Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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A Bright Yellow-Green Office Makeover

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:

Office RR Pic1

Office RR Pic2

And here are the amazing (and enviably budget friendly) after photos:

Office RR Pic3

Office RR Pic4

Office RR Pic5

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.

Comments

  1. Lena says

    I came across your blog a few nights ago while on The Nest and am in love. You guys are amazing. From the home projects, helping others, and your beautiful daughter, I love reading it all.

    I have a blog that mostly my friends on The Nest read and we have a lot of new moms and DIY’ers so I wanted to share your blog with them. I made a post just about your blog and thought you might like to know :-)
    This link is straight to the post I wrote. If your interested.
    http://shootingstarsandfireflies.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-shout-out.html

    Thanks for the great blog you guys keep up!

    Reply

  3. Jane says

    I love everything about this home office space, EXCEPT the way the wall art is displayed. It’s the only thing that doesn’t work – I can’t quite put my finger on it either, maybe it’s the fact they’re all spaced so far apart, just not sure. But I love the colour of the walls and both of the chairs look fab! Well done.

    Reply

  6. Kandace says

    The wall shelves are from IKEA. You can buy those end brackets there :)

    GREAT makeover. This is what I strive to do. Make a BIG difference on a SMALL budget. Takes more legwork normally but LOOK how fantastic this looks? I’d love this in my home. I LOVE the desk chair.

    Reply

  8. margie says

    Hey YHL, this doesnt have to do with this post but Im hoping you can help. I might be remembering wrong, did you do a post about what kind of paint should be used in each room. Like the finishes for a bathroom vs a bedroom? I have been searching for it and can’t find it.

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Margie,

      We haven’t done a full length post on that subject yet (it’s on our to do list though!) but we do frequently answer that question in comments. We like semi-gloss in kitchens and bathrooms and flat or satin/eggshell paint in all other rooms. And always semi-gloss or gloss paint on doors and trim (and flat paint on ceilings). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  10. margie says

    Thanks that helps. I guess I sometimes think you guys have a post about everything..lol I find myself at homedepot and other stores pulling up your blog on my Iphone searching for answers..lol

    Reply

  12. Meredith says

    I love the wall of pictures and the link Erica provided. I’m planning to do something like that in my apartment soon. Sherry and John, what kind of paper do you typically use to print out your DIY art, such as the pieces in little Clara’s gallery? Thanks!

    Reply

  14. Amanda says

    I swear I saw something on here the other day on how to share our before and after photos with you, but now I can’t find it. :(

    I love the color in this office though. I’m all about the color green.

    Reply

  16. Carolyn says

    This is very nice. Maybe I missed it, but where is the printer in the after photos? and the cord clutter. How are they disguised? Any ideas for when you have lots of cords (say 10 or so) left dangling in plain sight would be appreciated!

    Reply

  17. Julie says

    My jaw dropped when I read $200 benjamins until my brain registered that she meant 200 washingtons or 2 benjamins. Talk about an office makeover! What we all could do with an extra $200000, right?

    Love the green and rockin’ job on the desk, Erica.

    Reply

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