Hello there! It's me Nicole again from Making it Lovely. I'm transforming my so-so house into a lovely home, and I thought I'd share a little of my process with you while Holly's away! My office was one of the first rooms I finished when my husband and I moved into our home last year. As you know, I own Pink Loves Brown and I work from home, so I needed my office to be functional as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I didn't put all that much thought into the design of it. It's really not that bad, but I'm ready for a change.

(photo by Evan Thomas, from my Apartment Therapy House Tour last year)

Here's my office as it is now:

The basics of the room will be staying. That means I'll be keeping my desk, chair, bookshelf, lamp, and several other items. I'm even keeping the paint color! Normally, paint would be the first thing to go because it's such an easy way to change a room for little money, but I think the color will work really well so it's staying!

I'm only changing four things. That's it! I think it will make enough of a difference to keep me happy for a while though.

I can make the curtains out of Robert Kaufman's Purple Utopia fabric for about $50 and then splurge on a Thomas Paul Flourish violet linen pillow for $100. I'll attempt to make a slipcover for my desk chair (around $10), and then I'll pick up a new Helmer drawer unit in white from IKEA for $40. The red one I have now could be spray painted if I wanted to do this all for even less, but I actually need another draw unit in my studio so I'll just bring the old one up there.

So with two purchases, two sewing projects, and $200, I can have a whole new look! That is unless I change my mind and go with something else first. It's been known to happen. ;) So what do you think about my office ideas? What are some quick changes you've made to spruce up your home office lately?

(images linked to sources above, layout and text by nicole)