OMF Headquarters: Behind the scenes and the costs

My office project has been the biggest improvement for me more than I could even have imagined! You remember where I started right?

It's so nice to work in here, but I've had lots of questions from all of you about many different things in the office: where did I get things, what colors, how did I paint the furniture, etc.? So THIS is where I get to tell you ALL about the low down!

What colors are the walls and furniture? I don't usually take too long choosing paint colors. I knew what I wanted and put a bunch of paint chips on the wall - I immediately picked this one in about 30 seconds! I let it sit on there for awhile and a few days later still wanted the same color - Valspar "Gravity" is the color I chose. It's a really nice, soft gray. For the furniture, I chose Valspar's "December Starlight" - also a quick decision for me as I knew what I wanted.

So, how much did everything cost? Above are all the costs of every single thing I bought for the office. Yes, $1000 seems like a lot of money, but I really worked hard to save a lot of money in some places - like repainting the furniture, so that I could "splurge" on other things like the rug and chair for the library corner. My organizing purchases from The Container Store were in the desk, on the desk, all around and were purchases that were well worth it with high quality organizing items. Plus, being a work at home mom blogger, I get to "write off" all my expenses to fixing up my office :) I did not include the skytube in my purchases since this was more home improvement and not decorating {but I get to write off the skytube, too}.

Where did I buy each thing? As you can see above, it was a combination of The Container Store, TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Target, Target.com, HomeDecorators.com, and Ikea. I scoured the internet and many stores for just what I was looking for. The chair in the corner of the library I COULD have bought one at a thrift store and reupholster, but I just didn't have the time and the cost of this wasn't that bad, justifying my purchase.

How did I paint the beast, I mean, desk? Thanks to Instagram, which taking pictures with my Iphone is WAY easier when I'm in the middle of a beastly project like this, I took some pictures during the process. The desk is made up of laminate and real wood - in various places. But, that's okay cause you can paint both. The laminated areas are actually smoother and nicer when painted than the real wood. I start off by using a liquid sandpaper {or deglosser is good like TSP-type substitute}. I wipe down all the surfaces I'm going to paint to prepare it. Then, I put on TWO coats of primer. Then, I painted TWO coats of semi-gloss paint. As you can imagine, it takes a long time with furniture because there are nooks and crannies - unlike most walls. It's tedious and long, but the reward is a brand new-looking piece. I am not a "chippy" or "wood showing through" kind of girl {generally} so I just simply paint it! I knew the top of the desk would never survive a computer and all kinds of stuff on it for long, so I purchased a piece of glass sized to fit exactly - you can call a local glass cutting shop for prices. It was well worth the $75 and they had it ready in a few hours. I STILL haven't found the missing handle for the middle drawer on the right {as you can see in the picture}. I keep hoping it will just turn up - where in the world could it be?

How did I make the cardboard magazine holders so cute? It was seriously simple...I took my fabric and cut it so that it would wrap around just the front of the holders. I had two already cute stenciled-looking file holders that I planned to put on the ends, so I just cut enough fabric to cover what you would see and used spray adhesive to hold them on. I debated for days about whether to cover the entire folder/box with fabric and I decided it wasn't worth wasting all the time and fabric to do that when you only saw this much of it!

How do you make that magnetic board and get it to stick up there? Again, super easy. My hubby purchased an electric sheet metal cutter awhile back because it makes cutting sheet metal a breeze {he's used it on several projects around here} - seriously, it's quick and easy. You can cut it by hand, also, but it will be harder and a bit longer process. You may even be able to ask your hardware store to do it for you, if you're nice! They aren't terribly expensive, but I use those to cut the sheet metal to size. Then, I wipe down sheet metal and take spray adhesive and spray the surface and lay fabric on it and smooth it. The desk has this bump out {see pic, Left, second picture down} where I was putting the magnetic board, so I took scraps of wood and drilled them into the top half so it would sit out level with the bottom half. Then, I took my velcro wall strips and placed them on the scrap wood and hung it up.

Last, how did I make the wall art? I purchased Joel Dewberry fabric on Etsy that was coordinating with my office colors. It was sold in fat quarters - made primarily for quilting - but I wanted just a bit of each color. I saw this idea on Pinterest and went with it! Originally I had planned to use this on my magazine folders but changed my mind.

Source

I got all the frames from a friend's garage sale - which she would NOT let me pay her a penny for them so they were FREE. I took them apart, cleaned them, labeled the glass with the frame, spray painted them with some black paint I already had. Then, I took the fabric and put inside each one of them. I laid them on the floor where I wanted them to go and used my velcro wall strips to hang them - SUPER easy. Oh my goodness, WAY easier than trying to use a hammer and nail and get them exactly even. I measured a bit but it went up fast and easy.

The large OMF Headquarters sign I used my brand new Cricut {hubby got me for my birthday} and had this board left-over from my family room wall that just didn't work. I spray painted it black and then cut out my OMF letters on my Cricut. Ooops! I learned the hard way that I did it wrong. But, it was the ONLY yellow vinyl I had, so I found some turquoise instead. It WORKED and I like it better!

Whew...that's it! That's all the behind-the-scenes and cost of everything. I hope I answered ALL your questions on how I did everything. Feel free to ask any more....