Disclosure: Thank you to At Home Stores for sponsoring this blog post. As always, all opinions are my own.
I love our home but my home office was never my favorite space. That all changed, however, when I jumped at the chance to do a makeover of a small space in my home with a $100 gift card to At Home stores. I’m sharing the video of our makeover as well as some tips that I used for a great home office makeover, and they apply in pretty much any scenario, be it your home or apartment or your college student’s dorm room.
Have an idea of what you want.
I thought that a neutral palate would be soothing and eliminate distractions so my creative could flow. I was wrong. After trying it for a few years, I knew the I wanted more color, more pattern and a space that was more interesting and exciting, not drab.
Find an inspiration piece.
Wanting to add color is a broad goal. Far too broad, in fact. To give myself some focus, I decided to pick an inspiration piece – a photo I took on our recent trip to Maine. I loved the blue sea and sky, yellow flowers and the white of the light house and clouds. Voila! A color scheme! (Added bonus: it worked well with the navy mats around my great-grandmother’s high school diploma from 1908 and my diplomas from Notre Dame.)
Have a budget and stick to it.
I loved that I could make a big difference on a small budget. This room feels brand new to me, but it didn’t cost much at all. With a firm budget, you’re more likely to buy only things you really love and know will work.
Also, shop your home and try to rethink pieces you already have. Sometimes you don’t need a new piece of furniture, it just needs a new placement, which leads me to my next point.
Be practical.
When I first moved to this house, I thought I’d love facing out to the yard and placed the desk there. Bad move. In the summer in the afternoons, the sun can be blinding. And it’s chilly in the winter. It was a nice idea, but simply not practical. I therefore moved the desk, and it helped.
Go for big impact.
The curtains took up the biggest part of my budget at a cost of $40, but they’re also the biggest items I purchased and make the biggest impact on the room, in my opinion. It had everything I wanted in tip one: color, pattern, interest. They were well worth the expense, and far less at At Home Stores than they would have been elsewhere.
If you have a son or daughter moving into a dorm or campus apartment, be sure to check out Home’s Back to Campus collection: http://bit.ly/AtHomeBackToCampus. This link includes a handy back to campus checklist/planning tool pdf for parents or students to download and print for free. It includes a variety of back to school must haves that you can purchase at At Home stores!
What tips would you add for a successful makeover of a small space?
Prior Post: 3 Alexander Hamilton sites in Upstate New York
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