Home Office Makeover

*This post is sponsored by Sherwin-Williams*

Being a creative soul, there’s something about having your own space to let your wild ideas come to life. When I first started this blog six years ago (?!?!), I worked wherever I could find space – be that in my kitchen or living room or wherever I could plop down with my laptop and get my blog on. Like everyone, our lives have changed along the way. Our older daughter moved out, I went from running an online shop to just blogging – so the days of cutting and sewing table runners on my kitchen table came to an end and we decided to take the spare room and turn it into an office. Just when I was *almost* finished with it, we decided to do a room swap so our tiniest human could have more space for her ever expanding teenage stuff. And so I moved to a tiny space….

pink walls and all.

The plus side was she now has a lot more space for all of her things plus all her interests in life. The down side was I had less space, which really isn’t that terrible of a problem, it just meant downsizing my things. It was kind of a blessing because now I only have the things I must have and I’ve learned to keep things simple.

Speaking of simple – I gave the whole room a makeover in one week, thanks to National Painting Week. Crazy, huh? Want to see the results?

I started by covering the paneled wall behind the bed with brick paneling (like you remember from the 70’s). Originally I was going to give it two coats of paint, but after the first coat of Sherwin Williams Extra White (SW 7006) was on and dry, everyone in my family loved the white washed look. Accidental perfection is my favorite kind. Due to brush overlapping, there are darker and lighter spots, but I seriously think that if it was all totally white then the room would have lost a lot of it’s charm.

Did you notice the ceiling? I didn’t want the whole room to be a little white box, so I added Sherwin Williams Mega Greige (SW 7031) to the celling to give it a little more personality. I’ve never painted a ceiling any color other than white, so it was pretty neat to see how much it changes the look of a space.

I really do try to keep it that clean. I know – it’s really unlike me – but I’ve found that keeping a clear desk helps me work better (who knew?)

All of the trim got the same paint as the walls, so it creates a pretty blank canvas.

And of course no office of mine would be complete without a reference to Fall Out Boy..

 or two.

Places that get as much creative action as my home office does requires a lot of storage. Most of my daily supplies can be found in those grey bins on the book shelf.

But I also wanted a place to put things that I love and pieces that inspire me (plus things that I love but my family might not.)

Plus books. Lots of books. Not all of them are here, but my favorite ones (including some written by my friends) are here so I can use them all the time.

Even random gifts from my kids, like the R2D2 candy dispenser have a home here.

It’s a little like the land of misfit Gina things.

But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thanks to my friends at Sherwin-Williams for partnering with me on this post to share for National Painting Week. I hope it inspires you to see what kind of changes just a little paint can make – and maybe a little room shifting to boot! Find more inspiration for your next room makeover by following along with Sherwin-Williams to see all of the fun: Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram or YouTube.