Inspiration: 5 Home Office Spaces You'll Actually Want to Spend Time In

My Christmas break is officially over. It's back to the grind (aka school) for the final semester of my three-year break from adulting and the beginning of what I hope to be a long and exciting career path in Interior Decorating and Kitchen Design!

To ease the transition of having had three glorious weeks worth of lounging around and doing nadda, into what will likely be a hit-the-ground-running type of January, I'm in need of inspiration to get my work space looking like a place I want to spend some serious hours in. I had a great setup in our last house, with a fun little live mood board, but this time around I'm hoping for something a little less fussy and time-consuming that I can easily pull together.

Storage and shelving are always a must (gotta have space for my chachkies and books), I have my rattan chair that I still love and want to keep, plus my faithful Besta Burs Ikea (best investment) and just some pretty things to stare at while I think about all the things I would rather be doing than sitting at a desk struggling to finish a project at 3:32 am.

Alright. Enough slacking, time to get to work...and by 'get to work' I really just mean stare at pretty pictures of home offices I found on the internet...

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Sponsored Post: Great Gift Ideas from UncommonGoods

Ya’ll know that thing that happens when the holidays have just ended and you’re calmly settling into the new year and then BAM, someone’s birthday, engagement, housewarming etc. hits you, and you find yourself in need of a gift. You’re not ready to step back into a mall (the nightmares of lineups, crowds and dry mall air are still too real), so you decide to hit the interweb in search of something special.

With your web browser open and recipient in mind, if you're anything like me, you typically go blank at this stage of the online shopping process. Enter UncommonGoods, a handy online shop that not only offers unique and meaningful gifts, but is also a shop that has made sustainability a focus for their business. Offering an eclectic mix of products, with many made from recycled materials and in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Alongside many of the items you’ll find  a head shot of the maker along with a bio and inspiration behind the product. When it comes to gifting your item, you can always pass along what you’ve learned about their gift, which adds to the thoughtfulness and will likely turn your gift into a true conversation piece. Plus these little tidbits from the maker are just kinda cool and interesting to read about. 

As with any site, there is always lots to see and search, but UncommonGoods makes it easy on you with curated gift-giving lists based on occasion or person. Not sure what you get your sister for her birthday? You’ll want to start here, and those Birthstone Mineral Soaps make a great add-on to whatever you choose. In need of something for your team of groomsmen? You’ll want to check this page out, and take note of those Scotch Infused Toothpicks and Beer Soap Sets.  Stumped on an anniversary gift? The RememoryGame is a sweet and simple choice, while that personalized Hearts Four-Across Game is perfect for family game night but will also look cute just sitting on your bookshelf. 

Naturally, I combed the Home Decor and Kitchen pages, and have found many many many many things that I'd love receive (and of course gift...) and rounded up a small sampling below. 

Soapstone & Copper Saute Pan, Pizza Pan and Stew Pot  /  Hot and Cold Soapstone Handheld Bowls  /  Cacti Canisters  /  Nesting Lotus Bowls  /  Birdhouse Bookshelf  /  Floral Garden Felt Table Runner  /  Wood and Ceramic Tumblers

** Special thanks to UncommonGoods for sponsoring this post. Despite the partnership, all thoughts, ideas and products selected are my own**

get the look: mod bedroom

You know those interior design magazines with high/low style stories? Well, my classmates and I were recently tasked with choosing an interior and sourcing high and low price options for some of its main pieces. Not as easy as I had initially expected but managed to find some reasonably similar solutions for both the high and low shopper. 

CHEAP + CHIC 

Manor Capiz Seashell Chandelier by Kouboo | Magical Thinking Mariposa Butterfly Sham Set from Urban Outfitter | Saarinen Tulip Side Chair by Rove Concepts | LEIRVIK Bed frame from Ikea 

SPLURGE WORTHY

Tulip Armless Chair EERO SAARINEN 1957 from Knoll | 19th c. Quaterfoil Iron Bed from Restoration Hardware | Kyoto Pillow Covers from Serena and Lily | Cyan Design Bella Vetro Chandelier from Wayfair 

mod bedroom image via Style at Home

back to school desk refresh

After such a busy summer it feels good to finally have some free time to putter around the basement and get my space ready for school. I spent a massive chunk of time commuting to downtown Toronto on the GO Train, but it forced me to slow down and think about what is important to me, why I am back in school and what I want my career to look like. With the help of two amazing podcasts (After the Jump and The Lively Show) I’ve settled on a list of goals that I would like to achieve. Some are short-term goals that I can chip away at over the next few months, and some are more long-term that involve a little more time and patience to achieve.

