the office, part 1

one of the first things i fell in love with in our house was this room- the very sunny, narrow, "bonus" space just off the living room.

it was the perfect space and place for my husband's office/music room. reid is a teacher and musician, so a home office is a necessity, but in all the houses we looked at, that would have required giving up a bedroom... until now!

let the transformation begin...

day 3 of homeownership found my mum and i quickly tackling painting the two 3rd floor rooms while my daddio got busy scraping away the dowdy wallpaper in reid's soon-to-be office.

he made quick work of it, groovin' to the tunes on his ipod (yeah, he's cool like that now). though, 45 minutes in, he came upstairs for technical support, as he had just realized he had listened to the SAME song for all 45 minutes (it had been on repeat). HA! oh well....

my uncle joe arrived the next day for a week worth of work (of which the priority list was ever-changing...). due to my obsession with built-ins and reid's obsession with reading, bookcases in the office where a necessity. i designed the set-up, complete with a wider shelf under the windows and over the radiator for bernie and lloyd (our cats) to snooze.

so, after a quick lesson from joe, i got busy skim-coating the freshly scraped walls (this brings them back to a smooth-as-glass finish, nearly as good as fresh sheetrock) and did a darn good job, if i do say so myself!

the next day my arms were ridiculously sore, but i had to get right to priming, as joe was ready to get building the bookcases on the far wall.

(doesn't the room look better already!?!)

the stained, worn, turquoise wall to wall carpeting needed to go as well, and we were very pleasantly surprised but what we found beneath!

i landed on benjamin moore's new york state of mind on my first flip through the paint fan deck and decided it was the perfect color for reid's den. i love the saturated blue that is nearly navy at night but has a wonderful bold glow in the sun-drenched space.

reid is still not 100% convinced, but with the addition of books and his great collection of jazz art, i think this color will be the perfect backdrop.

at least, I love it!

my daddio, removing the rest of the carpet...

dad and me, smiling, after a very loooong few days, but very pleased with our progress!

stay tuned for more details as we go...