A new project with a surprise ~

I have been planning to completely re-do the office for a while. It was my husband's favorite room and he spent many hours here, which adds to my enjoyment of using it now. With all of the windows and a view of the garden it is quite a nice room to work and spend time in but it has become very dated and quite shabby and the huge over-sized desk and chair commanding much of the room was far more than I need.

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Increasing the space and function of the room was one of our first remodeling projects years ago when we first bought the house. We knocked out the exterior wall, the driveway beyond limited how far we were able to go, but by making it all in windows it gave an feeling of spaciousness and certainly a more pleasant view. 

Below you see the room with the desk and chair on the day the shelter I donated it to came to pick them up. I was so happy to give them a home where they would be appreciated, but it was a little sad to think of all of the times I would go in and see my husband sitting here, working, listening to the music he so loved, and talking to various people on the phone.

In the past few years when I have been trying to decide what changes I wanted to make in this room it always included painting the natural wood ceilings white, removing the old carpeting and installing a  brick veneer floor laid over what I remember as a combination cement, and wooden sub floor where we had added the addition to the room. My goal was to make it into a combined office and sun room.

Then...Juan (my wonderful helper) came to remove the old carpeting and prepare the floor for laying the new brick.  He took up a bit of the carpet and surprise, surprise under it was tile! I have absolutely no memory of ever laying tile in this room and we did all of our own tiling. Not only do I not remember tile but neither do my children, or any other family members. But it is here, in a suitable color, and excellent condition - there was no way I could reconcile removing it for brick.  

The big problem, although the tile was in good shape the carpet had been glued down. It took days to clean up the glue during which time I had to keep Miss Twiggley (and myself) away from the toxic odor. It was a horrible mess!

 Beside cleaning up the floor Juan also removed all of the old wallpaper, primed the walls, painted the ceiling and installed recessed lights to replace the old, and in my opinion, ugly track lights. I have painted the walls in Bahr's Cottage White, I still have the woodwork and bookcases to paint.

I love picking out fabric and adding details to a room. After hours spent on line and ordering several samples, I found  Laura Ashley's Hydrangea fabric for the drapes, I was lucky enough to get the last 9 yards of what is now a discontinued pattern. After three tries I found an area rug to match the sage green and pinks in the fabric.

So...a new project for a new year. Lots still to do including picking out window coverings and ordering a new desk, but the worst is over and the rest is the fun part.

Thank you for visiting!

Adrienne