One short-term goal was to get my desk in shape and “blog-worthy” for the first day of school. Not only is it finished, but I managed to make a gif—something else I’ve wanted to take a stab at. It definitely isn’t perfect, but it is close enough and was surprisingly easy to create (this blog explains it all)

* * *

Last year I had a less then great experience with Rust-Oleum’s Chalkboard Paint and Magnetic Primer (purchased from Home Depot for $10 - $20 each). After four coats of Magnetic Primer, it still didn’t hold much more than a sheet of paper. The Chalkboard Paint was fine, but even after washing with water, there was always a cloudy film left on the wall. This year I decided to create a “Living Mood Board” by nailing an assortment of bulldog clips and magnets onto the wall. This way I can pin an assortment of fabric samples, paint chips, floor plans and more onto the space without requiring of a million magnets. A few favourite images and postcards are still hung using magnets, but the clips do a much better job at keeping things in place.

The rest of the space still needs some work, but am hoping to save those projects for the One Room Challenge, a bi-annual linking event hosted by Calling It Home (you can read all about it here)…another goal to hopefully cross off the list! For now, I feel ready for the new semester and putting this space to good use.

mood board: study space

And another school project makes its way into a post :)My favourite project this past semester involved finding some real-life clients with a space in need of some finessing. My sister and her hubs gladly volunteered their time and space for the assignment, and after a few quick interviews and assessments, I put together a few mood boards with ideas and options for their bachelor-style apartment. 

One of the mood boards featured a functional new study space for my sister against a 5-foot wall that juts out between the bedroom area and living room. Being a medical student, most of her time is spent reading, listening to online lectures, and whatever else being a med student entails. This layout allowed for a space to properly set up the desk, shelving for storage and displaying favourite objects, a spot for her waterfall bookshelf, and some fun ways to accessorize it (ie the DIY chair). Painting stripes onto the wall would be a cheap, chic and renter-friendly way to differentiate the space from the rest of the apartment and help her get into the mindset of studying (hopefully!) 

dining room mood board

It’s hard to believe my first semester at Georgian is three days away from being finished. Despite what feels like a mountain of homework and projects left to be completed, it feels so good to be in the home stretch!

One of my final projects involves the above dining room collage. It’s a little rough around the edges and needs to be touched up in PhotoShop, but it is turning out to be one of my favourites and thought I would use it to whip up a blog post to kick start the last week of class.

Looking forward to Christmas break and catching up on some other projects I’ve been meaning to complete, such as: my new black bedroom, the basement homework station I created, some holiday house tours I participated in, and some Re-Store finds : )

Tilda 5 Light Wood Iron Chandelier | Ameile Dining Table | Trophy Vase | Vintage Aivary Artwork I | Vintage Aivary Artwork II | Baxton Studio Halifax Arm Chair 

bedroom mood board + school update

This fall I began a new chapter in my life. I quit a job (that I loved and had been quite comfortable in) and went back to school to pursue Interior Decorating. It was definitely a risk and scared the bejesus out of me, but now that I’ve crossed the halfway point of the first semester, I’m happily settling into a schedule that involves juggling homework assignments, a minimum-wage job and living with my parents (none of which is actually as bad as it sounds). 

The biggest shock of being back at school was realizing the age gap between me and some of my peers—who knew I’d be 10+ years senior to my classmates!? I wasn’t expecting that, and even more surprising was actually feeling how large that gaping hole was. I joined the clique of ‘mature students’ and am actually quite happy to be there. Thinking back to how much I’ve changed since graduating high school, and being so unaware of…everything, I’m happy to be back at school with some life experiences under my belt and on my resume. I still have a lot to learn but am happy and content with the direction things are going. I’m looking forward to the next two years packed with homework assignments, midterm marks and a touch of student-debt, but will hopefully end with a fresh list of experiences to add to the resume or check-off the bucket list—and even more important: the beginnings of a new career. I’m happy I took the risk and listened to that little voice in the back of my head that kept pushing me towards this new adventure. 

Above is one of my first homework assignments (posting homework will likely become a trend…) We were asked to create a mood board for a room we would one day like to create. I chose images, quotes and products that I was leaning towards for my new room. As much as I love the way this turned out, my bedroom will be going in a completely different direction...

quoted: unknown

Dabbling with chalkboards and text in PhotoShop