Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Finishing The Office Makeover

Our office continues to creep towards the finish line (tortoise style) with the addition of an overhead light…

Chairs Light Detail

… and new desk chairs.

Chairs President Business

You might recognize the light because it’s none other than the one we used to have hanging in our kitchen (loosely meeting both the “old” and “borrowed” criteria from this post’s title). We loved the light itself, but mentioned a few times in the comments that after living with it for a little while, we weren’t sure we loved it as much as we initially thought we would in the kitchen. So we figured we’d try it in the office.

Chairs Light Horizontal

The second it was up, we were sold. It feels polished and traditional to us, so it’s a nice mix with the clean-lined furnishings and colorful art (the more modern counterparts of the room) and the paned bay window and thick crown molding (the other more traditional elements that are already present). Functionally speaking, it’s nice and bright (it’s a two-bulb fixture) and we’re both soaking up the luxury of finally having a ceiling fixture to flick on when we enter the room. We’ve even talked about going to a glass place (or a lighting place) and having them cut a quatrefoil-shaped diffuser to fit it, so we’ll keep you posted if we get around to that.

Of course now that we stole that light from the kitchen we just have a bare bulb dangling in there, but we’re glad to have found our big quatrefoil shade a more permanent home.

Chairs Light In Kitchen

Now for the chairs. Don’t you remember them from our kitchen too?

Just kidding, they’re new. And blue.

Chairs John Detail

It all started when a reader named Sabrina tipped me off to a big sale going on at PB Teen and mentioned they had some pretty nice stuff. Lately I’ve noticed a bunch of designers using stuff from PB Teen in adult spaces. In other words, don’t let the name scare you. Oh and check out PB Kids too (they have some gorgeous lights right now). In fact, Real Simple had an awesome living room a few months back and the thing I loved most and swore was probably super expensive ended up being like $150 at PB Teen.

But I digress. These chairs caught my eye the second I headed over to the site – especially because of the awesome button tufting and curved arms (traditional) and those sleek legs with wheels (the more modern counterpart). Although the light gray and teal one were completely charming, the navy one screamed my name the loudest (less worry about stains, and a nice dark/rich color to ground our light and airy office) so I showed John and held my breath. John is somewhat of a chair diva. He wanted our new office chairs to be adjustable (check), have arms (check), be on wheels (check), and not have a ton of cumbersome levers and handles under them (we looked at a lot of prior chair options looked like an oversized eight-armed spider lived under them). These actually checked all of his chair diva boxes. BIIIIIG SIGH. He was in.

Office Chairs

Actually, I loved them enough to pull the trigger, but it wasn’t until I called a local Pottery Barn store to check if we could return them there (instead of having to pay to ship them back if we didn’t like them) that Practical John was completely with me on the whole “add to cart” step. They still weren’t cheap, but we certainly appreciated that they were marked down by $50 each and their friends & family sale got us 20% off on top of that (we ended up saving $118 per chair).

We did that obligatory worrying thing until they arrived on our doorstep. Would they be comfy? Would they tilt at a weird angle? Would they feel scratchy? Would they come with a nicely labeled empty box in the packaging? Turns out they did.

Chairs 2 Empty Box

The good news is that they’re also comfy, they adjust so we both can have them at the height we like, the wheels glide like butter, and the sloped arms are really nice. You’re probably wondering “how does it feel to breastfeed in this desk chair?” Well, I can tell you in all sincerity that it’s quite cozy indeed.

The fabric feels almost identical to what’s on the armchair in Teddy’s room, which has lived through both food-related abuse (remember it was in the corner of our last house’s kitchen by the fireplace for a few years?) and baby-related projectiles, so we have high hopes for their durability.

