One Room Challenge — Eclectic Home Office Reveal

Last Updated on September 19, 2023

Times up! Sound the alarm, the One Room Challenge final reveal deadline bell is ringing. Hands up. Put the decor down. Well kinda. It’s the night before this post goes live, and I’m typing as fast as my little fingers can hit keys. I take that back, it’s after midnight. But for all intents and purposes, this room is dunzo!

Like many of the other participants, I got the flu, and I’m tired and exhausted. Anyone who tells you this challenge is a breeze is lying. However, it’s also one of the most enjoyable blog projects I’ve ever completed. It’s been an absolute blast, but it really has come down to the wire. Last Saturday, I was still putting the finishing touches on the styling and scouring the flea market like a crazed woman on a mission…which I was. Yes, there are a few things that didn’t arrive on time, but it’s all good. I’m still pleased as punch with the final outcome.

If you’re new to the blog today and have no idea what’s going on, check out the process of the room design here:

Week 1   ///   Week 2   ///   Week 3   ///   Week 4   ///   Week 5

Before I go any further, I have to mention that metal sliding door. It has such a cool story and after photographing it, I suddenly realized, I’ve never told the story behind it. When we originally finished the basement, I wanted a vintage fire door and ran across Black Dog Salvage on eBay. In his sweet southern accent, he explained that he had nothing in stock but could fabricate something. Custom door? Um, yes, please! Where do I sign?

We talked about the design and a couple of weeks later he asked where to ship it. My contractor about flipped when I told him I apparently needed a dock and a crane to move this thing. It weighs a ton, but hot damn it’s insanely cool. A few months later I received an email from Black Dog Salvage. Their TV show, Salvage Dawgs, was debuting on The DIY Network. Shut the front door. Finally, I could put a face to that awesome southern drawl on the other side of the telephone. In case you were wondering, the blue paint is Farrow & Ball Dix Blue and the door has been painted in Farrow & Ball Down Pipe. OK, cool door story over…back to the home office makeover with vintage finds.

RELATED: I chose Farrow & Ball De Nimes in my living room and hated it! See why .

My goal for this room was to bring in a lot of vintage decor. Mixing old and new, giving it a twist, and not banking on trends is my jam. I wanted the space to be comfy. Cozy. Someplace I’d like to hang out for hours. Challenge accepted. And I have to tell you, in my heart, with every fiber of my body, I know I hit this room makeover out of the park.

In the beginning, I didn’t really have a plan. My home office was a hot mess. Stacks of papers. Samples for my graphic design portfolio. Orphaned vintage finds. Anything really would be better than its original state. I told myself that I wasn’t going to revisit the before pictures, but as my trainer says, it’s necessary. You need to see just how far this room has come.

Please insert monkey covering eyes emoji here. For realzies. Looking back on this space is mindblowing. How I worked in this chaos is beyond me. Anyhoo, how did I make this magical transformation happen in 6 weeks? Were there unicorns and elves involved? Nope! I just had to dig down waaaaaaaaaay deep into my bag of tricks.

IKEA became my best friend. I had pinned this workspace set up a million times and loved the Scandinavian feel. The stark white with black accents pulled at my graphic design heartstrings. So minimalistic…so not me. But by incorporating vintage finds and my color palette of blush, navy, blues, and hints of pink, I was able to warm up that stark white…ah yes, this is me. I chose to keep my utilitarian chair. I’m not sure anyone can really argue with Herman Miller.

The Loloi Anastasia rug is really where the design took off. I fell head over heels in love with the colors. When it finally arrived I couldn’t wait to unwrap that sucka. I knew Loloi made amazing rugs, but nothing could prepare me for the gorgeous shades of blue, navy, and sand nor was I prepared for how soft it was! I wanted to rub my face all over it. If you’re looking for a place to purchase, you can find it here as well as many other retailers.

Then began the hunt for the sofa. Originally, I was looking at a cutie from West Elm. But The Boy asked me about the budget for this room makeover. Hmmm, budget? I guess I never really thought about that. And suddenly thinking about it took a lot of the fun out of spending all this money I apparently didn’t have. Bye-bye beautiful West Elm leathery goodness. I started to search vintage options and found this sweet vintage Chesterfield. Now that sir is a beauty! South Loop Loft also hooked me up with those fancy lucite nesting tables (that I so need to polish, but ran out of time…priorities people…what can I say) and that cute tiny brass pineapple.

Minted saved the day with this gorgeous print by Wilder California. And unbeknownst to me, Ashley Redmond, used it in the Decorist headquarters makeover. We’ve had such a laugh over that. I mean Minted has hundreds upon hundreds of prints! How is it that we picked the same exact artwork? Personally, for me, it was the soft blush pastels and golden tones. It’s really a shining piece in the space.

You guys saw this view last week, but in the past week, it’s received quite a few new vintage goodies. Wanna play Where’s Waldo on what’s changed? That cute llama stole my heart when I saw him featured in Dabito’s collection on Chairish the other day. The head actually is removable and it can be turned into a vessel. I purchased it from Green Body Green Home. I did manage to get that blush chair from West Elm past The Boy’s budget chat when it went on sale with an extra 20% off. You just can’t beat that price for a chair…especially this chair fit for a princess, and it seems to be made of magic and glitter.

Meek Vintage hooked me up with quite a few of these pieces. I literally grabbed a photo of their shop off their Instagram, circled a bunch of stuff in Photoshop, and sent it off to them begging for the pieces. They were super nice and shipped my vintage treasures from their shop in Denver to my doorstep. They also never judged me for being crazy. If you’re looking for some unique finds, I highly suggest you check them out.

How lucky was I to find peonies at the grocery store this morning??? Yahtzee!!! I love the bright splash of hot pink. The vintage trophies are from The Rabbit Hole. These too were a last-minute buy and after more begging…yes, there’s been a lot of begging lately…they were super nice, and shipped them licketty split.

The kaleidoscope is from my girl crush Emily Henderson. The navy color and gold were perfect for the space.

At the beginning of this design project, I had dreams of rattan and African vintage indigo dancing in my head. After Week 2, I decided rattan and vintage indigo were entirely too trendy. Since this was a challenge, let’s challenge! But then my love of rattan and indigo took over. Gawwwww! Oh and that palm is from Target and yes sir-e-bob it’s totally fake. This room is in the basement after all. Back to the indigo…I added a splash of it here…

And here. I couldn’t help myself. I had to do it. It’s just so purdy! Besides, it was lonely sitting there on my prop shelf. I could hear it calling to me at night. Kyla…Kyla…Kyla. So even though I tried to deny it, a bit of boho crept back in, and I couldn’t be happier.

BTDubs, is it weird that I haven’t really revealed my actual workspace yet? I think there’s only one little photo waaaaaay up there…I started to chat about it, but then my love of the rest of the room took over! So obvs, this is a home office makeover with vintage finds. We should probably take a closer look at the desk huh? Geez!

Originally there was a brass task lamp here, but I remembered this amazing pair of vintage lucite lamps I snagged from a Chairish Instagram Sale. Finally a home for one of these guys.

That’s it! Did you make it all the way through? That was one hefty post! Thank you so much for stopping over and taking a gander at my home office makeover with vintage finds. The whole process has been amazing, and I can’t wait to do it all over again next Spring.

Here’s that last bit of eye candy for the road…oh and pretty much everything is sourced below because I love ya!

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