Office Ideas

After finishing the kitchen, we want to take a little break and be able to enjoy the house. But while we do that, I am trying to this of ideas for the upstairs office/loft. 

I want something classy, sophisticated, and clean with a calm and relaxing feel. 

I want it to be a place that we can go to and be able to get the 

work done we need and not have too many distractions. 

It is a decent size room that overlooks the downstairs living room. 

We already painted it a light calming green (Misted Green by Benjamin Moore), and we have some furniture in there that we both brought over during the move.

Here is what the room looks like now...

 My big comfy chair! 

 Ryans desk

The overlook into the living room.

I think this room has a lot of potential, but I am having a decorating block. I am not sure how to incorporate everything I want into the space. 

I also need to find places to put all of Ryan's Pug decor...

I can't get too mad since I am the one buying it.... :)

Here are some office spaces I have seen on pinterest that I like....

 I kinda like the idea of having a L-shaped, or corner desk..

Love these colors

I already bought this fabric to use in the room. 

I liked the pattern and felt it would work well with the paint color.

I love traveling, and I hope to find a way to incorporate that into the office as well. 

Here are some ideas of decor to bring into the office...

Hopefully I can start putting plans together soon and get this room done! 

Kitchen Reveal!

After many weeks of hard work, the kitchen is FINALLY complete!

This was my inspiration for the kitchen...

I loved the contrast between the dark cabinets and light countertops. I think it looks and feels very classy and sophisticated, and great spot to cook in!

Luckily, the kitchen was a blank canvas when I moved in.

Here are the before pictures...

First we had to paint! I chose a lighter, neutral-ish, color because I knew I wanted dark cabinets and didn't want the kitchen to be too dark and have the two clash. I chose Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore. It is a gorgeous light grey color. I loved it so much, I continued it into the dining room as well.

The next step was the cabinets and countertops.

Originally I was going to get new cabinets put in. After have several companies come in and give me a price quotes, I decided I didn't want to put so much money into the kitchen right after I bought it. 

(My bank account and savings needed some time to recover and catch up)

So the cabinets were put on hold for about 2 weeks, then I decided i wanted to stain them. The stain didn't work out too well. I don't think that the cabinets are 100% real wood, so the stain wasn't seeping into the wood like it should. After that, we settled on painting them.

Before that, I wanted to get new countertops. I have always wanted granite and found a place with reasonable prices. Keeping with my inspiration picture, I chose a lighter color. It grey-ish, with darker specs. I felt it would blend with the dark cabinets well.

Shortly after the granite was installed, the cabinets were the next project to work on to complete the kitchen. We started by taping and priming the cabinets.

The first paint color I chose was too brown looking. I want the cabinets to be dark brown-ish black, but not too brown or too black. This color looked like a chocolate brown and didn't look to well with the grey granite. The second and last color is Beluga by Behr. It is exactly what I was looking for. It is a very dark brownish black, but when we held the swatch up next to a black swatch, you could tell it wasn't completely black. 

Ryan and I are both a little OCD, so it took several rounds of sanding and painting to get it to the texture and coverage we were finally happy with. 

Here is the final product.

(these pictures were taken with my iPhone, so the lighting isn't perfect)

I picked hardware that has a black and bronze tone to make them stick out a bit from the dark cabinets. I also liked the dotted detail. The doors have knobs and the drawers have handles. I think it is a nice contrast than plain black hardware.

We also painted cabinets that are in the dining room to match as well.

I still need to finish decorating, but

I am really happy with the final product! Can't wait to start cooking in my new kitchen! :)

Let me know what you think!