We once had big dreams for a home office. Joe owns about 3 computer towers, 2 screens, and so many other techie bits: boxes of cables, wires, spare cables, spare wires. Video to DVD converter, printer, shredder. I mean, think for a second at all the gorgeous imagery of home offices you’ve likely seen on Pinterest with crisp white walls and Eames inspired eiffel chairs. Bright, beautiful and sophisticated. Yes, well ours looks NOTHING like that.
Or not yet anyway.
We’ve just never had a dedicated space for one since the small bedroom became a nursery and the guest bedroom became…a guest bedroom!
But, Joe needs somewhere to work, and over time we’ve managed to split the space in Bedroom 2 to be a room where we can have our home office, but it also feels like a room that guests can nod off yet not feel like they’re in a conference room.
Last Summer we painted the room green – Dulux’s Proud Peacock to be precise – added a mirror, a stag head and swapped our big leather executive style chair for something a little more sleek and modern.
Now, we’re started to build on it and here are the latest 2 additions that I’m loving.
Up first we have lighting. For so long we’ve just had a hanging bulb so I’m THRILLED to get a pendant light in here finally. And the best bit is… it’s so affordable.
In natural daylight, it’s got a real contemporary feel and by night, it gives this gorgeous soft glow – perfect for a bedroom, and a million times better than the swining exposed bulb we had in there previously!
Now, this is a new one for me, but the pendant light was actually a DIY job in the sense that it’s self-assembly. The light is made of about 13 ‘rings’, each of which connects to the adjoining piece with teeny tiny clear attachments. The way that each piece was numbered to guide you made it feel like a Paint-By-Numbers! (Are they still going? Am I showing my age here?)
It was fidgety work but I actually really enjoyed it, one dark evening in the lounge.
It really does live up to it’s armadillo name when you’ve finished assembly and it is absolutely STUNNING. But when it went up onto the ceiling, it felt more like a cloud to me. Either way, I just adore it.
Do you like it? Can you guess how much it costs? £35. It’s the Poul Christiansien Style Armadillo Pendant Shade available from Iconic Lights and it’s high street equivalent is approximately £180. SUCH a steal.
The second new addition is our magazine files!
Like I said, this room not only has to be cosy, but it needs to be functional, and when we don’t have family staying over I use this space to do our household accounts.
I used to have plain black box files, but they fell apart almost straight away! Rubbish. Instead I’m sticking to magazine files, and these geometric versions from Dunelm are lush. I love the pattern, I adore the fact that the green perfectly matches the walls, and I love the fact that they are only £2.49 each. Bargain!
(Tip: If you kill plants, use a pixel foam version like we do. Geeks assemble!)
So, two totally affordable updates which make a big impact. More to come in this office/bedroom. I’m on the lookout for new bedding so if you see something that will go, throw it my way!
