A Peek At My Home Office: Before & After

If you were on an HGTV show, like House Hunters, Fixer Upper, or Property Brothers,

would you be able to see beyond the current owner's taste in decor,  
the outdated kitchen;

the swampy pool, 
or the 70's light fixture in the foyer?

The fact that we purchased our house allows me 
to unequivocally answer YES to that question.

Jonathan and Drew weren't there to insist that this could be our dream home;

Chip and Joanna didn't invite us out to the farm to show us inspiration boards,

and there were no fans from House Hunters yelling,

"Go with House #2, you idiots!"

Nope. We could see past the ugliness all on our own.

When we first saw the home we now live in,

I literally walked through the front door, and said,

"We'll take it!"

The kitchen, family room, living room and dining room 
all had been beautifully renovated.

Little did I know what was lurking beyond.

The entire upstairs was such a disaster, 
that I thought we must have taken a wrong turn on the stairway, 
and ended up in another house.

The bathrooms - all five of them - were terribly outdated.

The master bath was so awful that instead of using it for its intended purpose,
we used it as a closet until it was renovated.

The "den", and the laundry room off the master, could only be described as vomitrocious.

And then, there was this room -- 

on the main floor, just beyond the family room.

What the WHAT???

What is that brown thing in the middle of the floor?

Turns out, underneath that cover was a hot tub.

A most unappealing steam shower was in another corner of the room.

It was spa room, by function,
but does that look like a room you'd like to kick back and relax in?
Nothing...NOTHing would get me into that hot tub.

There was so much wrong with this room, yet...
 as halucious as it was, I saw past all the mildew lurking in the tub,
  beyond the horrible gray floor, and water stains on the ceiling...

seeing only the large corner windows,
pretty backyard views,
a skylight,
and the generous size of the room. 

Right then and there, I hereby pronounced this room 
to be our future home office...to have and to re-mold
from that day forward.

We ripped out the hot tub and shower.
We replaced the leaky skylight.
  We painted.
We put in new high hats.
We carpeted.
We hung new shades.
We furnished.
We got WiFi.

(When I say "we," I mean not us, literally, wink wink). 

Well, HELLO, office!

 Although we updated the office years ago,
I'm only first getting around to showing it to you.
Honestly? The thought of cleaning up our desks in order to take pretty photos 
always seemed like too much work.
But then, I realized I don't have to show the whole room...
I can just show the part that's nice and neat, heh heh!

A long bench from Crate & Barrel is under the windows.
The round clay pot in the center is a souvenir from Mexico. 

The blue flowered pitcher was my mom's...
I remember it being in her bathroom.
The little sculpture in front of the picture frame 
is a whale-bone carving from a trip to Alaska.  
The clay sculpture on the door handle was a school project 
made by Junior Goo Shoes many years ago.
I treasure it!  

 The painting belonged to Mr. Goo Shoes' father and his wife.
I love it...It determined the color scheme for the room.

 What's a room without a little animal print?

Or...a little animal?
Sadie can often be found sleeping on this chair. 

So, now that I've shown you half of my office,
perhaps it will motivate me to straighten up, and show you the rest.

Or, maybe not.  
After all, the outdoors is calling. 

By the way, if you are a fan of HGTV shows,  
Buzzfeed's "Funny Tweets About HGTV" 
will give you a chuckle.

LINKING WITH:
Best of the Weekend
Wow Us Wednesday
Tweak Us Tuesday
Share Your Cup 
Wake Up Wednesday 
Share Your Style
Metamorphosis Monday