When Erica sent her awesome office overhaul our way we had to share the before and after photos. Here’s her letter:
I love to read your blog and see what creative ways you come up with to save money. I recently fixed up my home office on a tight budget. Of course you can find more info about the room on my blog, but the L-shaped desk is made out of two hollow core doors (only 25 bucks each!), two table legs, and a bookshelf. The paint color is Valspar “Plum Passion.” Both chairs were thrift store finds and all the art from the art wall was completely free, it all consists of things I already had (fabric and giftwrap) or things I printed on my home printer. I used three sources for printing artwork: Vintage Printable, a disk of clipart images I had, and Dafont.com. The pear, bicycle and tree sihouettes are all Dingbat fonts I downloaded from Dafont. When all was said and done I spent about $200 benjamins. Hope you enjoy! -Erica
Here are the lackluster before shots:
And here are the amazing (and enviably budget friendly) after photos:
Is that not a fantastic office makeover full of wallet friendly ideas? Everything from the hollow-core-doors-turned-desk and the thrift store chairs makes us swoon. Plus the fact that the entire art wall was 100% free is amazing. We’re sending over a virtual round of applause and one not-worthy bow to Erica and her fantastic office makeover. If that gorgeous room doesn’t make paying bills and writing emails a bit more fun then we don’t know what will! What do you guys think? And what’s your favorite part? We love the white roman shades with the black ribbon trim a ton, and of course that amazing wall color paired with all the white furnishings is totally screaming our name. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
Psst- Wanna see how we made a desk with a hollow core door just like Erica? Click here for the deets.
Ashley @ The Design Thief says
Great work, Erica! I love the use of the hollow core doors!! I’m also a huge fan of the chair!
Vanessa says
I am completely swooning. Amazing job Erica!
Sarah says
OMG, that is gorgeous!!! I want one too!! Thanks for sharing Erica, I am totally jealous :o)
Kristen says
This makeover is awesome! I can’t decide what’s my favorite part. Nice job Erica!!
laura says
Wow, I love this! Already planning to mimic your art wall in my own tiny office. :)
Christina Marie says
I have chair envy.
Great job!!
Jessica J says
Love this! I wish my thrift stores had cool chairs like that! All I can find are moldy pee stained ones. :( This is a great makeover! I’m loving the art wall from printed/found stuff.
Tristan says
I like the combination of greens, white, and black; gives it a very crisp, clean feeling. Great Desk placement as well, it gives you a great “corner office” vibe right in your house! Well done.
Jessica @ How Sweet says
It is so bright! I would love to work in there every day.
kristen says
Looks great. But I hope she meant 200 Washingtons, not 200 Benjamins. :)
Jess says
My favorite part is that super swanky mid-century modern chair. I am totally coveting it! Total score Erica!!
Monique says
Awsome job!
caligurl says
WoW! veeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrryyyy nice! i love the idea of the doors made into an L-shaped desk! good job!
Kevin M says
Very cool, can’t wait to check out the free art websites.
I would never get any work done in that office though with those awesome corner windows.
Cecilie says
It looks amazing. I love the ornamented legs for that very modern tabletop. It is a beautiful room.
Monica says
I’m amazed! Great job for under 200 buks!
AbraCat says
Wow, that’s fantastic! I’m definitely bookmarking this.
Laura @ youngDCliving says
Love it! Btw–I have a similar screensaver on my own computer, they are downloadable from RealSimple. It’s a great way to dress up a computer and add a piece of creative art to an office :)
Robyn in Chicago says
what a great use of the Dingbat fonts – awesome idea erica, your office looks amazing!
Hillarie says
This is great- I am thrilled to learn about vintage printable. Thanks!
Misty Smith says
I love it!! the free art is amazing and I love the desk! I want one like it!
Jennae @ Green Your Decor says
This is easily one of my favorite Reader Redesigns ever! I have always wanted an office space in that color, and now I know exactly why! I would be so inspired working in that space :)
Ruby says
I will definitely be making a hollow door desk this weekend. Both of the desks have inspired me. And they look so great.
Christin says
I love it all! Love the bookshelf at the end of the desk and the 2 litle shelves on the wall especially. I would love to work in that space – great job!!
