Category: Office/Library

A Finished Office

Published on by Our Humble Abode23 Comments

!!!!!  Yay!  This is the moment I’ve been waiting to share for a year.  For Mother’s Day, I we went out to breakfast, then did a little shopping.  Not the fun kind, though I did get a new Leatherman Squirt in bright blue.  That’s fun, right?  Ben bought me a bouquet of Kermit mums.  Love how fun they are.  When we returned home, I requested asked Ben to install the drawer fronts in my office as my Mother’s Day gift.  (Three years ago, I requested a new end table, which is now in the guest bedroom).  Being the fantastic hubby he is, he did.  I wasn’t able to get any during shots, so I’ll make sure to take some when we install the laundry room drawers.

Ben had already installed the drawers, but the drawer fronts couldn’t be built until the drawers were installed.  Which means waiting, which I’m not good at.  But, Ben built the fronts and it was my turn to prime and paint.  A few afternoon naps and three coats of paint later, the fronts were ready.  We went from this:

Which was already a huge improvement over this, both in looks and function:

Now, I can officially say my office is finished.  Well, the building, I’m sure it will continue to change and evolve over time and use.

We continued with the Shaker style panel, but had to make a few minor adjustments.  Can you see the difference?  It’s like a drawer version of Where’s Waldo?

If you haven’t noticed it, good!  That was the goal.  If you’re wondering, pay close attention to the horizontal pieces.  The top drawer front is only 5 inches tall, the second is 5 1/2 inches tall, the third is 8 inches and the bottom is 12 inches.  All of the verticals are 2 1/2 inches wide, but the horizontals are not.  Why, you ask?  Because, the top drawer would be completely flat if the horizontal was still 2 1/2 inches.  2 1/2 + 2 1/2 = 5  The second drawer would have only 1/2 inch between the horizontals, which isn’t enough room for the drawer pull.  So, drawer number 1 has 2 inch horizontals, leaving 1 inch for a pull, while the second drawer has 2 1/4 inch horizontals, with an inch for a pull.  Pretty fun, right?

After some convincing of Ben, he agreed it wouldn’t look completely stupid.  I hate the back-handed compliments.  And if it did, it was my idea and not his office.

I love the finished, seamless look, especially paired with the connected squares trim pattern.  I think the doors and drawers finish off the space perfectly, concealing every ugly, strictly utilitarian office essential.  Well, almost every one.  We still need to build, paint and install a pull out shelf to set my printer on.  It is ugly and needs to be hidden.

Ben admitted when he finished installing the doors that he was jealous of my office and has plans of a hostile takeover.

The clean white drawers and cabinets are the icing on the cake. 

Have you finished any lingering projects?  What took so long?  Weather?  Supplies?  Lack of motivation?  Just know you’re not the only one with outstanding projects.

A (Nearly) Finished Office

Published on by Our Humble Abode18 Comments

Has the suspense built enough?  Are you anxiously awaiting the reveal of my office cabinets?  Well, just a minute, let’s reminisce, shall we?  Last spring, my office looked like this:

Almost finished, just needed drawers and cabinet doors.  Over the summer, Ben made cabinet doors.  We waited, and waited, and procrastinated, and waited some more until several months had passed.  Then, a month ago, Ben installed the drawers in my office, filling the gaping hole to the left of my desk.

Now, after several painting sessions, we were ready to install the cabinet doors.  Adding the hinges was simple enough.  Ben drilled a hole for the hidden hinge to rest in, then screwed it in place.

After securing the hinges to the door, Ben hung the doors on the cabinet.  After a few adjustments, finally, the other huge void in my heart my office has been filled, by cabinet doors.

We used the same design as the theater room and added modern cylinder handles from Home Depot for $20.00 for 10.  Here’s a tip, make your own hardware template by measuring the distance from the top and sides of your cabinet.  Mark on a scrap of paper, then measure and mark the holes for the handle.  Poke holes to easily transfer the screw placement to each door.  I made a set for a left and right side.

This little piece of paper will save time while keeping the placement consistent on each door.

 

To make the space even more functional, we’ve added a few extra features.  Like this closet rod to store my packing paper.

I want to add a hook or two to the right, in front of the paper to hang a reusable shopping bag to corral outgoing mail.

Also on the list, adding a pull out shelf above the computer tower to get the printer off the work surface and clear the clutter.

For a dose of fun, I would love to paint the shelf a poppy color, like the pull out shelf in Yellow Brick Home’s amazing media wall.

Fun, right?  You know what else is fun?  Finally organizing the cabinets.  While I was tearing my office apart, I decided to rearrange my shelves.

I found a cute drawing on Pinterest, so I printed it and popped it in an IKEA frame.  It says, “I want a boy who will build me bookshelves.”  A perfect fit for me and Ben as that is one of the traits I love about him, his handiness.  One of my globes moved down a shelf and I added a vase to corral paint swatches.

It is amazing how much brighter the room feels by covering the shadowed cabinets with crisp white doors.  If you follow us on Facebook, you know I’ve been painting.  Any guesses on what?  With nice weather comes painting, lots of it.  Even though I detest painting, I’ll be happy to have it done.  What is your least favorite home improvement task?

