Today, we’re excited to share our updated office walls. As a reminder, we’re turning the 5th bedroom in our basement into a home office/studio space. We haven’t done anything to that bedroom room since moving in, so it’s especially fun to give life to a room that’s been a bit of a wasted space the past three years:
A few weeks ago, we shared in-progress paneling…
Now, finished, it looks like this!
Painting our shed in 30 minutes or building an easy art ledge are examples of quick projects that made a big impact. These walls are example of a big project that made a big difference. That is to say, it wasn’t quick. Easy, yes. Time consuming, yes, Tedious, yes. Worth it–now that it’s done, yes. Ha!
From the progress post to finished, we decided to add additional cove molding into every paneled box. I love the extra traditional touch it adds. And then we caulked all the seams, which is actually what took the longest.
I liked seeing the line between the cove molding and the 1 1/2″ MDF molding that made up the base of our paneling, so I didn’t want to caulk it smooth, just enough so there was still an indent. Where the MDF crossed, I used spackle and then sanded it smooth (something you can’t do with caulk) so that was more seamless.
Then it was time to paint. Because of all the detail on the walls, we taped everything off and sprayed it with a paint sprayer (we used the Wagner Flexio 590 for the job because it comes with a detail attachment). The color is Farrow & Ball’s Pigeon. It’s a really beautiful green with a lot of gray in it. And definitely a color that changes throughout the day. Sometimes it looks more gray, other times there are hints of blue. It’s truly a new favorite.
I ordered a free swatch book on Farrow & Ball’s website years ago and have had a couple swatches color matched (not all successfully) but had never used actual Farrow & Ball paint before. They caught word we were planning on using “Pigeon” in the office and offered to send some our way. The difference is unreal. One thing Chris and I both noticed separately was the paint doesn’t seem to separate like other paints do. It arrived sealed and when I opened the container, there wasn’t paint all the way up to the lid like there normally is after paint has been mixed. It’s like—it was poured into the can. And never needed stirred. It is really thick and goes on easy and dries like velvet. You can order any of their swatches by the quart or gallon right on their site.
In this week’s podcast episode, we actually talk a bit about paint sheens and the importance of getting them right and why this room (and it’s slightly orange peeled textured walls) needed a matte finish. This paint delivered that gorgeously. You can listen to this week’s podcast here.
It was a last minute decision to paint the inside of the room’s door and the baseboards in the same color and I’m so glad we did. It makes everything feel a little more luxe. Next on the agenda is the closet.
While we won’t be using sliding doors now, we decided to store the doors and keep the tracks in place in case we want to revert back to a normal closet down the road. In the meantime, we’ll be tearing out the eclectic mix of shelves and rods and starting fresh.
All together, all the trim (including the baseboards) cost us close to $500 with the bulk of that being the cove molding we used inside of each box panel. Besides the closet, we also have all the pieces to our standing desk in our home waiting to put together, except the actual desktop. I’m having trouble deciding on something there. I’m dreaming of marble on an mdf budget. Marble contact paper?
Our wood grain Shaker cabinet fronts were designed for busy, high-traffic homes like ours. Clad with durable textured thermofoils, this line is compatible with Sektion, Akurum, Godmorgon, and Besta cabinets from IKEA. It's the perfect, practical way to add the warmth of wood to all the rooms of your home.
We have teamed up with Loloi to create a line of rugs that are as affordable as they are beautiful. This collection houses a great mix of traditional and modern rugs, in cottage-y colorways, as well as vintage-inspired beauties that you’ll want to roll out in every room.
We partnered with Stuga on a line of hardwood floors — The Ingrid is really livable, and the color is very neutral. It doesn’t lean warm or cool, it’s that just right in-between. We have really loved putting it everywhere in our house. It’s the best jumping-off point for design, no matter your interior style. In addition to being beautiful, Ingrid is really durable — we have three kids, and we always have a home construction project going on. Ingrid stands up to it all.
SHop all
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Befores, afters, mood boards, plans, failures, wins. We’ve done a lot of projects, and they’re all here.
We have a long-standing relationship with DIY, and love rolling our sleeves up and making it happen.
Even when you don’t want to rip down a wall, you can make that space in your home better. Right now.
A reader recently asked me if I’m starting to fully embrace traditional style and whether we still consider our house to be a “modern Colonial” and why. It was a really great question and so timely — I had really just been thinking about my approach to this home and how my style has changed […]
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Love this room! My husband and I want to do a focal wall with paneling just like this. Do you remember the dimensions of each rectangle? Do you know how we should determine the size of the rectangles?
I love farrow and ball paint. I’m going to paint our kitchen lower cupboards pigeon. Just painted my dining room de Nîmes and I adore it!
