Hey, hey! I’m thrilled to finally be sharing a space in our Family Room that’s been years in the making. Yep, I said years! Whether it’s because of life or my design-ADD, projects don’t always move fast around here. But I’m okay with that…it allows me to really enjoy the process, and develop the space to fit our needs best. (Are you buying that? Yeah, me neither.) I shared some of this in my contributor post for Jen at I Heart Organizing, but I wanted to include it here, too.
Remember that time we had a sweet ’80s wet bar that practically sang, ‘She’s my Cherry Pie’ every time we walked past it? We used it a grand total of never.
So we enclosed it (along with changing the paint color) and had a more useable, yet dreary, little corner.
So I built some Distressed Floating Shelves and a Chunky Desktop, and added some cute desk accessories, and things were improving.
Then we accidentally bought a big-screen TV during a holiday sale. And it had to be mounted over the fireplace. Which meant the shelves needed to hold all the TV/Media equipment, too. And on top of all that, because it’s such a visible area, we wanted it to look tidy and fit the design of the rest of the room. I mean, really, that’s a lot to ask of a little nook.
So you can understand why I’m so excited to finally have the space meet every criteria we ever threw at it… work / homework / blog / craft space…oh yeah, and media equipment.
Between the TV equipment and computer, there’s a lot of black going on…so I added a cheerful fabric to brighten up the corner. I wasn’t about to unhook all the electronics, so I used over-sized upholstery tacks
to hang the fabric on the back wall (no adhesive necessary!). This also allows my design-ADD free reign to easily switch it up.
Let’s take a tour, shall we, and I’ll link sources to items and projects.
The desk top holds the computer, task light, writing essentials…and treasures. And the keyboard easily tucks away when we need a small working surface.
I lined this acrylic tray with decorative duck tape, then added this mug for pens and markers.
Everything is fancier with gold, so I gilded my business cards.
I took a cue from Megan and covered my mousepad with more duck tape, and even added washi to the keyboard.
The Paris print (borrowed from Babygirl’s Room since she’s gone horsey) is a bit distracting since glancing at it usually gets me daydreaming about this trip.
I wanted to be able to rotate pictures and inspiration, so I hung this magnetic strip on the wall behind the computer.
Right now it holds favorite InstaGram snapshots, and encouraging words. Those I just print out and frame with washi tape.
The top shelf holds notebooks, my planner, and more office/craft supplies.
I turned this organizer into a cute desk accessory here. It holds stapler, paper clips, pencils and sharpener, hole punches, stamps and ink pad. I love having it all in one spot here…it cuts down on the, ‘Mooooooooooooom! Where’s the stapler??’
The art was this simple project using a postcard and some thumbtacks.
The left side holds our monogrammed jar of washi tape and organized DVDs. This little corner of the Family Room has come a long way…and is now a useful and cherry spot we all love.
Oh, and notice how there’s no cords hanging?
Here’s what things look like under the desk top.
First we drilled a hole in the desk so we could feed the lamp and computer cords to the outlet below.
I secured all the excess cord using these velcro cable ties.
Then placed Command picture strips on the back of the power cord box thingie, and stuck it to the wall by the outlet.
Of course it helps that the outlet is closer to the desk than the floor. If it were further down, I’d still conceal the excess cord and power supply box under the desk, then run the cord down the wall to the outlet with the same method I use to conceal lamp cords (my all-time most popular post, btw. #randomfact).
Do you have an area of your home that’s pulling double, or even triple, duty?! Thanks for letting me share our hard-working space!
You had me at "how I hide the cords". Hook. Line. And Sinker.
Great use of this spot!
Ooh. so cute and clever, I love your little desk nook, I have a whole office that is in need of some major help! Yours looks so happy, mine is so dark and depressing. I am in a total mental block on what to do with this room. I need HELP!…but your little nook got me a-thinking.
Love this little spot! It sure has come a long way!
C'mon, aren't you a little sad to lose your home's 80's hair band theme song?? Seriously, though, what a change!
You've done so much with this spot. Looks great, girl.
this is amazing. what a wonderful little evolution of that space!!! i'm OBSESSED with the wood. and how think it is. it's basically perfection.
xx
elise
Love the multi purpose use of this space! And…I love reading anything you write, because you make me laugh out loud!
I love how you've managed to give the nook your personal touch yet still keep it from looking cluttered. That is the hardest part for me! Loving the washi tape on the keyboard!
steelcutnotes.wordpress.com
What a great use of this spot! It looks wonderful. I love love love your business cards. A perfect touch of gold and glam!
Why DO those power cord box thingies have to be so darn big and ugly? But now that I know about the Command strip trick, at least I have a chance of hiding them. I just read your post about hiding lamp cords — brilliant! Ever notice how every lamp shown in a catalog doesn't have any cord at all?
Im impressed! Love the look of a floating desk! Love that this one is so chunky! And i like that fabric too! Looks great and a perfect solution!
Laura
house envy
The space is looking super cute. But you know what would make all decorators' lives easier? If the components that need to hook up to the TV could be wireless/cordless! Right now we have my old laptop hooked up to our TV (which hangs over the fireplace) so we can watch Hulu via the TV sometimes. We haven't found a way to hide the laptop yet, and it's driving me crazy seeing it all ugly and cords running down the wall ….
I've always been dazzled by people who can hide those cords – I think they just junk up a room (and by 'a room' I mean 'every room in my house') – you've definitely sparked my desire to tackle these cords!
Cassie! That's a great use of space. I hide my cords very similarly but a bit more ghetto, I just use duct tape. I will have to try command hooks!
Love your space, so inspiring!!! 🙂
wordsaboutwaverly.blogspot.com
What a transformation! Now I have that song stuck in my head 🙂
I've been following your blog for a little while now and just LOVE you!! I saw this post when you contributed on Iheartorganizing. I recently tackled sewing pillow covers and on my search for fabric at JoAnn's, I saw this material and sat there thinking, "where have I seen this before?" It finally clicked that it was in your "office"! Love the office nook!!
Love this space so much!
ok ~ so I'm starting a room redo and need some advice, we REALLY need to replace the flooring/carpet but that's not in the budget this century, SO what would you do, paint with the long-range flooring in mind? Or buy a lot of area rugs? I'm sorta stuck (you know the perfectionist who can't move forward until all the pieces are perfectly in place) :/