Home tour: My office reveal!
Before we can truly start in on my office reveal we have to start by going way way back to literally the day I started remodeling the house. This room used to be what was left of this old house’s screened in porch. Back in the ’50s the other part of the screened in porch had been enclosed to create an entryway and my grandparents’ bedroom (so they could sleep on the first floor and their two girls could get the two bedrooms upstairs that is now my master suite). This part though remained a screened in porch and one of my very favorite places in my child hood.
OMG I can’t believe its been three years since this post came out! This part of my home has gone through as many transformations as I have myself! I’m a single gal now and I can finally make this home exactly the best that it can be. This is no longer my Office but my new guest bedroom and now I moved my office to my entryway!
When my aunt and mom were little girls they would sleep out here throughout the Minnesota summers and both of them still recall it as being one of their very favorite things. I still pine a bit for the old screened in porch and now, from time to time, wish I had not had to enclose it.
However, this porch was only yards from the dirt road outside my house and I knew I would never be sitting out here to enjoy the dust and watching people drive by – not really what you would call a “scenic” view. And I needed an office!
I made the hard decision in the renovation to enclose the entire rest of the screened in porch and chose this corner for my future office reveal. Fifteen months later and I moved in!
You can see there on the left the ancient stained glass window that was once the front window on the house (until the screened in porch was added in 1925) it has seen better days but I were able to save it and managed to not break it during the renovation.
I had high hopes and dreams for this room and was absolutely stoked when I put my furniture in it and then, this happened:
It just wasn’t working. The book case was too small and I HATED that my back was to the door when I was working. There was no way I could part with more books and there was no way that I wasn’t going to be buying more. So, I scrapped the entire idea I had previously for the Office and went back to the drawing board.
First, I moved the book case you see in that picture into the closet along with my Ancient dresser for storage. I had built a really horrible shelf in the closet before and it just wasn’t working AT ALL.
One thing I did love about my office though was the decision I had made during the renovation to put a phone line and electrical hookups in the closet so my modem and printer could be hidden out of the way – AWESOME.
After that I built some serious barnwood book shelves that you guys saw in last week’s blog post: How to build easy barn wood book shelves. So, without further delay, My Office Reveal!
The wood floors out here had already been painted brown (over at least two other colors throughout the decades) so I just decided to clean them up and repaint them. I had leftover paint from painting my second floor Master Bedroom Suite so I just decided to use it on the floors out here.
It is a touch blue for my taste (for a floor) but something about these floors really makes me happy and they’ve totally grown on me. The color is called Sooty Lashes by Valspar. Yes, you’ve seen my old rocking chair before – to see what it looked like before check out my post about it: Eleonora’s Rocking Chair.
I don’t actually own a “desk” those two big tables my mom gave me for Christmas years ago and I love them, they had been a bit dinged up so I repainted them in black rustoleum and put a whole bunch of poly acrylic over them. I wish I had taken before pictures because they really turned out nice!
The ladder in the corner by the rocking chair was what I had leftover when I cut the ladder down that I’m using upstairs in my Master closet – to see how I did that you can check it out here: An old ladder into a shoe rack. I think I may hang it up on the wall eventually.
My dreams for this office were simple, I wanted lots and lots of book storage and a large enough work space that two people could sit across from each other and work without getting into each other’s way. The truth is I just dream in flat empty surfaces, I drool over craft rooms on Pinterest that offer big work tables.
I needed a place for my English saddles so I ran out to the barn and grabbed an old box my grandparents’ had made to catch saw dust under their table saw. I cleaned it up and put a coat of poly over it and viola! It also offers some extra storage. Is it kind of weird I have horse tack in my office? Yeah, I guess, but anyone who owns saddles (or leather anything) knows that a damp environment will destroy them and our barn is just not dry enough.
So, they have a home in my office. (And there is a perk to having them in here too that no one else has seemed to have noticed but me – they smell like my horses! So, every day I work in the office there’s just the lightest most wonderful smell of horse in here that I just love!)
The curtains are from my childhood (I believe I picked them out when I was about 14) I decided to nix the idea of curtains on the windows so I went to walmart and just bought a little white valance to go across the tops of each and then used my big curtains as closet doors.
I had agonized over the paint color for a week going through ten different samples until I finally lost my mind and forced myself to pick one. Then I hung my curtains, my artwork and brought my rocking chair in and I looked around and just busted out laughing.