Chairs Sherrys Chair

Our only slight surprise was that they looked a little less blue in real life to us (they’re definitely navy, but the website photo looked almost cobalt, so we expected a little more intensity I think). But the art, the plant, and the items on the bookshelf in the office are pretty colorful, so we figure some handsome tufted navy chairs are nice classic “foundation” pieces to ground the room and balance out all the light/modern/happy stuff. Since they’re not these super bright focal points we figure that frees us up to have fun with curtains or a rug in a bolder color or pattern if we want. So although they look a little whoa-those-are-dark-chairs-in-a-light-room now, I think they’ll make more sense when we bring in those other items.

Chairs Main After Shot

Maybe something like this? Depends on what we find. But this is a good example of how something that might look out of place in an unfinished room (the cream color of the light or the deep tone of the chairs) can sort of “gel” more as the room fills in (the tone of the light is also in the West Elm rug, and the dark curtain rod and bold curtains seem to balance out the deep color of the chairs).

Future Office Idea

So our few remaining items on the office list are those aforementioned window treatments and a rug along with getting a frame for Clara’s monster and possibly adding that diffuser to the light along with a desk lamp or two and then we should be finished in here.

It’s pretty exciting to be creeping towards a mostly-completed space since the only other rooms that are worthy of that description might be Teddy’s room and Clara’s room along with our sunroom-turned-veranda. The funny thing is that I’d bet the laundry room will be a pretty finished-looking space in a few more weeks, which is hilarious since it came out of nowhere while some other rooms we’ve been slowly upgrading for over a year still feel SO FAR from being done. Houses like to keep you on your toes like that I think.

Comments

  1. Lindsey says

    Love those chairs! Although I redid my office 2.5 years ago, it’s due for an update in the near-ish future. Will have to consider that chair style for myself. We don’t have PB teen in Canada. Wonder if they ship up here?

    Reply

  2. Kim says

    You’ve done it again, Petersiks! I’ve been waiting for you to pull in some navy since the show house. Looks fantastic! Question on the diffuser, I have a similar lamp over my dining room table that I’ve often thought about getting a diffuser for, but the ones I’ve seen have a hole in the middle to attach to the fixture. How would you attach it without connecting to the fixture? Gosh, I hope that makes sense I need more coffee!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think they sell “conversion bars” that would come down that center hole and affix to the diffuser with a little ball thing on the end. Hard to explain, but I think if you call Shades of Light they have them for ya!

      xo
      s

  3. Stefanie says

    LOVE the chairs and I browse PB Kids and PB Teen more than regular PB it seems. They have such fun things! I also am IN LOVE with that rug and the way the blue works with the chairs. I think that would be a really wonderful addition to the space. But..as for those green curtains, please don’t! They make everything feel very heavy and draw your eye away from everything else the room has going for it. I know your trying to get away from the white/sheer curtain but I think something like that or something with a light subtle pattern would work best.

    All in all I think this room has came together beautifully. My favorite part is the little wall for Clara art. So sweet!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Stefanie! I think once the rug comes we’ll test out a few curtain ideas and see where we end up! Definitely not married to these green ones :)

      xo
      s

  4. Peggy McKee says

    Have you considered spray painting the ceiling lampshade another color? I’d go for white, but some other color might be even better.

    With all the blue tones in the room, the beige doesn’t seem to fit. Of course, you may love it!

    Reply

  8. Lauren (in PA) says

    Ah! I love the light in there so much now!

    I didn’t really care for it in the kitchen. I’m glad it found a new home!

    Reply

  9. Lucy says

    The linen shade looks much nicer here than in a kitchen! Compliments the navy chair & light blue walls nicely. The green curtains would not work here, unless you are going to remove some of the other colors. Same goes for the yellow, coral & aqua accents (not sure if you were planning to keep all of that or if it was just for the blog post).

    Here is a great article from HGTV that has helped me design rooms in our homes; basically you should stick to only 3 colors in 60:30:10 ratio. Layering in additional shades of those colors works well too, but not more colors. http://www.hgtv.com/decorating/top-10-tips-for-adding-color-to-your-space/index.html

    Hope that helps and good luck with your office!

