A Quick Before & After

Today, I thought I would share a little "before and after" of the break room I recently redesigned at my husband's office. It was great fun working on this space because, as you might imagine, I had a great deal of creative control and could work with some items I already had as well as some new pieces. Also, I don't always get to do a full "install" for clients, rather just a piece here or there so there's not always a dramatic "after" photo to share.  Without further ado, here's one of the afters . . .

Please excuse the graininess - these are iPhone photos and the lighting is not the best (something I will tackle soon). 

And a before so you'll see how absymal it was before . . . 

Hello, boring beige and brown. That is his bachelor sofa - he hasn't been a bachelor in about 18 years, so that tells you we were working with some serious leftover furniture. Now, you might be asking yourself, "Kathy, how could you let the break area at your husband's office look so bad??" Well, the truth is, it was at the bottom of every list I had and at the bottom of his budget list as well. And while we accomplished this on a serious shoestring budget, it still cost money (that comes out of our pocket ultimately).

The other pieces, I honestly had nothing to do with either. I think they were things he picked up because they were cheap and readily available when they needed a table or shelf. Seriously.

So, we literally threw out all the old furniture as it was fairly broken and stained (put it at the curb with "Free" signs and it was gone within minutes). I picked out some new commercial carpet in a charcoal gray with hints of blue (this is a commercial building that he leases), had the walls and trim painted out in Restless Sea by Behr and then started layering in furniture and accessories. 

I rearranged the layout of the room and oriented the new credenza from Overstock (the only truly new piece in the room) on the longest wall. Then I floated the $20 faux bamboo table from Craigslist (it was a heinous speckled yellow, so I just painted it white for contrast) in the middle of the room to allow for more seating. I brought in chairs and stools that I already had from estate sales to pull around the table. Still need a couple more chairs, but for now it will do. 

I accented the room with vintage rugs (also from my stash - the smaller one I just got at an estate sale this weekend) and pulled in oranges, corals and pinks for accent colors (did I mention my husband is the only male in his office of six people) with the art and my husband's underwater photography.

I gave them a new little coffee/microwave station and added my homemade Rothko-inspired art (also inspired by Jenny from Little Green Notebook) for some color and interest.

Overall, it's done, just still needs some small fixes here and there (lighting and window treatment). I'm pretty happy with it, and the ladies who work there are thrilled, so it's a win-win. I hope you've enjoyed this little before and after.

Hope to see you sooner rather than later (as it's been lately).