I guess I now know that these are my favorite colors (I had no idea) and clearly I was planning for the last fifteen years for all of these random elements to come together in this room and match. Even my two pieces of artwork that I’ve had since I was at least as young as eleven share a color that is in the fabric I chose for my rocking chair just two years ago.
Its really funny how things work out.
I love my office now and hope you liked my office reveal 🙂 The big old stained glass window is breathing a sigh of relief, as it will not have to weather anymore Minnesota winters or summers, it is safe now, fully inside.
I hope it lasts another fifty years with me – personally I think it is absolutely gorgeous.
I have plans on decorating the closet a bit more, you can see I have a couple of art prints that need framing and hanging just sitting on my old dresser hiding the modem, so they will probably go up in there somehow.
Have a great day guys, if you enjoyed My Office Reveal please consider giving it a share!
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I’m Tarah!
It’s been a hell of a ride since I started this blog and renovated and moved into this old farm house back in 2015. I got married, divorced, lost my doggo soul mate, spent two years as a single gal, remodeled everything, threw my back out countless times and was even found by an amazing guy in my own backyard! (The story behind Storyhardt Farm.)
Around here we’re totally fearless when it comes to bettering our home. We love to refinish old furniture, re-purpose old pieces, build it from scratch and totally renovate anything that needs it! If we can do it – so can you. We’ve got some serious plans for this old farm and, for first time ever, I have a real partner!
This is gonna be so much fun!
You can also find out more about the amazing Grandma behind this blog who moved in to this old farmhouse with my Grandpa nearly 70 years ago!
Love it!!
Thank you!!
Tarah, wow, I love your office! What a striking “before and after.” The rustic wall shelves are a great idea and the blue patterned chair is adorable. The whole room looks so cheerful and efficient.
Thanks also for nominating me for the Liebster award. It doesn’t look like I fit the criteria to qualify anymore, but I am very honored and flattered that you thought of me. Congrats on being nominated yourself!
It looks lovely….truly lovely. How do you keep it cool in the summer & warm in the winter?
Thank you Kathy! We had the entire porch spray foamed after we enclosed it (including the floor!) with our wood heat in the main part of the house it stays toasty all winter long 🙂
It looks amazing! (Just found you through Stone Cottage Adventures blog hop:)
Thank you! 🙂
Such a nice, clean new look in your office space, Tarah. You are one busy lady–your home is looking just lovely. Thanks so much for sharing your DIY and renovation projects with us at Vintage Charm!
Thank you Diana 🙂 I was so glad to finally get my office done, sitting in it right now is just awesome, thanks again!
Excellent job! Love that rocking chair 🙂
Thanks!
Tarahlynn it looks so much better and is really functional now. I know how you feel about having your back to the door. Anyone can just creep up on you.
lol Mary, isn’t it funny how that is though? Its not like anyone is actually going to creep up on me but it doesn’t matter, I still don’t like working with my back to a door! Thank you 🙂
Wow – you’ve been busy! Thanks for sharing on the Pleasures of the NW’s DIY link up!
Thank you!!
Shared on Facebook and Pinned. WONDERFUL redo! Best wishes, Linda @Crafts a la mode
Thank you Linda!!
You did an amazing job on your office! I think the painted wood floors are gorgeous. Thank you for linking up at the #HomeMattersParty this week.
Thank you Nicole! I love those floors too!
What a lovely office space! I love that you have your saddles in the office and that it smells like your horses, I can’t imagine anything better. (My saddles are western though and would take up a lot more room in my little office… but I sure wish I could keep them in there. I do use a horse shoe as a paperweight though.)
Thank you for sharing this at the Our Simple Homestead blog hop this week.
Kathi at Oak Hill Homestead
Thank you Kathi! Yeah I have a couple of western saddles too, they’re out in my tack shack because they are big! Thanks so much for coming by 🙂
How wonderful is that! Your making this house so special! I love it! Thank you for sharing at Home Sweet Home!
Thank you Sherry!!
This office has turned out beautifully!
Thank you Holly!!
This is beautiful and I love the chair. Actually, you have some beautiful vintage pieces that are awesome. Love stopping by and thank you for linking up at Dishing it and Digging it link party. We love having you and hope you have a great week. Don’t forget party this Sunday.
