Great Aesthetic Additions to Your Home Office

I'd like to welcome Anna Hicks who has written a post especially for DIYbyDesign.

More and more people are working from home every day. There are lots of reasons for this (its ultimately cheaper, less commute time, can stay home with kids, etc). What is important is not the reason why you’ve chosen to work from home but how professional, efficient and welcoming you make your office space.

It is important that your home office not simply feel like the spare bedroom (even if that’s what it is). One of the best ways to accomplish this is to keep the office as clean and professional looking as possible.

• Keep the door closed whenever you’re not using it so that household items don’t find their way in there when you aren’t paying attention.
• Only allow business related materials to enter the room. Letting personal items creep in makes the space feel confusing.
• The main exception here is your desk—you can decorate the desk in your home office just like you would if your desk was a part of a larger professional environment.

Thanks to video conferencing, you can meet with clients whenever and where ever is easiest for your clients.

• Make sure, if you are going to take a video call or participate in a conference call, that your space is quiet. Close the door and windows so that you don’t have to worry about ambient noise getting through.
• Tell your family that you need things to be as quiet as possible for a while and that you cannot be disturbed. Hopefully this will keep people (and pets) from wandering in mid-call and derailing the productivity of the call.
• Set up a professional looking background behind you (a nice piece of art, maybe a bookshelf, perhaps a chair… not your kids’ painting easel).

Have a place that is comfortable for meeting clients. Sure, you will probably try to hold most of your meetings at a local coffee shop or public space. Every once in a while, though, your clients are going to want to see your operations and have meetings where you work.

Apply the same rules to the web conference to these meetings.

Consider meeting with them outside in the yard. You can create a yard sanctuary—shady trees, a nice pond (with a quiet pond pump) perhaps with some koi or goldfish in it, a comfortable bench and maybe even a table and chairs.

All of these details considered: remember that you can personalize your office space. You want it to feel professional but you also need it to be conducive to your productivity. It might take a while to find this balance but don’t worry, you’ll get there.

Thanks Anna.

-Judy

Winter Blues Wednesday - It's a Party #105

Welcome to this week's Winter Blues Wednesday party.  As always, last week's party was filled with so many great ideas and inspiration.  Here are this week's features:

HOME DECOR:

Raising May Flowers proves that making little changes can have a big impact in a kitchen.  Stop by to see the before photos to truly appreciate the after.

New House to Home lined her bookcases with wrapping paper.  She adhered it using double sided tape.  It looks awesome.  What a great no commitment idea.

FURNITURE TRANSFORMATIONS:

Uniquely Chic transformed this side table using Annie Sloan old white and graphite.  

What a beautiful color combination.

Lilikoi Joy transformed an inexpensive mirror and turned it into this gorgeous decorator piece.  Stop by her blog for a full, detailed tutorial on how she created this for $45!

TASTY TREATS:

Like a Saturday shared her recipe for chocolate dipped pretzel rods. Yummy!

Here's a new take on peanut butter and jelly.  Jane's Adventures in Dinner shared her recipe for peanut butter shortbread with jelly.  These look so good.

If you were featured, please grab an "I've Been Featured" button (you can now find my buttons by clicking on the buttons tab right under my header).  Now let's get started with this week's party.  I can't wait to see what you have been up to.  Link up anything you have been working on...home decor, sewing, crafts, organizing, baking, recipes etc.   I will keep this link open through Friday.


<a border="0" href="http://www.diybydesign.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipw62ZdrKpNmaJdWF0-T8fM7RV9-cuZSxfrIWZ_j8O996HWzXChosS5wOVixR0OXFygAvhfK7VB34IUIgHiT38YyF7GxGTfXiPhdmuMMlhadOaxv_VUL8kw37m08BRwJqtn31mvleXUpzi/s128/18542134351.jpg" /></a>

A few rules:

1.  Please become a follower (if you already follow me on Google, I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as well).  

2.  Please grab my party button above and display it either on your sidebar or somewhere in your post.  This way word can spread about the party.  The more people at the party, the more fun we will have.

3.  Please enter the link to your actual post, not just a link to your main blog page.

4. Please visit others who have linked up.   Everyone works hard on their projects and blogs...let's show each other some love by visiting each other.  Let's have some fun and hopefully make a few new friends along the way.

Ok...Let's Party

-Judy

Dream Craft Closet Progress

My craft/sewing closet is really moving forward.  This weekend after the painters left I got a chance to start working on the closet.  I knew that I wanted to have a pretty background for my new craft closet.  

My friend, Diane, had ordered some cool vinyl wall decals for her daughter's room.  She had completely over purchased and gave the extras to me (thank you again!!)

I laid them all out on my pool table to figure out exactly what she had given to me.

There were two each of three different big designs and two each of two smaller designs.

I then taped them up in the closet until I was happy with the layout.  I didn't need it to go all the way to the bottom since there will be a desk and drawers in front of that area.

Here's a closeup of the design.

Looking good so far...