    Reply

  10. susan says

    Loving that rug! The pattern and color are perfect with the light fixture, excellent choice(as usual).

    What a great work space, so cheerful. So much better than corporate cubicles, don’t you think?

    Any thoughts on new colors for the kids’ chairs?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think about painting those sometimes but there’s something so sweet about their old mismatched schoolhouse look. We’ll have to see where we end up though!

      xo
      s

  11. mary says

    Those chairs are gorgeous. I would’ve been tempted to get the turquoise. It looks like your book color! But I have no design skill so I’m sure navy was the way to go.

    Reply

  13. Olivia says

    Haha, why yes, I was wondering what it would be like to breastfeed in those chairs. Thank you for reporting back on that! :)

    Reply

  14. Helene says

    I think the dark navy is PERFECT and was a great call for that room! I love the curtain idea but if it were me, I’d go with a taupey color instead of the green. Maybe something like the color of the quatrefoil light. Anyhow, super room and really wonderful chairs.

    Reply

  16. Kris says

    I highly suggest you get a chair mat for under both chairs or the wheels will pit and damage your hardwood floors. They aren’t the prettiest but will save your floors.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Kris! We haven’t seen any wear/scratching yet, but I have my eyes peeled! There have been some awesome tips if we do see any (about wheels they sell on amazon that don’t scratch floors and even about glass chair mats) in the comments! Never heard of either of them!

      xo
      s

  18. Courtney H says

    You listed the last few steps for this room until it will be all finished… but what about adding double doors to the office entrance like you mentioned a while back?!!

    Reply

  19. Jackie says

    Burger looks ready to get to work! Have you considered not adding a rug at all? I think the beautiful wood floors make it look office-y in a classy way.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Jackie! I think since there’s so much floor space in front of my desk it’ll be nice to have a softer spot for Clara and future-mobile-Teddy to play. Who knows where we’ll end up though!

      xo
      s

  20. Jennifer says

    Have you ever checked out The Land of Nod site by Crate&Barrel? Like PB Teen/Kids, I love that it’s kid stuff by can be used in adult spaces too. I’m especially fond of their pillows and wall art :) Plus, they always seems to have sales and coupon codes!

    Reply

  21. Erin says

    Are you planning to hang curtains on the front windows near Clara’s desk as well? Will you do panels on either side of the window, avoiding her bulletin board space?
    Just curious!
    Everything is looking great! I love the new chairs in there.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Not sure! We’ve debated everything from printed roman shades on all windows (no curtains) to curtains on the back window along with bamboo blinds or something which would also be on those front windows to tie them in. I think once we get the rug we’ll try to go from there and see what we like.

      xo
      s

  23. Megan Frank says

    I originally was thinking a blue patterned roman curtain would be lovely, but since you already bought a blue pattern rug, I feel like the curtains should be a bold orange! Maybe not a solid orange or a competing pattern, but like a white curtain with a thick orange border or wide horizonal orange stripes (maybe just at the bottom third).

    You have lots of blue going one which is nice a calming and a good orange or red would be good brain energy to keep you from falling asleep in there. Plus you already have some neon pops that make the kelly green not fit that well.

    Reply

  24. KathyL says

    Really, you should probably just bite the bullet and make prints of Burger (with and without captions) and sell them framed and unframed. I would be willing to bet people will snap them up. Maybe a Burger Coffee table mini book? Calendar? If you weren’t interested in doing it yourself, donate his picture for a charity event. How famous could our dog be??? xoxo love you guys.

    Reply

  25. Alysa says

    I apologize if I missed this on another post, but would you please tell me where that light fixture is from? I think it might be kind of perfect over our eat-in dining space. Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Alysa! We found the shade discounted at a local lighting outlet (called The Decorating Outlet) and turned it into a pendant, but it’s originally from Shades of Light (so they might sell a whole fixture there for ya).

      xo
      s

  26. Nadia says

    I just fell in love with the west elm Helvetica office chair!!! Want. It. So. Bad!!! Now I’m just waiting for it to go on sale again since I just missed the office furniture sale????