Thank you so much Vanessa for always coming by and for putting on a great party! I was so relieved when I finally got my office done, it felt like the house just wasn’t complete for me without it!
Tarahlynn, this is amazing and it’s the most night and day transformation I have ever seen. Thank you for sharing with us this week at Celebrate Your Story, have a great week.
Thank you so much Sandra, a lot of love went into this room!
I love love love that chair!
Thank you so much Hollie!
You just keep moving ahead and making your house an amazing space, don’t you! Keep it up! I just took over an unused room for an office/craft room and have yet to really “find myself” in my space. Thanks for the inspiration and thank you for sharing at Celebrate Your Story!
Hey Chloe, it really took me awhile to find myself in this space too, it was so worth it though! Thank you for coming by!!
Wow…everything looks so great!
I would love for you to share this with my Facebook Group for recipes, crafts, tips, and tricks: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
Thank you!!
Everything came out beautiful!
I was excited to read this post because in the weeks coming up I will be redoing my office and in my head anyway, it is all coming together nicely! lol.
What a blessing to be living in your grandmother’s home to carry on the legacy. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Karen! Good luck with your own office redo 🙂
Tarah, I love what you did here! My office is my sanctuary and I can see it’s yours as well. I especially love that rocker … I wish I could find one around here to redo. My rocker is getting a bit worn and I simply can’t live without it lol xo
Thank you Carla, it took me awhile to get it right but without my office it felt like the whole house was incomplete! Thanks for coming by 🙂
I love this transportation. You do great work! Thanks for sharing with us at Family Joy Blog Link Up Party this week.
Thank you Charlene!
I love how bright and clean this room is! I can’t get any work done if my office is dark and cluttered so I love this. Thanks for joining us for the Wednesday Showcase this week.
Thank you so much!
The room looks a lot more open, bright, and airy, now. It looks like a calm and inspiring place to work.
Thank you Carol!
I love how light and bright your office is after you redid it!
Thank you Roseann!
That patterned chair is gorgeous and the large windows, such a nice place to work. I was surprised about the English Saddle, I don’t remember you mentioning horses before.
My hubs currently has two thoroughbreds and they smell so warm. Sometimes it almost reminds me of a warm oregano. They are the most amazing of gods creatures.
Thank you for sharing your office, all the pieces certainly fit together, it is funny how cohesive it all turned out. I guess you know your signature style Tarahlynn.
Hi Leanna, yup I have two horses, my gelding I’ve had since I was 11 which means he’s been with me for 20 years 🙂 I don’t ride anymore and I just like having them and loving them. Every morning when I’m getting ready for work I get to watch them and it really is just awesome. Thank you!
Loving your office Tarahlynn and love that you kept that stained glass window 🙂
Thank you! That stained glass is one of my very favorite features!
What a great place to work! I love the stained glass window.
Thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing with us at #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty. I’ve shared on social media. Love the procrastination window.
Thanks so much for coming by, have a great week!
Turned out GREAT! love the whole things (especially the floors). Hope you join us at this week’s Reader Tip Tuesday xo http://www.jodiefitz.com/2017/08/15/reader-tip-tuesday-craft-recipe-party/
Thank you Jodie! Have a great rest of the week!
Your office turned out absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for sharing your renovations on the Homestead Blog Hop #151!
Thank you so much Ann!
It is a beautiful space! I would so love to work there myself!
Thank you Joanne!
What a lovely room, I absolutely love that yellow stained glass window, such a beautiful feature! I love your stools too! x
Thank you so much!!
Oh wow. What an incredible transformation! I’m totally jealous of your office space.
#TwinklyTuesday
Thank you Cathryn!
What a beautiful office transformation! Thanks for sharing and linking up at TrekkingThru.com
Thank you so much Char!
Love all the antique finishes in your office. The dark floors look amazing! Visiting from Whisk It Wednesday.
Thanks Victoria!
This looks awesome! Thanks so much for sharing your post with us on Whisk It Wednesday this week. Hope you have a great week and come back soon! Carrie
Thanks Carrie, have a great rest of your week!
What a lovely office space! Great post 🙂 #thatfridaylinky
Thank you!
Wow, what a great before and after difference. I love, love, love the stain-glass feature and I am so glad you have it in your office space, what a great way of incorporating the history and legacy of the house as a great reminder and it’s beautiful too.Thanks for linking up with #TuneInThursday
Thank you so much Debbie! Have a great week!