Office Revamp

Our office space is looking pretty snazzy after our trip to Ikea! Last night, I managed to finish shortening the curtains and get all the brackets and rods up and this morning I took photos of the space. Before we get to those, here is the best before picture I could find:

T, trying out a makeshift standing desk.

 This isn't the best before photo, but it shows the corner where we now have curtains and the craft table is now....just keep that in mind. :)

Our old desk is beautiful, but impractical for our use. Plus, its inset glass top was constantly smudged and looking gross. T had been wanting a standing desk for a while (he sits almost all day at school), so a month or so ago we tried out a makeshift version of it (you can see our sad attempt above).

Like a I said in the last post, we bought all the pieces from Ikea, and with the help of some L braces and screws we  had this (clicking the photos gives you a better view):

New workspace for two!...with storage!

We are now equipped with standing and sitting workspace! So far it has been amazing. I can actually leave my sewing machine out and don't have to drag it out of the closet and take over the dining room table anytime I want to use it. I even used it last night while I hemmed up the curtains. Absolute dream.

A few more views of the office:

Standing area with stool. I plan on making a cushion for it.

My favorite part, the craft table.

Reading chair.

This may very well be my favorite room now! Its so cozy and perfect for T and I to work on separate projects in the same room.

The low down on items:

• Chair - ($99) Fake leather, but it reclines with a foot rest. Got it about 8 months ago on sale at World Market.
• Side Table - ($40) Target (8 months ago). Not the best deal. I wanted to try to thrift something, but at the time we were desperate for something to hold a cup of coffee while we read.
• Lamp - ($11) Ikea. It has a separate switch for the side lamp and the main lamp part and a very heavy base. Excellent deal.
• Curtains/rods/brackets, etc. - ($20 total) Ikea. The curtains came as a pair of panels and the rod type, finials, brackets, etc. are old sold separately for easy customization. Still a good deal! Oh and the curtains were super long. I took them up by 8 & 1/2 in. to get them to skim the floor.
• Parts for desk - (~$200) Ikea. We used two Expedit 2x2 cubes, one Expedit desk, 5 small Lack shelves, two 110cm Lack shelves, four 2 in. L-braces, two 6 in. L-braces...I would have to re-price everything out to get the exact price, but I know it was right around $200 (within $10 of that).
• Stool - ($20) Target. Again, a last minute/desperate purchase. I'm sure you could find a cheaper one elsewhere.

Total: ~$350



We kind of followed this Ikea Hack for the desks, but ended up guessing and arranging a lot of it ourselves. It was fairly frustrating at times (as T can attest to) and a few choice words may have been flung out during the process of building, but it turned out really nice.

I apologize, once again, for photo quality. No digital camera here, just a phone. Sorry!

Have you done any recent revamping/redecorating? How did it go? Any frugal tips??