I loved it more and more as it went up.

It took a couple of hours to get it all up on the wall.  I used a level each time and measured over and over to make the layout as perfect as possible.

Isn't it beautiful?

The carpet is all installed and tonight I will be putting the furniture back. 

 Hopefully I can finish up the closet in the next few days.

Don't forget to stop back tonight for my Winter Blues Wednesday party.

The party opens at 8pm EST.  Hope to see you then.

-Judy

Sharing with Savvy Southern Style

Getting Closer

We are really making progress on the basement remediation/remodel project.  Saturday the painters finished.  They were there from Wednesday to Saturday repairing the walls where the remediation process took place with new sheetrock, re-caulking all of the moldings (they were all pulled back during the remediation to check for mold), painting all of the doors and molding and then painting the walls and ceiling.

 Here's a sneak peak as to where we are at.

The walls are now Standish White and the ceiling Patriotic White.

It's tough to get a good photo of the color on the ceiling, but it is a pale blue/grey color.  I didn't want to go too dark with the ceiling as there is minimal natural light in the basement and I didn't want the ceiling to feel too heavy or have the color hit you as soon as you enter the room.  It's subtle, but very effective, especially in person.

 I am loving the Standish White on the walls.  The room seems much bigger and has a completely different feeling.

One of the most exciting parts of the basement is my new craft/sewing closet.  Here is the color I chose for the wall - Benjamin Moore San Clemente Teal.  

I can't wait to get this closet all organized.

We added laminate "hard wood" floors to the closet.  I have all of the supplies ready to organize the closet.  I can't wait to reveal it soon.

The new carpet comes today.  They are bringing extra workers to try and get it done in one day.  

I can't wait to reveal the entire space.  

Have a great day!

-Judy

Painted Ceilings

To paint a ceiling or not to paint a ceiling...that is the question.  Personally, I am a huge fan of painted ceilings.   It is an opportunity to add more color to any space.  

We painted the tray ceiling in our master bedroom a robin's egg blue.

We also painted the ceiling in my office silver sage.

Now with the basement remediation project, I thought it would be a missed opportunity if I just painted the ceiling white.  So yesterday I finalized a ceiling paint color.  Originally I tried Benjamin Moore Lake Placid on the ceiling.  It was way too blue.  Then the painter cut the color by 75%.  Unfortunately sometimes when you cut a paint color it brings out the wrong tone.  It looked very violet on the ceiling.

 So, I went back to square one and started over trying to find a color.

I went back to the paint store to find a new color.  While I was there another customer (Lisa) came over and offered her assistance on finding the perfect color for the ceiling.  Well we started talking and as it turns out, we grew up a block away from each other and know so many of the same people.  We hit it off and talked for over an hour.  We have the same passion for decorating, Ethan Allen and the same color schemes in our home.  She suggested I try Benjamin Moore Patriotic White for the ceiling which has more of a hint of blue.  Since it's the basement and the lighting isn't great, it was the perfect color.

Here is the final color scheme for the basement.

Here are some of the inspiration photos of beautiful rooms with painted ceilings.

Image

image

image

image

So what do you think of painted ceilings?  Are you for them or against them?
Have you painted any of the ceilings in your home?

Have a great weekend.

-Judy

A Valentine's Day Surprise

Happy Valentine's Day!
It's a beautiful brisk day here in New York.  Overnight we got some more snow.
 I think it looks so beautiful clinging to the trees.  

Yesterday was a busy day in our house.  The painters started repairing the sheetrock in the basement and putting the walls back together.  I had workers coming and going all day long.  My husband mentioned that he was expecting a package that would need a signature.  I was home all day anyhow so I told him I would be there to sign for it.  The doorbell rang around noon and I opened the door to a man wearing a black shirt with an emblem on it that I recognized, although I couldn't figure out why I recognized it.  He said, "hi, I'm from Ethan Allen and I have a delivery of a library table for you today."  I was visibly shocked.  It was the Ethan Allen emblem I recognized.  He said, "you don't seem to be expecting us."  In a few seconds I started to process exactly what was happening.  I have wanted the library table from Ethan Allen for years, but never wanted to spend the money on it.

This was the best Valentine's Day gift...ever!! 

Quickly I tried to explain that this must be a surprise from my husband and that I have wanted this table forever and I was so excited that they were here.  I probably sounded a little wacky to the delivery guys, but I was just so darn happy.  The delivery guy asked if I knew where I wanted it.

Of course I knew exactly where I wanted it...I have dreamed of it for so long.

I had them set it up in my family room.

I styled it quickly, but plan on putting something better together.

I have always loved the detail on this piece.

This was the best surprise and the most perfect Valentine's Day gift.
Some girls want flowers and candy... some jewelry.
Me...a gorgeous piece of furniture from Ethan Allen...I'm one happy girl!

This is 26th Valentine's Day that I have been lucky enough to share with the man who is my husband.  Thank you honey for always bringing so much joy to my life.

-Judy