is from Wayfair (with updated knobs from HobLobs). 

I painted my big bulletin board to with the same paint we used on the walls, and painted the frame gold. So it almost blends in. I keep just a few things posted on it. 

In another corner of the room sits my bookshelf along with a couple typewriters, some Gone with the Wind art from Etsy, my Mucha reproduction painting, and this amazing little plant that I can't possibly kill. I'm trying to keep my book collection slim because of space, but I must confess: there are two more rows of books behind the top rows of books. ;)

To refresh your memory, here's the inspiration board I created for the space months ago. I actually ended up only using the Venus folding screen to hide the litter box, and I'm still considering litter box covers. Otherwise, it turned out pretty close to my original vision. 

Right now, however, my office is a bit disheveled. Here's a behind-the-scenes shot from the living room. We've been working on the adjoining dining room (yay!), so our massive dining table, several chairs, and a few other things are occupying my office. I can't wait to get the dining room finished up and furniture moved back in so I can share final photos and get my office back to normal. :)