Pepper Design Blog

Office Makeover: Remnant Fever

We have a minor floor issue here in the office/guestroom. Our home is full of 1930s original wood floors that are just beautiful – but when you get to moving walls around like we have, you find all kinds of flooring variations going this way and that. This is a great indicator that the original wood floors were laid after the walls were framed out and not prior to, which is a magical find in some homes.

Here’s how the office looked pre-plaster & paint:

And here’s a close up of those crazy floors. You can tell by the photo that the flooring in the old kitchen was ‘revealed’ after many layers of every kind of laminate (including faux brick and linoleum) were pulled up. The dried yellow glue is still pretty thick.

Since the wood from the old office (what we think was a once-upon-a-time breakfast nook for the old kitchen) doesn’t match the closet wood flooring, and both don’t match the old kitchen flooring, it was clear that, just like the kitchen, we were going to have to improvise. Matching original wood floors from the home would have cost an arm and a leg, so we opted for soft plush carpet.

As soon as we had decided on a nice off-white carpet for the room, we began pricing out big box stores vs. mom and pop shops and came out with a number around $600-800 for the quality of carpet that we were looking for. Alas, this wasn’t in our price range.

Enter remnant city! After searching Craigslist for a contractor looking to sell extra carpet from a job, I came across a giant warehouse full of rolled remnants.

Our perfect-shade-of-white-but-not-too-white carpet for the 9×20′ (such an unusual shape in the carpet world) came out to $240. Carpet padding was an extra $80, carpet tacks $14, and a Craigslist installer a mere $100. That means we spent $434 and saved ourselves $380 for some pretty plush flooring (no pun intended).

Photos of the new digs to come soon! Promise.

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: chocolate brown wall ideas, plastering progress,  inspiration for a diy desk, back in action!, desking hunting for under $300, bookcases under $300, inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.

Are you local to San Diego? Check out this remnant store in Miramar: G & G Floor Covering

Office Makeover: Chocolate Brown Walls?

The latest Ballard Design catalog arrived in the mail and it is full of beautiful dark brown rooms. I’ve always been a fan – but it’s so bold! What a commitment to cover your walls in such a rich color.

But the wheels began spinning and I set out for more wall-to-wall brown inspiration.

The best part of dark walls is the ability to really take advantage of contrasts in the forms of bright white molding, furniture – even ceramic decor. And how about those pops of raspberry, lime green and teal? And brass and gold? Oooh pretty.

So stunning! But so bold. Do I dare paint an entire room dark brown? Most designers insist that the old adage of dark colors making a room feel smaller simply isn’t true. It has much more to do with proportions and lighting.

What do you think? Too much? Or just right?

Images from DecorPad, Lennoxx

Office Makeover: Plastering by Night

As many of you know, Kevin is a full-time student by day and a home-diyer by weekend – or night. After a brief stint in the Marines he went back to school to study architecture and very recently wrapped up his second year. So by day he was conquering finals and by the light of the moon (or just a really massive spotlight) was plastering the new guestroom/office. Such a stud.

If you need a quick catch-up, here’s a recap of us getting back into the ‘swing’ of things after a busy school quarter (demo & before pictures here).

In the morning the rounded arches in the back of the room and the soft curve dividing the two spaces looked a bit more like this. Those rounded ceilings are original to the architecture of the house! Love them.

Oh sweet transformation.

Even my favorite wallpaper is gone.

She’ll receive a sanding, one more layer of plaster, a coat of primer, paint and maybe a wall of grasscloth(?), but the room already feels brighter.

Yes, we’re messy diyers – don’t mind the floor.

Yeah for summer break .

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: inspiration for a diy desk, back in action!, desking hunting for under $300, bookcases under $300, inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.