Color in the Studio

I have some fun updates to share with you today.  I am making a lot of progress on my new studio.  The basement layout includes a 5th bedroom.  With no need for another bedroom, we decided it would be my home office.  Now that I am home all the time, I am really glad to have this work space.  But, I have to finish the space before I can use it.

A while ago I shared this mood board for my studio.  The plan was for white walls with pops of yellow and turquoise throughout the room.

The room is starting to come together and I have added another accent color.  A lamp I found on clearance at HomeGoods for $22 inspired the new accent color.  I showed a sneak peek of it when I revealed my DIY embellished curtains.  Blue + Ikat = Love!!!  The lamp even has a blue cord.  (Side note: Do you love it, too?  Target is now carrying a very similar blue ikat lamp shade in the spring home decor collection)

The blue on the lamp shade reminds me of the beautiful blue walls in my guest bedroom.  Then, the lightbulb went off.  How about a blue focal wall in my studio?  I decided to paint all the walls white (Tailor’s Chalk by Martha Stewart), except the back wall which I painted blue (Azurite by Martha Stewart).  The deep blue is lovely with my turquoise chair and zebra wood desk (more on that in a moment).

It took a lot of internal fortitude to force myself to do the not fun part of this paint job before moving on to the fun focal wall.  If I skip straight to the fun part, I know it is hard to reign myself back in to do the less fun work.  I forced myself to do two good coats of the white paint, before I allowed myself to paint the blue focal wall.

The blue wall is amazing!!!  I am so happy I decided to add some color in this room.  It makes my Finn Chandelier (found on sale for $109 at West Elm, still available here) pop.  The white metal shades look like modern floating clouds in a deep blue sky.  From the family room looking into the office, it gives the illusion the whole office is that beautiful shade of blue. (Please ignore the random debris outside the office…keeping it real…this is a work in progress.)

Another fun update is my dining table desk.  I love a big work table.  In our town house, our current dining table actually was my desk.  For the past two years I have longed to have another office with a 36″ x 72″ desk.  On one of our jaunts to the Room & Board outlet I saw this zebra wood table top.  I love zebra wood.  It was marked down to $499.  I sadly passed.  The next weekend I checked again and the price had dropped to $299.  I didn’t think twice about buying this $900 table top for $299.  (Sadly, it does not look like Room & Board carries the zebra wood table tops anymore.)

I used two Ikea Trestle Legs ($10 each) in white to create the desk.  I like how they are really minimal and let the zebra wood be the star.  With my Martha Stewart Craft Space cabinets, I do not need any storage underneath my desk.

My desk chair is the garage sale score from my mom’s garage sale.  I gave the chair a makeover with chalk paint. I like how the dark wood base picks up on the darker streaks in the zebra wood.

The desk sticks out into the room like a peninsula.  This room is hardly 9 ft. wide, so it was the only way the desk would fit.  My Martha cabinets and a long countertop will be along the focal wall.  I like the desk here because while I am sitting at it I can see straight out into the new family room.  I hate facing a wall when I work…maybe that is why I couldn’t handle cubicle life.

It is sitting a few inches from the closet wall to allow for my desk lamp to fit and cords to run down to the outlet below.  I found the teal task lamp at the floor sample sale at CB2.  I got him for $39.  They still carry the same style in orange and grey for $69.95.

I have a long way to go in here.  The dresser you see above needs a third coat of chalk paint and some polycrylic.  Now that I finished the painting, I need to install the baseboard and molding around the windows.  Oh, and we can’t forget about a door to the office and closet doors.  I also need to get those Martha Stewart cabinets back in place and build the counter connecting them.  There will be a lot more studio projects on the way :)