Liz says
Love the colors and use of the door. Amazing budget-I want this office! Is this where you guys got the idea to reuse your door or just a coincidence?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Liz,
John has actually been obsessed with making a desk or a headboard out of a door for the past few years (ever since seeing projects like that online on sites like Apartment Therapy and BHG.com). Of course when we saw this amazing office makeover we knew we had to share it (and we definitely loved that Erica used a hollow core door just like we did!).
xo,
s
Martha says
Great job, Erica! I love the green and white fabric on the desk chair. I bought the same fabric @ JoAnn’s for summery pillows for our sofa.
Allison says
Looks great! I’m also working on putting together our home office and I only hope it turns out this nice!
Doors make the best desktops. My tip: Shop Ikea’s scratch and dent section. I found a great piece of wood that must have been meant for a door on one of their large wardrobes, for only $10! It only had one scratch, and I just flipped the door so that side was on the bottom.
Amanda@OurHumbleA{Bowe}d says
Great office space! It looks like you have a lot of workspace! I have the same little box on my desk in my new office, too. (see it here: http://ourhumbleabowed.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/of.jpg) Gotta love Target. And I have the same screen saver!
pam says
What a great room! Plum Passion? Wow – I was expecting a purple color and it’s a wonderful shade of green instead.
Thanks for the tip about Vintage Printables!
Nicole of Raspberry Stethoscope says
That is absolutely gorgeous. I love the mix/match frames with photos. I think if I tried that, i would just fail miserably and it’d look stupid! damnit
Jocelyn Stott says
That looks great! What an appealing space to work in. I too have been thinking about using fabric in frames and I think you just inspired me.
Begoña says
I love it, this might be one of my favourite Readers Redsigns ever. Great work, Erika, great work!
Jessica @ The Happy Semi-Homemaker says
Just lovely!!!!
Sabrina Jordan says
This is amazing!!! I love the wall color and of course the hollow door desk. I have been trying to figure out a good multi-purpose unit for our entertainment center with a desk portion for the laptops in the living room….my wheels are turning now!
Amanda Z. says
Amazing! I think the biggest change is swapping the blinds for shades (and opening them). In the old room the windows are barely noticeable.
cassie @ hi sugarplum! says
Great job!!! Very inspiring!
Christine B says
I love LOVE love this office! My husband and I are currently going to update and rearrange his office and this def. inspires me. I like how she used the target pillows as cushions for her seat-clever!
Gail says
Love the space! I was inspired to go out at lunch and shop for some picture frames–loving the mis-matched look of the frames for the artwork. I need to get some of those nice looking square frames, but didn’t find any at Ross for Less.
liz @ bon temps beignet says
I love that screen saver. Thank you to those commenters who mentioned the source!
Sarah @ The Ugly Duckling House says
I think the cute thrift store chair is my favorite thing in the room. I can’t imagine ever having my office/craft room that clean though!
Natalie says
This office is gorgeous! I love that they used doors for the desk ~ so creative and thrifty! And the transformation is really astounding!
Erica says
Thanks for the nice comments everyone!
Here is another source for the screensaver:
http://www.9031.com/downloads/screensavers.html
I found it via Making it Lovely.
Jessica Cooper says
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I do believe I got a sneak peek in our newspaper just recently! Love getting to see the “before” shots though, wow!
charlotte says
Help! I can’t find Erica’s screen saver on realsimple.com. I found a blue one with colorful numbers, but not Erica’s. Love it, gotta have it! Thanks :)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Charlotte,
Erica actually stopped in and commented with a link to that screensaver so just scroll up for that info!
xo,
s
Brittnee says
Erica I am so glad you submitted this! I just mentioned to my husband that we need to fix up one of our spare bedrooms for office space. We use the kitchen table right now for office/school stuff. I am really glad I found this because now I can show him it can be done for cheap! :)
laura says
It’s cute if that is truly her style and likes, but to me, it just looks so much like your work/style, as if she just copied what looks good on the computer, but that’s just my opinion–I like to see things more tailored to themselves.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Laura,
Erica actually submitted her office photos waaaay before we started revealing the phases of our own office makeover (we have a bit of a Reader Redesign back-up going on). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Nicole says
I LOVE the wall of pictures!! I may have to do that in my house!
Ruth says
I love it. I have been trying to figure out what to do about a new desk since mine i son its last leg. My room isn’t that big so maybe if I half the door it would still work.
Laurie says
I love how it turned out!! Where did you find the wall shelves? I love the metal accents on the ends. I’m looking for something similar for a craft room.
Apartment B says
I love how much workspace there is from combining two doors in an L shape. If I ever have a home office I hope it looks half as good as this, great job!