Pepper Design Blog

Office Makeover: A New Trellis Print Rug for the Rug

Hope you had a great three day weekend! We traveled out to the Phoenix area to spend time with friends and with Kevin’s family, but now we’re happy to be back home – well-rested from our mini vacation and ready to jump back into work and projects that have been stacking up around here.

Thank you to everyone who offered their suggestions with Friday’s Office Rut post. It was really helpful to hear some great outside perspectives and I agree whole heartedly with mixing up the print sizes/scale of the fabrics (especially balancing out the large print curtains with some smaller print fabrics on the bed – brilliant) and adding a ‘pop’ of a bold color. Ideas are underway on that one…

One recent addition that has helped to bring new life to the room is a new rug.

I love the bold trellis pattern print and the neutral brown color – it really helps to tie in that chocolate ‘nook’ behind it nicely!

We originally didn’t have plans to have a rug-on-rug in this room. The room is carpeted and I had hoped against all odds that the white remnant we had installed would miraculously stay that way for years, but I think I have always known that this high traffic area would need some protection some day.

The unfortunate part is that the carpeting is less than eight months old and we’ve already had a professional cleaner (after trying to remedy on our own) out to fix the Bodie paws + Liv spills + shoe marks that have cropped up here and there. I suppose it was inevitable.

So when Rugs USA offered to partner with us to test out an area rug from their site at a discount, it was perfect timing and I was excited to work with them to find the right rug for this space. Rugs USA has a huge selection of rugs at every size imaginable – so finding several that met my criteria wasn’t difficult. That criteria included: dark rug (to hide those inevitable spots), wool pile rug (not dhurrie or flat so that I can easily vacuum up Bodie hair and it wouldn’t get stuck to the rug), and a 5×8′ or 6×9′ size so that the furniture on each side of the office would overlap the rug rather than having a rug-on-rug look that looked disproportionate. It was narrowing the choices down that was the problem .

Below are a few that caught my eye, though some were indeed flat rugs or strayed a bit from my original brown idea:

From top: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

The bulletin board fabric is a busy print (and the board itself can get a little overloaded with photos and clippings) so I was immediately leaning towards options that were either solid or had one repetitive pattern.

And I’m really really indecisive about this stuff – poor Kate over at Rugs USA didn’t realize what she was getting herself into with our email exchange that included a change of heart every couple of days for months.

I ended up choosing the Safavieh Newport Collection in chocolate and I’m really happy with the choice. Something solid would have felt too plain and something too patterned (floral, etc) would have been too busy/contrasting with the other fabrics in the room.

This particular rug didn’t come in a 6×9′ size but as a slightly smaller 5’6″ x 8’6″, which actually worked out a little better. If you’re walking into the office from the kitchen, here’s how it looks:

This shot show how the french doors connect the kitchen and office, though those doors are readily in need of their makeover moment. Right now the frame is the natural plywood color and the doors are a hunter green (we left the color from the previous owner for now).

A close up of the pattern:

I’m still trying to decide if I’ll unload those massively packed bookshelves so that the rug can go under furniture on at least one side of the room.  Or perhaps at least add a little more carpet color between the two so they’re not smooshed right up against each other.

If you head back out to the kitchen from the office, I ended up hanging the temporary window curtains on a double rod over the french doors to add a little privacy to the space for guests and to help me ‘disappear’ when working at home. The old french doors separating the office and kitchen will be beautiful when complete, but the clear glass isn’t always the best when a guest is wanting to head to bed or I’m trying not to distract Liv when she’s eating lunch with the babysitter.

Here’s that beautiful girl coming to find me during me now!

I’m so fortunate to be able to work primarily from home, even if I have to hang a curtain between my office and the rest of the house to get a full day’s work done .

I chose a double rod so that from the guestroom area you see the thicker patterned panels (that serve as a light blocker) and from the kitchen the sheer, breezy panels (instead of the back of the other curtains). You can always have one or both pulled tightly across depending on how much of a separation between the two rooms you’re hoping to create.

The only bummer? I realized that after I had cut and hung these babies that my salvaged World Market sheer panels (from another room) were about 4″ too short!

One day I’ll have to line them with a solid fabric or something like that. One day.

So the office is officially back on track. Hope to finish this guy up very soon as we prepare for a summer of guests and the plenty of other projects that are calling our name!

