Home Office Tour!

As my #HappyHome series continues, I’m going to bring you inside my home office for a little peek at where all the blog magic happens. This office is located in our basement, so it’s a nice, quiet escape from the rest of the house when I need to focus on working uninterrupted. Before I show you the room, I’ll share a few thing about where the room is and when this video was filmed. You’ll see why….

The Basement:

We have a door at the bottom of the stairs that goes into our basement and at the top of the door we have a top lock (child lock) in order to keep the kids out (unless they are with us). This is primarily for safety reasons, as we use the basement for business: my office, my husband’s office, inventory for one business, a packing area for another business, a cold storage area (where we mostly keep holiday decor and luggage), the guest room and bathroom, and a big open area where I keep all of the toys that aren’t in the playroom (trampoline, slide, toy kitchen set, etc.). When they play down in the basement, it can get a little crazy but it’s nice not to have the entire house get turned upside down. I learned this wayyy too late, but at least I found a system that works.

The Timing:

So I spent about a month getting my office TOTALLY organized, color-coded, and perfect. And then at the last moment, we decided that we were going to move back to Florida for a year to be with family. I literally filmed this office tour the day we packed up my office. If you have great attention to detail, you’ll notice things start to disappear in the video. For this reason, I didn’t have my desk styled as I normally would. Either way, this office is where I worked from home for the past THREE YEARS and I am excited to share it with you guys! Enjoy!

WATCH MY OFFICE TOUR IN THIS VIDEO:

The “Library” Wall:

I’ve ALWAYS loved books! I remember having a pseudo library as a child and friends from school and the neighborhood would check out books from my library. I even had a date stamp and typewriter to label the books and the cards. So, it’s no surprise that the grown up version of me also loves books. What’s crazy is a few weeks before filming this, I actually donated around 200 books! I know, right?! I’m such a book saver. But I realized that I was only hanging onto a lot of my books because they cost $$$$ back when I was in college. (Such a waste- don’t get me started!). So I got rid of the books that I had just to have, knowing I’d never read them again. I reorganized all of the books I still had left. They are sorted by category and then by color. I seriously LOVE how it looks! Color coding is my new favorite thing!

One of my favorite office accessories is my “tape dog” from Target!

I have books about business, psychology (my college major), parenting, travel, health and wellness, sociology, social media, marketing, Christian living, and lots more. Many of these books were acquired back when I was in college (like 2003) and after, so they don’t reflect my personal views. I love learning and that’s why most are non-fiction, personal development type books. I do have a few fiction books, too. Do you read? I would LOVE some new book recommendations! Leave a comment below if you can think of something!

The Furniture:

The bookcases are anchored to the wall for safety and along the top I’ve placed all of my souvenirs from Europe. Most of them are glass, so it’s a nice way to have them on display without having to worry about them getting broken….because, kids.

Pretty much ALL of the office furniture in this room is from IKEA and most of it was purchased over 10 years ago. I’ve since added to it, but it’s all the same. Back then, I really liked the look of dark wood furniture. Now I really want something different. I love how all white furniture looks in photos and how much it brightens up the room. So as we moved, I actually sold most of the dark furniture so I could move on to something that’s more “me” right now.

Inspiration Board:

My inspiration board is one of my favorite things! I got this huge board back in 2008 right after I first moved to Florida. A few years ago, my husband helped me spray-paint it with silver and I think it looks so pretty! I use this board for quotes and things that inspire me, goals, people I want to meet, things I’m thankful for, and that type of stuff. I had taken the top half off when I took these photos, but you can see some of it. I think it’s important to set goals for yourself and have them visually displayed somewhere that you can see them every day. During my three years in this office, I was able to accomplish a few of mine! Each year, I added new ones.

Also, I have a picture of my grandpa on my mom’s side to the left of my inspiration board. This photo was taken when he was 20 years old. I love this picture so much! He is one of my greatest inspirations. I wish I would have been able to have him in my life during adulthood to learn more about his story, but he was one of the most hard-working, kind-hearted people I’ve ever known. If your grandparents are still in your life, give them a call or go have lunch. Grandparents are the greatest gifts! It makes me sad that I lost mine so early and wish they would have been able to meet my husband and my babies. Nana was able to meet both Andrew and Aidan and I had her photos on my desk as well as other photos on my bookcase of all of my grandparents.

 

Office & Planner Supplies:

Along the top of my cube shelf is where I keep most of my office supplies. I have all of my pens that I grouped together by color. It made me super happy- they look amazing! I wonder if anyone else will appreciate this as much as I do. Any other pen/color obsessed people out there? I also have my washi tape collection on a wooden organizer from JoAnn’s, my diffuser, and a lamp with a Lucero (color-changing) light bulb. You can see that in action in my Home Favorites post here.

I keep all of my planner accessories in the tall, rainbow drawers next to my cube shelf. If you watch my office tour video, you can see what’s inside each drawer and each cube shelf. Most of my office supplies are found in the Target dollar spot. They have SUCH cute things!!

I will be doing another post soon to share my planner collection in more detail because I have quite a few and they were getting packed up when I filmed this. I know anyone who loves planners as much as I do will want to take a peek inside!

Extras:

In the walk-in closest is where I kept my file cabinets, printers, paper, and all the extra office supply stuff. I showed most of the office in the video above if you want to see a bit more than what is pictured here.

Favorite Memories:

I really loved working in this office! Some awesome things that happened in this room: Our family business was selected as a Top 10 Finalist for Entrepreneur magazine’s Project Grow Challenge in 2015; We started another family business; I was able to start working on my blog full time; I spent many late nights playing with baby Avalynn on the floor; my boys came down to color with me while I worked. I had them set up at the coffee table area with chairs as their desk- it was really fun! My husband and I spent many nights working late so that we could be home with our kids.

Find YOUR Space:

I miss my office so much but I know that I’ll have another one even better someday! Wherever you work, remember you don’t need it to be perfect to make your dreams come true. Maybe you have something Instagram worthy, or maybe you just pull up a chair at the dining room table during nap time. Just keep going and you’ll get there. I have a vision in mind for my dream office and I can’t wait to put it all together someday!

If you have an office tour on your blog or YouTube channel, let me know! One of my favorite things is seeing what someone else’s work space looks like! I love to see how people choose to set a creative mood in the room and what kinds of things others find inspiring. Some women love a closet filled with red-soled shoes….. for me, it’s all about the home office!

I hope you liked this post and the video tour!

Tell me about YOUR office in the comments below!