Since Levi and I are working from home 100% for the foreseeable future, getting the office area work-ready was high on our priority list. The listing photo showed an awesome, huge office area – but when the homeowners moved the desk unit out, we realized we’d need to find a desk solution quickly (as I type, we’re both working from folding sports chairs with a lap desk).
Levi and I wanted an office with two desk areas, so we could both work. From a design perspective, I had an idea of what I wanted the office to look like – originally I envisioned a huge natural wood slab for the actual work station, green floral wallpaper as a statement wall behind the monitors, and lots of floating bookshelves.
Quickly I realized my vision would cost too much money and take too much time, so I started to investigate alternatives. The room itself is HUGE, so space wasn’t an issue – but I was having a lot of trouble finding a table that was long enough for two people to comfortably work that wasn’t incredibly expensive. I ended up abandoning my wood table top idea due to cost. Finally I found the Ekbacken Laminate White Marble Countertop at Ikea, which was long enough but also very affordable. Since I was already at Ikea, I shopped through their table legs section. I found the Finnvard Trestle with shelf to support the countertop – I knew we didn’t need too many drawer unit and I envisioned the trestle with a little brown basket for blankets. Up next, I found the Alex Drawer Unit, which would be great to keep clutter off the desk. Originally we planned to get one unit with the hanging file section and one without, but the unit without the hanging file section was out of stock…. so now we have plenty of space to file paperwork (even though we don’t have a printer?).
Up next I started to look for office chairs that were comfortable (I read a LOT of reviews) made of fabric and wood. Levi was a bit blown away by how expensive desk chairs are, but after working in a folding chair for 2+ weeks, he agreed that this was an area to splurge. I reached out for comfortable and attractive desk suggestions on Facebook. When one user suggested a chair that was comfortable and allowed her to tuck her legs underneath her, I was sold. We found the same chairs at Lowe’s – luckily the off-white color was in stock, so I ordered two.
The room still isn’t quite done – we need to finish painting the walls and trim, finish putting together the Ikea furniture (I forgot how miserable this process is), and I have to finish staining and sealing a bookcase I got off the side of the road…. but we should have pictures soon!
The Tiger House 