PS Rugs USA is always offering sweet discounts over at their site, check in often to snag an area rug at 20-35% off on any given day.

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: stuck in a rut, designing and sewing the curtains, diy fabric bulletin board panels, handmade capiz pendant light, organizing the bookshelves, wall collage part 1, part 2, fabric bulletin board inspiration, (new) inspiration board, new lamps, wallpapering open shelves, finding the perfect credenza, new trim, dining table-to-desk, a new desk & bookshelves, installing remnant carpeting, grasscloth wallpaper, painting the office nook, finding carpet for the office, 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.

Office Makeover: Stuck in a Rut

I’m in a bit of a rut when it comes to our office/guestroom. So much of a rut that I really haven’t touched it since putting up the new curtains in December. I stare at the space everyday since I work in the office from about 9 to 5 – and it stares back at me gloomily wondering when it will be finished.

See, I had this picturesque plan in my head of how I wanted the finished room to work and as I slowly decorated (after Kevin turned the room into an office from the old kitchen) I slowly realized that the pieces just weren’t fitting together. But I couldn’t put my finger on the problem.

We demoed, dry walled, plastered, rebuilt a concave ceiling, carpeted (to cover up a mismatched wood floor), painted, hung grasscloth wallpaper, found and fixed up furniture:

Organized bookshelves, built bulletin board panels:

Designed curtains (using Spoonflower), created a capiz light pendant, started a wall collage:

And then bam. Hit a decorating wall.

I didn’t know where to go from there. I loved the new curtains but I was having a hard time making a bronze/tan/teal/mint green color palette feel fresh and not 70′s.

I knew immediately that the headboard that I had made from an old bed frame needed to be recovered. The silvery grey fabric was one of my favorites (left over from this event) but it just didn’t fit. at all.

I thought one of my favorite crewel fabrics (left over from this event) would be just right for the space, so I draped it over the original headboard and have had it there for the last two months. But something still didn’t feel right.

I might still need to come out of my color mixing shell, but I love a room full of patterns! I thought I would really love the curtains with the crewel (especially with a nice neutral bedding).

When my parents were here to visit near Christmas my mom casually suggested a solid tan headboard. No, I thought – that would be too safe and boring. Plus, I was kind of digging the pattern overload going on there. But after a month of that sitting on the back of my mind (and me becoming utterly frustrated with a non-progressing room) I headed down to my local discount fabric shop and bought 3 yards of tan linen for $30.

And it worked! Suddenly the room was breathing again and the space felt fresh and light. (All I can think about looking at the above picture is how wrinkled my pillow cases are!). This is a better shot:

I haven’t covered up the original headboard just yet – still letting this idea grow on me. It’s just draped over the headboard for now.

I think that maybe if the pattern on the bulletin boards were subtler and the bookshelves didn’t feel so overloaded with projects and work stuff then more pattern at the far end of the room wouldn’t feel like so much. The room was becoming so busy!

Maybe I’ll make the crewel into a duvet or throw:

Then the patterns won’t be so stacked and there will be enough neutral to help them breathe. It is so, so pretty – see how the floral pattern is raised up just a bit?

So that finally got the brain juices pumping again… and now I’m beginning to see where the space might go from here.

To find that extra inspiration, I started tearing out magazine sheets of rooms that used my color combo.

And every time I spotted a fabric that might work I picked up a little snip of it to test out.

I’ll have to narrow those choices down, but maybe light pink or yellow would work well as a contrasting shade to balance all of the tan & teal out.

And so the saga continues! Have a wonderful weekend! PS am I alone in this or have you ever found yourself in a room rut? PPS I am always open to suggestions!

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: designing and sewing the curtains, diy fabric bulletin board panels, handmade capiz pendant light, organizing the bookshelves, wall collage part 1, part 2, fabric bulletin board inspiration, (new) inspiration board, new lamps, wallpapering open shelves, finding the perfect credenza, new trim, dining table-to-desk, a new desk & bookshelves, installing remnant carpeting, grasscloth wallpaper, painting the office nook, finding carpet for the office, 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.

Office Makeover: New Custom Bulletin Boards!

Back with the how-to for the office’s new custom bulletin boards. You might remember the inspiration from this post and how I was really wanting to incorporate a colorful fabric into the otherwise neutral space (especially with the tan grasscloth wall, natural wood bookshelf and desk, and brown & white office organizing supplies).

