The Office is finally done!

After several months, the office is finally complete!

As was the rest of the house, the office space was completely bare when we moved in. 

The first thing we did was replace the fan. The original fan 

was white and didn't have a light on it. We replaced it with a brown 

fan, with pretty detailing, and a light. 

Next, we painted. I chose Misted Green by

 Benjamin Moore. It is a simple, grey 

based, light, calming green color. 

To read more about the office transformation from the beginning, 

check out this past post here

After we purchased the double desk, we started putting the room together.

We purchased a chaise lounge from Garden Ridge, which is now AT HOME. 

We got a great price on it too! We also go the lamp there as well. 

The lamp shade is from Ross. Side table is from Home Goods. 

I still want to get a pillow and throw to put on the chair.

The frames with our diplomas were purchased at Hobby Lobby. 

I also got the Versailles wall decor and florals there as well.

Our comfy office chairs are from staples.

I love having a corporate card with extra savings :)

Ryan's side

The bookshelves are mainly filled with books, pictures, and items we already had. 

My side

Ryan's Pug Shrine

Lastly is the window curtains. I chose not to purchase

 the wood shutters for this room, because I still have hope that maybe one day 

I will build a balcony 

and this widow would then be replaced with a door. 

Until then, I just want to hid the ugly blinds.

 Originally I bought fabric to make 

my own curtains. I still have the fabric, but I actually sold my

 sewing machine. The one i am looking to

 get is a bit pricy so until then, I found these gorgeous panels from 

Burlington Coat Factory. It matches the room well, and really

 pulls the whole room together. I will probably end up 

keeping them even after I get a sewing machine :)

I love sitting at my desk working on the computer. 

The room is very clean, calming, and peaceful and makes me

 feel motivated to actually work in :)

New Wood Floors!

An exciting addition was added to our home a few weeks ago...Wood floors!

Well, technically they are laminate wood. 

But they are beautiful and I couldn't be more happy with how they turned out!

And I got a great deal, so I am extra happy!

Like I said, we decided to get laminate wood instead of real wood for

 a number of reasons. When we actually learned the difference between

 the two, having laminate floors wasn't even a question!

Here are the benefits of laminate wood compared to real wood floors.

1. They don't fade in the sun.  Living in Arizona, sun is obviously something I can not avoid.

 (However, I do try my best. My mom refers to be previous 

room at her house, and even my house now, as a cave. 

 If i want to see the sun, I'll go outside :)  

Anyways, if I chose to have the shutters and windows open, I do not have to worry about my floors fading over time. Also, if I decide to add on to the floors I already have, I don't have to worry about the colors not matching due to fading.

2. They are stain resistant. When we were first talking to the salesman, he gave me a piece of the laminate and a sharpie. He told me to draw on the wood. I drew squiggles and colored in circles with the sharpie. He took a cotton ball with nail polish remover, and THE MARKINGS CAME OFF THE LAMINATE! I was pretty much sold at that point. I know somewhere in the way, way, distant future I will probably decide to have a kid and now I don't have to worry about them ruining my floors with markers and paint.

Side Story: The FIRST DAY of install, we decided to paint the laundry room before the floors went in there. We trailed some paint on our feet and on to some laminate that was already put down. (We couldn't keep it clean for 12 hours!) I got my nail polish remover and the paint came off the floors!

3. They are burn resistant. Also during the sales pitch, the salesman put a lighter to the laminate. It didn't catch fire and burn, but it did leave a black mark on the laminate sample. Again it was removed with nail polish remover. We have the wood around the fire place, so I don't have to worry about them getting damaged by the flames or smoke. Also the laminate won't burn up causing my house to burn down, which is a good thing :)

4. They are a lot harder to scratch. I won't say its impossible to scratch the surface, but its pretty hard. The laminate is coated with some type of magical gloss finish the protects the surface and it's pretty hard to penetrate it to the point to ruin the floors. If however, they do get scratched down the road, I have a 30 year warranty. I questioned the guy up and down about what is covered in the warranty, since most warranties are pointless in my opinion. Pretty much as long as I don't take a knife and carve into the floors, I'm good :)

5. They are cheaper than real wood. Laminate wood is literally half (if not more) the price of what real wood floors are. Obviously they don't feel the same, the laminate is more glossy and smooth, but I was not willing to pay the price of real wood, and honestly I didn't like my color choices. The ones that first attracted my eye were laminate.

 There are two options when choosing laminate. You can have a smooth solid surface (only for about 80ft then they have to put a connector in to start the solid surface again, if that makes sense...) or have the rivets to make it look like planks and resemble real wood. As you can tell by the pictures, we chose the latter.

6. They are super easy to clean. All you need is a swiffer with the wet pads and your good!

All in all, we are very happy with our decision, choice of laminate, choice of color, and outcome of this home project. We will be paying for it the next year or so, but it's worth it!

Before:

AFTER:

We got the floors throughout the whole down 

stairs, except the master bedroom.

We have gotten amazing feedback so far and I think the floors

 make the house look more open and bigger! 

What do you think!?