Since I can’t really do any actual work on the studio yet, I’m left to dream and plan and scour the internet for ideas, and anything else I can do while sitting in bed. (More about why I’m stuck in bed here.) And two things have been at the top of my mind — my studio desk and the cabinets just inside the door to the studio from the breakfast room.
As a quick review, this is the desk that I originally built for the studio.
I like the desk, but I built it years ago when I had a bit of a different vision for the room. Now that the room is coming together, the heavy black desk doesn’t seem to work for me. So the options are (1) give this desk a makeover to make it look lighter and more feminine, (2) build a new desk, or (3) buy a new desk.
But I just can’t justify paying $1600 on a desk for that room when we have so many other things (like an upcoming addition) that that money can go towards. And with all of the cabinets and drawers that I’ll have in the office area of the studio, I don’t think I need a desk with all of those drawers.
But doesn’t that look an awful lot like the desk that I built? So obviously, the most economical choice would be to paint the desk that I already have. A quick makeover could turn it from a dark, heavy desk into the light and feminine desk I want.
If I do that, I’m torn between doing the base gold or white. I thought for sure that I’d want it to be gold, but then I started seeing desks in this style with a white base, and I have to admit, I love the simplicity of it, like this Barid Desk from Wayfair (affiliate link).
A simple white desk like that would allow the cabinets and mural to be the stars of the room, whereas a desk with a gold base and gold accents might compete for attention. Or maybe a desk with a gold base is what the room needs. I’m having a hard time deciding on that.
And then, because I absolutely love to build things, there’s always the draw of building a completely new desk. While I don’t need or want a desk with a bunch of big drawers, it would be nice to have at least one shallow drawer where I could keep pens, pencils, and other small desk-type items that I like to have right at hand. And as soon as I saw this Florence desk from Wayfair (affiliate link), my immediate thought was, “That would be so fun to build!“
So while I’m still undecided on the studio desk, I’m at least narrowing down what I like. And I suppose what I could do is stick with the desk I already have, give it a quick makeover, and live with it for a while. If I eventually decide that I’m not 100% pleased with it, I can build a new one. That’s probably what I’ll do, so I just need to decide if I want a gold base or a white base.
Now as far as the cabinets just inside the studio door go, this is what they look like so far. 😀 They’re not even completely put together yet.
I’ve been undecided about what to do with these cabinets because I don’t want more pink and gold cabinets in this area. So I thought about finishing them to look like a separate piece of furniture. But how would I finish the fronts? I’ve tossed around some options, but then while scrolling Instagram a few days ago, I came across this fun cabinet makeover from Geneva Vanderzeil.
Y’all know how much I love paint swatches, and I haven’t been able to get this fun idea out of my head every since I saw this. Imagine my cabinet covered in colors from my studio. I love this idea so much! And it would coordinate in a fun way with the wallpaper that I’m going to use in the studio bathroom, which looks like this, and also includes colors taken directly from the floral mural.
So we’ll see. Y’all know I change my mind about 30 times a day, but so far, this is the idea that’s winning out for those cabinets. I know many of you probably won’t be thrilled with that idea. 😀 But it fits my love for paint swatches perfectly!
Unrelated side note: Several people requested a look at the platform sandals that stole over a week from my life and rendered me basically bedridden for the last ten days. So I added a picture of them at the end of yesterday’s post. 😀
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