Love this room! The color is growing on me and thanks for the review of F&B paint. I have their color sample palette and have had mixed luck color matching like you mentioned. Next time I am going to bite the bullet and order the real deal. One detail that I noticed are the outlet covers. I think you should paint them to blend in with the gorgeous walls.
Looks amazing! As for the marble contact paper – I did that on a sidetable, turned out beautifully and it’s wearing really well so far (a year in). You should totally consider it!! It would look amaaaaaaazing.
Love the way the room is coming together!
(PS – that project: http://thesweetestdigs.com/chic-ikea-vittsjo-hack-into-a-gold-and-marble-table/)
xo.
It looks great! We just finished our first attempt at molding. You’re right…so much wood filler and caulk! We are getting ready to paint. Do you have any experience with PPG Breakthrough? Our research tells us its a pretty great product (we will be painting molding and cabinets), but we were disappointed it didn’t come in semi-gloss (only satin and gloss). We are going to go for satin, but I am nervous. This post makes me hope it will actually be better! Check out our molding (and cabinets) at http://www.ourcorneroftheworldblog.com/mudroom-crawling-to-the-finish-line/ if you want!
LOVE this! I’ve been dying to do a wall treatment like this in my master bedroom once that is built. SO GOOD! We did a faux marble counter top to save$$ in our kitchen and I really love it and would do it over again in a heart beat. So much easier to clean/maintain than our actual marble counters in our bathroom. https://therawhouseproject.blogspot.com/2014/05/marble-or-is-it.html
This looks so perfect!
Gorgeous room! Where are the doorknobs from?
This is so stunning! And the color is just perfect for a dramatic yet warm office. Can’t believe you did all of this yourselves :)
It looks amazing and I love the color! It is so cozy. I can’t wait to hear the podcast. Quick question, what sheen would you recommend for painting a red brick fireplace (soon to be white)?
Dana at HouseTweaking painted her red brick fireplace in a white semi-gloss and it looks fantastic.
Did you replace the baseboards? We have 5 inch baseboards and my stumbling block to doing work like this is having to replace them with MDF. Otherwise, I’m not sure about the thickness blending into the baseboards. Does that make sense?
I’ve been considering this for a “Study/Dining Room” in my home, but was hesitant because the walls have a very slight texture. But I’m glad you mentioned the orange peel texture on yours. Initially I had thought of doing only one wall-now will reconsider doing the entire room.
Thanks for the pictures!
This looks great! I can’t imagine how tedious it was to add all of that trim, but the payoff seems worth it! Awesome job – can’t wait to see the finished product!
I absolutely love this room. It looks so elegant and dramatic at the same time! :)
Psst I’ve noticed you have the same lens distortion problem that I have when photographing rooms with straight lines. I recently found out about an option you can tick in Lightroom that fixes this problem! It’s called “Enable Profile correction” under “Lens Correction” and does a great job with this issue. I found out about it only a few weeks ago when I’ve noticed that my kitchen cupboards where looking all curvy! lol This is the post with the final images :)
http://www.lifeineight.com/2016/07/tour-open-plan-family-kitchen.html
Nice!!!
Formica has a Calacatta Marble that is pretty nice: http://www.formica.com/en/us/products/180fx/03460
Beautifully done! Painting the walls and the mouldings the same color really adds a lot of height to the space as well.
Turning a basement bedroom into office, wow who would think that’s possible. You’ve done really amazing job. It looks really cozy and spacious. So cool!
Thanks so much, Jason!
Gorgeous! I’m excited to listen to this week’s podcast episode but I’m saving it for my run tonight – I need all the motivation I can get – haha!
Looks awesome! Have you thought about Instant Granite in Italian White Marble? I’ve been thinking about trying it in my rental house kitchen – would love to see you guys try it out first. ;)
https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Granite-Italian-White-Marble/dp/B00DSRI1JY
Hey! I hadn’t heard of that before but that might be perfect!
Looks like you used it after all. Did you credit Nicole in your reveal post?
I’m a newish reader and I’ve never commented before but I have to come here just to say – you are SO talented! Your taste is impeccable and your creativity is so inspiring. I love love love seeing everything you do and I constantly walk away thinking “damn that’s good!” I like to think of myself as having good taste and being good at decorating my home, but you do things I would never think of and blow me away every time. And the fact that you have Chris on your team is such a score. I can’t believe all the professional quality jobs you guys can do for so cheap because of his expertise. That is so awesome and also makes me crazy jealous. ;)
Anyway. Love what you do. Keep it up!
Hmmmm not sure I’m loving it yet. Although, I know it’s nowhere near done, so maybe after everything is finished I’ll love it. The work you did on the walls is incredible. I think the paint color just isn’t for me…. or maybe it’s just too much. Just my two cents…
Sorry. I love you guys!
We never expect everyone to love everything we do. It’s no big. Haha