Dining Room to Office Transformation

This summer, I had the privilege of designing an office for a dear friend and co-worker from when I used to teach sixth grade math! This girl was my lifeline during those first years of teaching. We shared a closet and would leave the doors to it open so we could sit at our desks and chat with each other. In a job that I struggled with every day, she made life look easy. When we both started having babies around the same time, it just brought us even closer, and she is one of the few people I still keep in touch with since leaving that school three years ago.

Alexis is now expecting her THIRD little bundle of joy and like every expecting mama, she’s craving some organization in her life. Her and her husband have lived in their home for about five years now and have never really utilized their dining room. They have never been fans of the furniture itself but when they do have people over, they tend not to even use this room. So Alexis asked if I could help her design an office/craft room for her family since their office upstairs is currently being transformed into a nursery. Her number one goal? Find something to do with ALL these craft supplies my kids play with and make it look clean, modern, and organized.

Before

After

Alexis and her husband had a modest budget for this room which is right up my alley. I love the challenge of making a room look gorgeous for a price that normal young families can afford. And let’s be honest, I could spend all day in the Targets and IKEA’s of the world and be completely content. This whole room was put together and styled for just one thousand dollars.

We created this great desk from IKEA for around $200. With this brand at IKEA, you can mix and match desktops with either legs, cabinets, or shelving. We chose two drawer cabinets rather than simple legs to give some more storage and organization, as well as two big filing cabinets at the bottom of each for paperwork.

We also reused her Ikea Kallax shelves from her dining room and added some pull-out bins and boxes to hide all of her kids’ craft supplies and toys. The Philadelphia maps were reused from their old office but we added these super cute skyline prints from Etsy. The vendor for these could not have been nicer and more accommodating. I would definitely recommend him.

For her two sweet kiddos, we purchased these adjustable tables that will grow with them as they get taller. And how great is that sputnik chandelier from Wayfair? Unfortunately, that one is no longer available but this is a similar one from Amazon.

I really tried to make this office and work room as accessible for the kids as possible. All of their play-doh and coloring books are in the bottom bins of the bookshelf and they can just pull out whichever one they would like at the time. I also got this rolling cart to store the items they use most often- crayons, markers, paper, etc. They can roll it over to their table and use what they need without needing help from mom or dad. I also added these fun magnetic boards low enough on the walls so they can hang up their artwork when they’re done. Having them see this room for the first time was the best part of this project hands down. They used everything the way I had imagined when designing the space, and I think they will be spending a lot of time in this room- HOPEFULLY coloring quietly while their new baby sister sleeps!