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Office - help to make feminine

last year

Just bought this house. All of the furniture (except for the chair) is staying. How should I style this to make the room more feminine and a place I'll enjoy spending time?
When I look at pictures of offices, they don't have a lot of computer pieces on the desk. I'll have 2 monitors and a laptop.
Removing the plantation shutters is not an option.
Thank you!

Comments (10)

Susan
last year
We need more information to make suggestions. What do you need to store or have in the space in addition to the laptop/monitors? Do you have an extensive book or some other collection for the shelves? Does this office need to provide a lot of WFH storage? Or are you simply looking for decor suggestions? If so, do you have a preferred style or look in mind? Some obvious changes would be to sell/replace the desk/cabinet with a more feminine white or light finished desk and credenza, with an animal hide or interesting area rug under the desk. A light colored comfortable, upholstered desk chair. Some favorite art/decor/collection pieces interspersed with favorite books. With some beautiful artwork on the walls, again in a style that you like. Organics and textures would work well.
Stephanie
last year
Looks really nice! The bookcase looks built in. what is your style? for me, if the bookcase color is ok, i would leave it or else i would paint the bookcase white, and then find some glamorous wallpaper but not too distracting. nice luxurious curtains with light blocking to reduce glare for video calls. then a comfy chair for the corner with a floor lamp for reading it if fits the space. find some good accent pieces to style the shelves and nice sleek desk to complement the bookcase - doesnt need to match, but complement.
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I'd start with window treatments - get rid of the mini blinds and messy not-full-enough sheers. Mini blinds always look institutional to me, and those are a bit battered. Even the sheers would look better if another panel was added and they were arranged neater. Put up a new blind perhaps bamboo or cellular for light and heat control if needed. Then, drapes in front to the floor. Add a darker color rug since the beige carpet doesn't make the space feel cozy. The black futon is a bit stark perhaps a charcoal gray or chocolate brown cover would work well. As for the wall color, you could see how the above changes improve the feel and leave it for now, or choose a rug first and take color inspiration from there!
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Check IKEA. If not the exact source, they have look-alike items.
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Comments (8)
Hi Eve- I love, love your room! It has such vintage character with the ceiling tiles and the picture rail and that lovely sage green color. I would leave them all. I am wondering if you have enough light in there to read and write in the evening, if the size of the chandelier is large enough for the size of the room. Guidelines are that the diameter should be in inches the sum of the length plus width in feet of the room dimensions. For example, if the room is 10' x 15', the chandelier should be 25" in diameter. The chandelier's height would be the arithmetic product of your ceiling height x 2.5 - 3. An eight foot ceiling height would have a chandelier height of 20-24." If the room is less than 10 feet high, the chandelier should be less than 27' tall. The chandelier should be hung a good 6.5 feet from the floor. If you have rather tall people in your family or 10 feet ceilings, hang it at 7 feet from the floor.Depending on the size of the room, it might need 200-400 watts. Especially if you'd rather not have to have a lot of of supplementary task lighting. I am wondering how much light that rattan-type pendant would afford you. I think the room will feel more spacious if there is more of an organizational system for your books and papers. That will leaving more visual space between your possessions and giving an overall more restful feel to the room and ultimately to you, which will leave more space and energy for inspiration. You haven't shown us the entire room and what else is in the room. Depending on the space in the rest of the room, you may be able to move your reading chair so it is not squished into the corner in the path of the doorway. You might want to move your desk. Is your desk large enough? Do you have or need a return for a printer, the hard drive, the scanner, etc? Where do you keep your office supplies? Do you have a filing system for bills, manuscripts, other projects? Do you use all those books and do you plan to keep them or do you think you could purge some? If you need to keep them, what about a book shelf system with adjustable height shelves? Rather than painting an entire wall with chalkboard paint, which will leave you with a wall full of disorganized notes similar to notes stuck to