Before & After: Kalyn’s Cheerful Home Office

If you work from home but don’t feel inspired by your space, you’re going to love this cozy and colorful home office makeover.

If you’re a renter and feel like white walls are holding you back, this makeover is an inspiring example of how you can use accent colors to create a cheerful room with white walls as a backdrop.

Allow me to introduce you to my friend Kalyn from Creative Savings. Kalyn works full time from home on her own business. But for the last four years, her unfinished office space left her uninspired to the point that she chose to work anywhere else. That’s right, she had a dedicated office space but preferred to work from the sofa, her kitchen island or the nearest Starbucks.

When Kalyn moved into her home, she had the best intentions to turn a spare bedroom into the home office of her dreams. She painted the ceiling her favorite teal color, added a cute turquoise cabinet, and a fun rug. And that’s where the room stalled…

Every few months Kalyn made another go at it and tried shifting furniture, rearranging her shelves, or swapping out wall decor.

But nothing felt right.

Then, Kalyn joined Décorography. Within a matter of weeks, she transformed her forgotten home office into her dream working space. Now Kalyn says,

“I LOVE MY OFFICE! I spend every day in here now. Sometimes Saturdays too! Every time I walk in, I’m instantly inspired to tackle the day and be productive until dinner. Some of my blogging friends have their own offices outside the home now, but I can’t imagine going anywhere else. THIS is why I work from home, and now I have a special space just for me.”

Take a Tour of Kalyn’s Home Office

One of the things I love most about Kalyn’s home office makeover is that she didn’t have to start completely over. When a space isn’t working, it’s easy to assume you have to scrap everything and start from scratch. But I find that is rarely the case. Kalyn already had great pieces to work with, she just needed help pulling them together.

One of the few new things Kalyn added to the room was the loveseat to create a cozy sitting area. Now she’s no longer tempted to leave the office for the living room couch. The loveseat allows her to take a break from her office chair. This new sitting area is also where Kalyn goes for quiet time in the morning to read the Bible, journal, and pray.

At one point, Kalyn was concerned about the floral fabric she found for her pillow covers. She loved it, but it was missing one key color she wanted to include in the room—yellow. She wasn’t sure if it would work out.

She posted a picture of the fabric and asked for advice in the Décorography community. The community (of over 200 decorating friends) came through with suggestions for alternate fabrics and other ways to bring yellow into the space. Ultimately, Kalyn found a solid yellow throw pillow to mix in with her floral pillow covers. It gave her the pop of yellow she wanted without competing with her beloved floral. Problem solved.

Kalyn’s use of accent colors was key to creating the colorful home office she craved even with white walls. Kalyn mastered the principle of repetition for her accent colors, metallics, and wood tones.

The first thing Kalyn did was take the Color Confidence course in Décorography, where she learned how to create her whole house color palette. To keep her home office cohesive with the rest of her home she chose accent colors from her whole house color palette. Even though Kalyn’s walls are white, the “wall colors” on her whole house color palette inspired her fabric choice for the loveseat and ottoman.

Once she knew the ideal palette for her room, it was a matter of using the colors the right way.

She repeated each accent color (teal, pink, and yellow) at least three times around the room. The yellow throw pillow she added on the loveseat was repeated in several other yellow accents throughout the room.

Kalyn added warmth to her room with wood accents on the blanket ladder, the loveseat legs, and the base of the accent table.

She sprinkled silver metallics throughout the room. Since her desk chair had a silver base and her accent table a silver top, it made sense to make the rest of the metallics in the room silver too.

Another element that Kalyn repeated was the linen-like fabric. It shows up on her office chair, her new loveseat, and on the lampshade on her desk. She also repeated the tufting element from the loveseat on the ottoman. The throw pillows and blankets hanging in the corner make this a comfortable, inviting space.

By intentionally repeating accent colors, metallics, wood tones, and textures, Kalyn was finally able to pull her room together and achieve a finished look.

Kalyn said,

“I would not have been able to finish this room without Decorography, or the Member’s Only Facebook Community to give me feedback along the way. I used to be that person who would vacillate for an hour in the same aisle at HomeGoods, wondering whether or not I should buy something.

Both gave me the tools I needed to make the right decorating decisions, as well as the confidence to execute them!

Instead of ALL the options, Decorography helped me narrow it down to the most important ones.”

Kalyn’s home office is a beautiful example of what you can do to create a colorful space without painting your walls. It also proves that redecorating doesn’t mean starting from scratch and spending a bunch of money. Kalyn was able to create her dream office with mostly her existing decor. The biggest purchase she made for the room was a $350 loveseat that turned the room into a multi-functional space that better fits Kalyn’s work and lifestyle.

To see more of Kalyn’s home office and to get all the sources for her decor and furniture, go here.

Inspired by Kalyn’s colorful office? Want help choosing colors for your home?

Ever wish someone could just tell you what colors look best together? You’re in luck.

Join me for Color Flow – a free five-day decorating challenge that will show you how to unify your home with accent colors.  You don’t need any past decorating experience. And you won’t need to paint a single wall to give your home a color makeover.

This free five-day challenge starts on October 16, 2017. Although this challenge is free, you won’t be able to join after the challenge starts. Click here to sign up now.