    Reply

  27. Colleen says

    Without realizing it was becoming a decorating “thing” – I actually just did my daughter’s nursery in fabric/things from PB teen. I’m really lucky to have one of the few stores near my in Annapolis, MD, along with a PB kids. I had gone to PB kids for nursery ideas and just wasn’t sold on the cutesy prints, so I wandered into PB teen and was in LOVE with graphic prints. And it turns out the PB kids sold a crib sheet online in my favorite fabric from PB teen (but with a different name) – so it was meant to be! I bought duvets from PB teen and used the fabric to make curtains, a bed skirt for the crib, and a head board for the twin bed I put in the nursery. Anyway, all of this to say that I’m in LOVE with PB teen too!

    Reply

  29. katalina says

    does light colored CEO+dark chair=pet fur?

    my ceo is a cat– a light red and white tripled fur. I have the worst time with office chairs acting like fur-magnets. I usually drape a towel on the seat.

    is that chair material suede-like?

    curious– what is the favorite $150 item you mentioned you LOVE at PBteen?!!!

    I still would love patterned curtains is that room– soft grey/blue or even those cool grey patterned floral ones from west elm that the pattern is so close you can’t see the actual pattern from afar.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Burger doesn’t shed as much as a cat (he has really short hair that’s kind of course, so it’s not as fluffy if that makes sense) but we did have some hair on the chair that I got off with a lint brush (one of the sticky ones you peel works well). The material is sort of demin-like (it has a slightly larger weave but it’s not thick like velvet or suede). As for the Real Simple item that ended up being from PB Teen it was this cool shelf! I don’t think it’s on their site anymore. Probably sold out due to the RS mention. And thanks for the curtain suggestions!

      xo
      s

  30. Jenny @ Words On Wendhurst says

    I immediately noticed your properly exposed windows and love that look! I love how it makes the room look so life like by being able to see the view outside. That’s a really difficult thing to photograph, kudos to you!! :-)

    Reply

  32. Lynn says

    LOVE the old shade in the office. MUCH nicer than the kitchen. I also LOVE the new rug. Great choice!
    The muted blue/grey tone is gorgeous… :)

    Have you considered carrying the blue/grey tone up into the curtains as well? OR are you fully committed to the bold green? :)

    Reply

  34. deb says

    I think you should stop now. It’s light, bright and cheerfull. The rug and drapes look sort of…heavy…
    It’s likw an artist fiddling after it’s already done…

    IMHO ;)

    Reply

  40. fd says

    I love this room. My heart just opened and my shoulders relaxed looking at that second last picture. I think I would be so content in that room I would find it hard to get any work done!

    Green is my favourite colour so of course the last mock-up is lovely too.

    Reply

  41. Haley says

    I’ve been dreaming of emerald curtains for months. Waiting to get a house to pull the trigger, but I love how they would look in your office.

    “You’re probably wondering “how does it feel to breastfeed in this desk chair?”” made me snort out loud followed by weird stares from my coworkers.

    Reply

  42. Erin says

    I find myself drawn to both jewel tones and light bright rooms, and I always think I have to pick 1 or the other… a moody vibe or a light bright happy vibe, and my indecision has led me to not pull the trigger on anything, but you have paired both together beautifully! I’m obsessed with those emerald curtains and I love the navy chairs!!!

    Reply

  44. Raquel says

    I disagree with some of the other comments. I love the green curtains (or a bold color)! I think the green in the curtains goes great with the blue chairs.

    Reply

  48. Amy says

    I love the way it’s shaping up! What about doing two separate curtain rods? I feel like the big, dark rod takes away from the visual interest of the bay window.

    Reply

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