P.S.  We’re still looking for your questions for us.  Anything you want to know, and, it doesn’t have to be home related.  It’s going to be a lame Q and A if we only have three questions.  *Smile*

My Favorite Nook

Published on by Our Humble Abode3 Comments

Hey guys!  We’re sharing our favorite nook with the Mrs. Limestone over at Brooklyn Limestone today.

Head over to read all about it.  Here’s a hint:

We’re definitely excited to team up with such an amazing blogger today.  We heart Mrs. Limestone.

And, if you like our office, we would appreciate your vote.

Place Your Vote! Please?

Published on by Our Humble Abode17 Comments

Before I beg for your votes, I first want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes!  It still amazes me that people read this little ol’ blog and care about our story.  So, thank you so much for such kind comments, encouragement, well wishes, and praise.  We are truly thankful for each and every reader and comment you leave.

Now, we have a huge favor to ask everyone.  We have entered two rooms in The Designer in You contest and we would really appreciate your vote.  You can vote for either our office

the boys’ bedroom, or both.  *Smile*

Each person can vote once in the entire voting process, so please head on over to give us a thumbs up!  To make it easy, I’ve added two buttons to the sidebar.

Click Vote for Our Office

When you’re done voting for the office, please give the bedroom a thumbs up, too.  Our living room was recently added, so check it out while you’re there.

Votes are limited to one per person, per computer through the entire contest.  Of course, the more votes, the better, so, it would greatly help if you would be willing to pass this info along to your friends and family.  Please, with a cherry on top?! Voting ends May 13th.  After voting, the ten rooms with the most thumbs up will then be judged by a panel and the winner will receive $5000.00!  Mama needs money for a kitchen renovation, so, each thumbs up counts!  Come on, you want to see us tackle a major renovation, right?  Well, $5000 could get us started much sooner.

Thank you so much for your continued support!  Fingers crossed!

P.S.  If we make it to the top ten, we’ll have a special giveaway.  Perhaps a custom herringbone pillow?  Hmm…

Drop Your Drawers

Published on by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

Really though, you don’t have to.  Unless you’re into that sort of thing.  In which case, please keep it to yourself.  Hah.  Now that I have your attention, I’ll share our drawer situation.  Please note, no drawers, whether pants or the real deal, were dropped in the making of this post.  Last weekend, Ben finally built seven drawers!  Four are for my office, three for the laundry room.  Though, we still need two for the bathroom…  Hmmm.  For nearly a year, (351 days, but who’s counting) my office has been in need of a drawer stack.

The laundry room has been in need for a few weeks now.  Of course, because Ben’s office is the laundry room, drawers were necessary, stat!  So, last weekend, Ben built drawers a drawer city.  Seriously, it looked like Ben was starting a doll house hobby.

We considered painting the drawers (inside and out) Vermont Cream, the same white used throughout our house.  But, we decided against it, for a few reasons.  Number one, the drawers are built of cabinet grade plywood, so they’re not totally ugly.  Number two, heavy things will most likely do in the drawers, which would probably scuff the paint.  Number three, I’m lazy and in a hurry to get things done.  (You know the song, sing it!  P.S.  Can you tell I’m a country music lovin’ gal?  Well, country and old rock.)  Though, if number one didn’t exist, we would have painted the drawers, scuffing concerns and all.  To give the drawers a nice, cleanable finish, we used Varathane polyurethane in a satin finish, which we had left over from refinishing our bookshelf.

Two coats of polyurethane later, we hauled the drawers inside to install.

 

After the brief intermission, Ben got back to work and installed the remaining three drawers.

You’ll notice the spacing of the second drawer isn’t even.  I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t completely intentional, at first.  When building, we always leave wiggle room.  Turns out, we left wiggle room for our wiggle room.  I decided the second drawer should get that extra space.  Right now, it’s obvious because the top two drawers are the same size.  But when we add drawer fronts, the second will be slightly larger, covering the gap.

But, I’m totally psyched to start filling those drawers to make my space even more functional and organized.

Oddly enough, we still haven’t installed the laundry room drawers.  With good reason, not sheer laziness.  It’s a long story, so if you don’t care, we’ll see you back here tomorrow.  If you do care, I’m sorry, but you must continue reading for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

You see, we will eventually remodel our kitchen.  Ben wants to build the cabinets.  So, he bought three sets of drawer glides he thought he liked enough to use in the kitchen.  You know, try it before you buy it, so to speak.  Then, I saw the glides and how much space they would steal from our drawers and put the kibosh on their use.  Blum drawer glides (the tester brand we bought) mount to the bottom of the drawer and are 1 1/4 inches tall.  Add our 3/4 inch of material for the drawer base and we’re losing 2 inches of usable space.  Per drawer.  Ouch.

When we design drawers, first we subtract our material dimensions.  Then, I design drawers based on the tallest thing to go in each drawer, or the usable space I’d like per drawer.  I wanted three drawers in the laundry room.  Four, eight and ten inches of usable space inside.  Had we used the original drawer glides, we wouldn’t have the top drawer.  Long story short, we built the drawers based on the old style glides, (also used in my office) but we have yet to return the Blum ones and buy three more sets.  So there you have it.  Pot of gold for you.

As we work toward a kitchen remodel, we’re deciding on what stays and goes.  Anything you have in your kitchen and love?  Or hate but thought would be great?  Where do you store your tools?