Workin' hard for the office.

Although getting the house in order for the appraisal was a pain in the rear, it did have a welcome side effect: it pushed me to finally finish painting and organizing the office. I meant to have it done weeks ago, but it took longer than anticipated mainly because the office is right next to Owen's room, and I made the mistake of being too loud a few too many times and woke him up from a sound slumber. Which is a big no-no if we want to be productive.

Oh well. Live and learn.

With the appraisal fast approaching, I quickly (and quietly) grabbed my brush and roller and got paintin'. I finished the final wall over the course of two nights, madly painting after work. Once the paint fully dried, we moved the desks and bookcase back to their original spots and did did a major organization and cleaning job on the joint.

As a reminder, here is the office before we painted or did any type of organizing. Yep, it was pretty scary. Eeek.

And are a couple of "after" photos that I barely squeezed in before the sun set (which is why there are no photos of Brian's desk, because the light didn't go back that far):

Muuuuuuuuch better. Man, it feels good to have an actual, working office again! See how excited I am?! I just can't contain myself.

I had such a difficult time choosing a paint color for this room - I wanted everything from bright yellow to dark, rich reds. After comparing far too many swatches I ultimately decided on Valspar Belle Grove Victory Blue, mainly because as soon as I saw it I knew it would contrast nicely with the wood trim in the room. I feel like this color helps make the trim look more character-filled and richer than it actually is. Which is exactly what we're going for, folks.

Obviously we aren't done with the office yet - this is what I'd like to call a "Phase 1" update. For "Phase 2", we'll be concentrating more on decorating the office and making it into a truly functional (and fun!) work space. I'm toying with some options, which I'll share in an upcoming post. For now I'm still enjoying the afterglow of having some nice paint up on the walls.

Ahhhh the simple things.

Any other ideas for decorating the office? Anyone else recently redecorated their office and have any tips/tricks? I'm open to any and all ideas, as long as they don't include sequins - there's only so much shiny I can take. ;)