How I planned and put together the Styling You home office makeover

Looking for tips on tricks for a home office makeover? Here’s how I took existing furniture to create a new and fresh space for my style blog business.

It’s no state secret that I like mixing up the spaces in my home. And my home office space is far from immune from my re-decorating ways. I’ve not always had a separate office space to play with. I started this business 10 years ago with a laptop computer, sitting on my couch.

You still might find me sitting on my couch with a laptop but four and a half years ago, when we moved into our Brisbane home, I had the luxury for the first time of having a dedicated space.

I blogged about the set up at the time. It really is an office/Lady Room. The core pieces that I bought at that time are still the core pieces of my office today – the main desk, the book cases/shelves and the shoe-robe (all from IKEA). Other pieces I featured in that post have since gone on to be useful in other parts of our home. I still store my accessories in the same drawers but that unit is now my bedside table. The grey chair is downstairs in our newly created games room. I’ve passed on all the aqua coloured pieces to my daughter for her share house, as she loves those colours.

For 2018, I wanted to change up the colours in my office a little (I’ll be sharing the reason why VERY soon), so have worked in black, white, blush and gold to the makeover. 

I also wanted to create more work spaces in my office (there are now three) because I’ll soon be having people sit at those work spaces to help work on a project launching in 2019. Exciting. YES. I can’t share more, which I know is super annoying if you’re reading this, but stay tuned.

We also have a substantial space downstairs here at home, in what used to be a rumpus/games room area. What was solely the spare bedroom downstairs is now the games/rumpus room with sofa beds included for sleepovers. As the Styling You Shop has grown, so has our need for space and storage. At the moment, I very much want to keep this business as a home-based business. The family flexibility that comes with a home-based business is still a priority. So, while I can keep things under this roof, I will. 

My eldest kids may have flown the nest but my youngest has just started high school. Having been around in the high school years for the eldest two, I know the benefits of being around for him, even if it’s just to make sure the printer ink is stocked up!

Back to the makeover.

I started planning this with a simple sketch of the available space, taking into account existing furniture pieces, including the built-in robes (these house my high-winter clothes, more shoes and clothes from the brands I represent). 

I had a bit of a vision in my head in terms of colours and feel for the makeover and then set to doing A LOT of online research. I did most of the buying online too (sight unseen!). That it all worked and came together is a good thing. HAH.

My office sits at the front of a Queenslander home (circa late 1800s), looking out to a verandah and the street. It’s a long, narrow-ish room with high ceilings, so my goal was to work with the width of the room to create the best use of the space without overwhelming it.

It’s also a room that doesn’t get much light until the afternoon, so not blocking the three sash windows was a priority to maximise the light.

There was a small (80cm) wide “dead” space to the left of the built-in robe that I could never make work with anything useful. Until now. I wanted to create a makeup station with a beauty mirror light, so I went searching for a makeup/dressing table that would work in that space. I found it at IKEA. It’s not the prettiest of tables … my preference was for this one but the smaller table fit the space and meant that the beauty light could sit on the wall above it. For the first time, I feel that space is not wasted.

Speaking of those beauty mirror lights … they are SO good for putting on makeup. You feel a million dollars before you walk out the door. If only it could come with you. I also use this space to do my Instagram and Facebook Live videos.

When it came to creating more work stations, online searching led me to IKEA and discovering that these attachments worked with my old EXPEDIT shelves, even though this range was discontinued in 2014. They are designed to go with the KALLAX range. It was an inexpensive and space-friendly option for this room.

When it came to the finishing touches for the room (my favourite part), I knew that at least one rug was needed to bring the room together. In the end I included two. The large black/white rug is from Freedom. The smaller round jute rug is from West Elm. Also from West Elm, is my tall floor mirror. I think this makes me a proper style blogger now I can do outfit selfies in a wide, tall mirror. HAH.

To add a warmth/luxe factor, I added in a couple of faux fur rugs from Pillow Talk (one in pink over a office-looking chair). 

Speaking of chairs, the two new white ones come from Matt Blatt. I had ordered another chair style but, despite it showing as available online, it wasn’t. I’m happy with these and the pair of them cost less than one of the other style I’d originally gone for. Unfortunately they no longer seem to be available online. The clear stool at the makeup station also comes from Matt Blatt.

For desk accessories and stationery, I bought from Kmart, kikki.K and Typo – mostly keeping with blush, gold, white and black accents.

(Illustrations by Jakomina Vidakovic)

I already had the Mocka clothes rack, buying it for styling up our shop photoshoots. This is where I hang my clothes for the week after doing my outfit planning each Sunday.

Like what we did in the living room makeover, I wanted to make plants a part of this office makeover. I’d fallen in love with Arc and Family hand-painted pots on Instagram and was not disappointed when I headed in store and came home with these two fabulous pots. The plants themselves were bought at Flowers of the World.

If you’d like to check out a video tour of my office makeover, head to the Styling You Instagram account and click on IGTV.

So, tell me, do you have a home office? What’s your favourite part about it?