magnets on a refrigerator, here's an idea. You can easily mount a piece a pegboard to the wall over the desk. Then you can get several clipboards and paint them different colors (or get different color contact paper at the dollar store) and hang them from the pegboard. Or, you can just use a bulldog clip instead of a clipboard for a smaller piece of paper. Using diffeent type of suspensory hardware you can hang all sorts of things, or you can use cans. There are so many ideas on the web. You can get a dry erase board with marker for a dollar at the dollar store. You might be able to use a 3' x 5' rug as a wall hanging, and a larger rug as a floor covering, as long as it doesn't interfere with your desk chair. Please tack it down in some way so you don't trip on it. There is rug layering, look here, https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/how-to-decorate-with-layered-rugs-and-carpets/all I love your plants in the room. The picture rail makes it easy for you to hang plants, doesn't it? Why not see if you can get cuttings from easy to propagate and grow hanging indoor plants like swedish ivy, or trailing, mounding coleus.
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Comments (6)
Hello Janet! Glad you are well and blessed. I am not a pro but I would love to help with this office! I agree with remodeling1840 to not paint furniture yet. I like the room's feel of vintage glam, retro? Are you keeping the wall color? I would not mind more pics of the other side of the room. Something about the desk area needs to change and be more functional. Does this desk work for you? More storage can be in closet shelves or in a dresser drawer. Off the top of my head: desk in front of the window with a new window treatment, dresser across from the bed. Relocate or get rid of all small tables and stools. Get new desk hardware in maybe oil rubbed bronze or black. Keep us posted! This will be fun.
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Jennifer
Original Author
last year
Thank you, Susan. Printer and scanner items will be in my husband's office downstairs, so only my monitors/laptop are needed. I don't really collect anything, per se, though I love old or unique books (old German Bible, antique children's books, etc)... certainly not enough to fill the case. Definitely need decor suggestions. I'm not good at it. When you say organics and textures... do you mean plants and rugs? Thank you!
Jennifer
Original Author
last year
Thank you, Stephanie. Yes, the shelves are built in. White would be pretty. When it comes to changing the color of furniture, what sort of finish makes it smooth and shiny instead of the flat painted look? I think I'll have a painted coming in for a different room, so I can ask him to paint that. I do like the look of wallpaper in the background. Very pretty! For curtains, what material would you suggest? Thank you again!
Susan
last year
https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/161378051/thumbs/ladys-office here are some inspiration photos. Also think out of the box…if you have a hat, purse, or shoe collection…why not display them on those shelves? 😊
Susan
last year
You could start a collection of antique/children’s books and fill in with other decor items. Organic/curved shapes or subjects like botanicals, shells, house plants, coral, etc and a mixture of textures are a nice counterpoint to the hard, straight lines elements that will be in the room.
arcy_gw
last year
last modified: last year
I think we interpret feminine with light and airy, smaller vs larger pieces. The large piece against the wall --if it were shorter more like a credenza/butler for coffee. The desk is huge..and so beautiful one would hate to paint it but still it's the opposite of smaller/light and airy. Maybe go super girly with your chair, floral, curvy lines. I agee the bookshelves would be nice in white. Oh and I don't think how offices are 'staged' is how they are used in real life.
pricklypearcactus
last year
Artwork and decorative items intermixed with books on the shelves will bring some style and life to the room. You could paint the walls a color that brings you joy and bring in pattern and/or color in a new office chair. Sadly computer monitors are functional but not very decorative so I think they are not often included in photos of offices. You could also add a rug and some plants.
Jennifer
Original Author
last year
Thank you all so much. I'm very excited to move in next week and start to make the house my own!
Stephanie
last year
Youre welcome! for paint you will want gloss or semi gloss - ask the paint store and even consider enamel. for curtains i really like the velvet ones i put in my daughters bedroom. we did a nice soft pink, but i can see a nice ivory or cream depending on what direction you go in. also room rater just came out with a book so you can check that out to see fun ideas on displaying bookshelves when on zoom meetings etc. and add plants!

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