Today I’m sharing my office makeover on a budget! I took my old, hand me down office and turned it into a bright, pretty space to work, all on a budget!
Y’all, for several years I have shared my workspace from home with the rest of the house – in the kitchen, then to the middle of the living room, and now I work out of what should be our formal dining room. So even thought it is not technically a “study” or an “office”, it is my first actual, dedicated work space that I didn’t have to share with another room in our house! Pretty exciting stuff!
When we first moved in, we focused on spending those first two years paying off all of our debt, so my hand-me-down furniture did the job. This before picture isn’t entirely accurate, I had cleaned everything out of the desk and was getting ready to sell it. The desk belonged to my mom and when my dad got remarried he passed it on to me. It was awesome – held everything I needed it to, but overall it wasn’t my style. So, fast forward a couple of years, and I’m excited to (finally, ha!) officially reveal my work space!
Office Makeover on a Budget
I saved up money for a few months and slowly made this room over. There are still some things I would like to change (like the carpet and the wall color) but since we are living in a rental while we save up for a down payment, I did the best I could with what I have!
I really wanted a stand up desk, but I’ll be honest. Those things are expensive! So I did a little research and found this cafe table that does the job perfectly (for a fraction of the price) and I love it. Plus it gives us a little extra room for dinner guests or another table to use for displaying food when needed, as well as two extra seats!
The dresser used to be in Jett’s room. We bought it for $50 for his nursery and painted it that bright teal color! I knew I would love it in there, but never thought about putting it into my office until I did a little switcharoo in his room before school got out. It is perfect in here – it gives me tons of storage, I love the pop of color, and it is the perfect place to set my printer!
Behind my desk are these muted gold & glass shelves. I wanted somewhere pretty to display books, my oils, my planners, and other miscellanea and these were perfect! You can find them on Wayfair for upwards of $400/shelf, but I got mine from Walmart for around $110 each! They were super easy to assemble too!
I finally had to invest in a clothes rack last year too because it was getting confusing when I would just squeeze everything I was buying into my closet. This one has held up great, but it might be time to get a larger one!
Another element I wanted to add was a colorful rug to tie everything together. We all know that rugs can be expensive – however I got this one for under $70 on Amazon and love it! I will eventually upgrade to a larger rug but for now this one is exactly what I was looking for.
Having my oils displayed means I use them a lot more often! I used to keep them inside a cabinet behind the door and always forgot about them but now I’m always turning around to grab one for my diffuser.
One staple you will ALWAYS find in my office is my trusty coffee mug! I have had this thing for over a year now and I will not drink coffee out of anything other than this one. It keeps my coffee hot FOREVER and is dishwasher safe!
I shared the tutorial for my huge printable calendars on the blog last summer. They are a great way to keep track of everything you have going on in one central place! They are so easy to print – click here for the blog post with all the instructions!
The other staple you will always find on my desk is my Emily Ley Simplified Weekly planner. I raved about why I love it so much here!
And finally my letterboard. If I’m being totally honest, I have only had three things spelled out on it in the two years I have had it (Jett’s first day of Kindergarten, his first day of first grade, and this. Ha!) but I think I’m going to make it a new Monday habit to update it!
All in all, I am very happy with how this space ended up. I finished it before summer this year, but waited a few months to write the blog post because I wanted to make sure I found the right arrangement for everything before photographing it. My chair looks right out into my front yard so I can see when things get delivered and watch my neighbor piddle in her garden.
This was such a beautiful lesson for me in a “use what you have, be happy with what you can change” sort of way! I know it is not the most gorgeous office on the planet, but I love it. I know I could do a lot to continue to improve it, but for now it works for me and what I need it for. And it makes me happy – and in a world that tells us nothing is ever good enough, that feels good!
There you have it – an easy office makeover that looks pretty high end but was done on a pretty small budget! Check out the links below to shop this post and if you enjoyed it, I would love it if you shared it by pinning it or sharing it on Facebook and Twitter!