My solution was a teal Thomas Paul fabric in a fun print!

That image was before the boards were covered with inspirational images, photos of the family and other general mementos (such as invites, birth announcements, etc) that in general make me smile. A happy office is a productive and comfortable workspace.

PS that’s a new Craigslist office chair find — I love the casters and the wooden frame, though she needs a good reupholstering!

I’ll admit that it looks a bit crowded on camera but up close it’s the perfect mix of whimsical inspiration and practical projects that I’m hoping to tackle. I’m sure it will get less and less ‘pretty’ as the days go on and it gets stacked with calendars, to-do lists, excel spreadsheets and the like.

The best part is that this is the view from where I sit every day:

I had set aside enough photos of Liv to cover five of these boards, but I had to edit to several of my absolute favorites {how cute is that sweet baby!}.

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Custom Fabric Bulletin Board
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Materials: board cut to size (this will be the back of the bulletin board, I used dry erase board from Lowe’s because it was light weight), wood molding, fabric, cork (I found upcycled cork placemats from Goodwill and similar sheets at Joann’s to fill in the gaps–the thicker the better!), spray adhesive or white glue, miter box (or another tool for cutting 45 degree angles), spray paint, glue gun, nail gun, caulk and a caulking gun, rag, small bucket of water

{1.} I began by building the frames for my custom bulletin board. Using fabricated molding from Lowe’s, we measured the desired length out and cut apart the molding into four pieces per frame. Then a 45 degree angle was cut into each end so that when placed together they created a rectangle (thanks, Andrew!). A miter box is helpful for doing this by hand, but if you have access to a table saw that’s your quickest cut.

{2.} Next each piece was spray painted with several coats of matte brown paint (for best results spray at least 8″ from the wood and rely on multiple coats for the best finish. One close-up coat will definitely result in dripping and bubbles).

{3.} While the frame edges dry, let’s focus on the bulletin board itself. Choose a sturdy backing for your bulletin board and have it cut to size (Lowe’s helped me with this one and I ended up using a light weight dry erase board that they sell in sheets – though a stronger material might have prevented a bit of curving).

{4.} Use a spray adhesive or white glue (such as Elmers) to attach your cork to the board backing. I used an x-acto knife to help me cut apart my cork to completely cover the board.

{5.} Cut your fabric to size allowing for at least a 2″ hem on all edges. Flip board over onto fabric so that the board and fabric are facing down. While pulling taut, glue gun fabric edges to back of board to secure fabric in place (I first tried this with a spray adhesive but it wasn’t strong enough to keep wrinkles at bay). These pictures disappeared from my camera card! So here’s a recap of my formula for attaching the fabric:

{6.} Now it’s time to assemble the bulletin board. Attach each premade edge of the frame directly to the board with a strong adhesive (we used an adhesive that fit a standard caulking gun but you could even use a glue gun here).

{7.} The adhesive keeps your edges in place while you secure the frame to the board with a nail gun. Be sure to flip the board over and use a hammer to flatten all of the pointy protruding nails.

{8.} Flipping the bulletin board back over, apply caulk to your new nail holes and all corner gaps. Wipe any excess with a wet rag (keep a small container of water near by so you can keeping dipping as you wipe).

Here’s a tip for adding a new container of caulk or sealant to a caulking gun: always cut the tip at an angle with a strong utility knife, and be sure to cut away from your body.

{9.} Wait until the caulk dries and touch up any spots with paint (I simply lined the inside of the bulletin board with newspaper and spray painted over the spots needing a touch up, but you could use a brush as well). You might have a few holes still show through a bit, but it’s not obvious unless you’re verrry close.

You’re probably wondering why you couldn’t skip the first painting step and I considered this, but I was too nervous of covering the beautiful fabric with accidental spray paint leaks and found that just touching up at the stage (since the fabric is now in place) was easiest.

Now the bulletin boards are ready to be hung! I opted to lean mine up against the wall rather than hanging above the desk:

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Yay for one more project crossed off of the list! And I really do love how they turned out.

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: handmade capiz pendant light, organizing the bookshelves, wall collage part 1, part 2, fabric bulletin board inspiration, (new) inspiration board, new lamps, wallpapering open shelves, finding the perfect credenza, new trim, dining table-to-desk, a new desk & bookshelves, installing remnant carpeting, grasscloth wallpaper, painting the office nook, finding carpet for the office, 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.