Refreshing the office

It's been official since May: I'm working at home through the end of the year. 

On one hand, I have loved not commuting, being able to take a 5-mile run before starting work, and having great coffee on demand. On the other hand, the home office in our second floor was always "tolerable." It was time to refresh the office. The green color surrounding me on all four sides was a little stifling, and the carpet, well, the carpet is 30 years old and had to go. It was time to brighten the room.

Before: carpeted, painted green

Thanks to this year's never-ending 11% off sale (in the form of in-store credit on a future purchase) at Menards, we opted to put in the same Marmoleum Click tile we used in the kitchen. It feels great underfoot, is easy to clean, and looks amazing. Last weekend, I set out to transform this tiny room.

After pulling up the old carpet, the ancient pine floor (from when the upstairs was an attic) is readily apparent. It's not worth saving. Gappy, splintery, and cut apart and poorly patched from when ductwork was installed circa 1990.

Most of the work was painting. I painted the trim plus the walls and ceiling. Since the ceiling follows the hip roof rafters of the dormer, there is a ton of cutting in. Putting up primer plus two coats of paint and waiting for paint to dry took the better part of Saturday and Sunday morning

Everything is primed!

Almost done with the first coat of paint. Our standard white: Sherwin-Williams "Alabaster"

I left the green on one wall as an accent. The color, Sherwin-Williams "Willow Tree" coordinates well with Alabaster. Marmoleum Click went down in about 3 hours. I moved the desk back in on Sunday night and was able to work, almost as normal, this morning!

Marmoleum Click: Concrete

All that's left to do is acquire and paint the quarter-round trim, replace the outlets and switches, rehang the shelves, and go shopping for wall hangings in the back catalog. I think there's a map or two that would look great in here! Once everything is back to normal, I'll post a snap of the finished project.