It used to look like this, but as I slowly continue decorating our house, I found that the colors in my DIY art weren’t quite meshing like I thought they would. Plus, I can’t just ever leave something be. What’s the fun in that?
As we live in Florida, I chose Florida birds. There are so many beautiful birds here, it was difficult to choose. I ended up buying stock photos of a flamingo, egret, and blue heron. I converted them to black and white and printed them at Costco (20×30 inches).
Desk setup
Take a tour of the rest of our house.
Learn my process of home decor when moving to a new house.Related posts:
Bedroom / craft room makeover
Adding adorable animal decor
Large-scale thrifted art makeover
Top 10 outdoor dining World Market finds
Fave home office products + digital organization
Office organization: Moving all our books!
How to wallpaper with paste
Simple indoor plant care
Frugal home tour
Phone photo organization
Nice article, I’m glad you kept it real. Some mums don’t. I am ALWAYS cleaning my son’s room.
Haha! Glad to know it’s not just me :)
Our house looks like that all the time, too! :) And my (almost) 4 yr old boy loves birds also. I think the bird photos look great in your office!
Sorry, I can’t help it. I wish you lived in Indiana! I *love* Clara’s newborn pics with the flower crown. I have actually pinned something like the pictures you took in case our #3 is a girl! And the fact that you included Mommy’s recovery in part of your birth story is fantastic! We all forget about mommy and it is so important that we remember to give the mommy some attention, too!
Hannah! I’m from Indiana! We must be midwestern kindred spirits. It’s so funny that your son loves birds too. I was starting to think this isn’t normal. Haha.
Hi Kate!
I love this! Could you please tell me where did you buy the desks?
They are the perfect fit for my new home!
Thank you :)
Of course! Here is my post on how I put the desk area together from Ikea.
Love this idea for the desks, and art. I need to learn how/where to print pictures like this and then frame for our house. The desks will be for the boys, with Lego storage and school supplies. Thanks for keeping it real with the toys all over – that’s what our playroom looks like but my perfectionist boys love to clean up their space, thankfully!
Seriously, it doesn’t come cheaper than Costco. I’m surprised by the quality. I needed a print done quickly a couple months ago and so I went to Walgreens and ended up with a green-hued mess! I’m all about buying a $5 downloadable image and printing it in large format at Costco. They’re not paying me to say that either!
Where did you buy the desk? It’s gorgeous!
Ikea! It’s the MICKE series and very affordable.
What is the piece in between the two mickes? And do you have any issue with the height of them? Contemplating doing this in our office for two.
The piece in between the desks is the Micke drawer unit ($59.99). I don’t have an issues with the height. They’re great desks, I have to say!
Love your work in this room everything is so well put together. What is the wall color?
Thanks so much! The wall color is Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal.
This is so beautiful! I love the updated art and I love that last pic showing how the room usually looks. I have a 2.5 year old son and our large living room is also his playroom and my home office, so having a place to put things away at the end of the day is essential. (By the way, I’m also obsessed with those small clear boxes from the dollar store. LOL) I’m looking at buying the Micke drawer unit and wanted to be sure it would fit letter-size files (some reviewers on the Ikea site complained about A4 size) and that’s how I found your blog. You’re in Florida, so I’m assuming your papers are US letter size and they clearly fit fine in the bottom drawer. :)
Hi Heather! So we both share office space with 2 year olds! They’re kind of demanding and bossy, don’t you think? But pretty cute too, so it works out. But to answer your question, yes the Micke drawer unit fits US letter paper. Good luck with your new office setup!
What size are the frames of the pictures?
I bought three large Virserum frames from Ikea, 27 ½ x 39 ¼ inches, though they might have changed the name??
totally love this! I am thinking of buying this desk too – how do you find the height for typing with your keyboard? I am concerned about that.
Hi Dori! I’m not all that picky, but I’m shorter (5’3″) and it might be a tad high with my current chair, but not enough to turn the desk down! In aesthetics and affordability it is unbeatable. I would buy it again.
Thanks for your post. It looks as though you assembled the desktops such that the ‘openings’ for the cords were opposite each other. If yes, can you expand on how you did this? I was planning two desks and on doing this for the legs (where the solid side is on the right for one desk and the solid side on the left for the other) but didn’t know there was an option for the openings on the desktop.
The hole for the cords are on the same side. The IKEA Micke desks only offer the option to change the solid legs and the metal legs. I chose to put the solid white leg/panel on the outside of either desk, but everything else is the same.