Clear Vision & Final Decisions

I’ve asked y’all to give me your input on quite a few studio-related things lately, and my vision for the remaining projects has finally come together. And now I’m incredibly excited to get this area of the studio finished!

First, let’s talk about the bridge/no bridge decision on the office area cabinets. I read all of your comments, and while most of you said yes to the bridge, some of you said no for two main reasons. First, there was the concern that a bridge looks dated. And second, there was another concern that a bridge would close in the area around the window and somehow affect the natural light.

So off to Instagram I went in search of home office inspiration to see if I could find examples of both setups. I had a great deal of difficulty finding examples exactly like mine with a window. But I did find general examples of office cabinets with and without a bridge between two outer upper bookcase-type cabinets. So I couldn’t get a clear visual comparison of my exact situation. I had to use my imagination.

In the end, I decided to go with the bridge. I’m not designing a kitchen, and I just don’t see a bridge in an office looking dated. And I also don’t see how it would affect the light. If anything, the side cabinet would affect the natural light, but they’re not a problem at all for me. So here’s my overall plan:

I’m going to keep the upper cabinet doors solid. Many of you make a great point that once I put glass in those upper cabinets, I would then have to spend too much time making sure those areas look pretty, and I’d lose valuable storage space. Those cabinets are too big and have too much potential storage area to turn them into merely decorative areas.

Next, as I already mentioned, I am going to stick with the bridge idea, but I’m going to take advantage of the height of the ceiling on this wall and build a bridge with cubbies that step up in the middle. I like that this will accentuate the height of the wall, give me a place to put some books and decorative things, and make the whole thing look like one cohesive built-in unit. So it’ll look something like this…

Also after looking at so many examples on Instagram, I’ve decided to paint the wall around the window the same color as the cabinets. I think that will also add to the look of it being one continuous built-in unit rather than having that small area broken up with a different color. These two photos made me think of trying this idea…

I realize that the obvious difference is that those two offices have artwork and I have a window, but I think the visual impact will be the same.

As far as the window goes, many of you suggested using my floral fabric to make a Roman shade, but I’ve decided to keep all of the windows consistent and use the same woven shade on this window that I used on the other two windows.

Since both areas will have the same cabinets, the same countertop, and the same size window, it just makes sense in my mind to use the same window treatment.

As far as the desk chair goes, I’ve decided to reupholster it in solid green velvet. So it’ll look something like this…

It’ll be a green that coordinates with the back entry walls, but is probably a bit lighter. I ruled out the eggplant color because my cat loves to sleep on my desk chair, and I just imagine that deep color being covered with cat fur. I’d rather have a lighter color that will disguise it a bit. Also, I plan to paint the bases on my work tables eggplant, and I don’t want to overdo the eggplant in the room.

I do want to bring the floral print into this area, and since I’ve ruled out the wall, the glass-front upper cabinet, and the desk chair, I’ve decided to use two desktop lamps on the countertop under the window, and I’ll use the floral print on those lamp shades. I don’t want those really skinny buffet lamps. I imagine something more like this 24.5-inch lamp (but not silver).

I found this lamp at Lamps Plus, and I could easily use my fabric (printed much smaller than I had printed for the curtains) to cover the little lamp shade.

Here’s what two of them would look like in this area…

It’s just the right amount of floral print for this area, in my opinion.

And finally, I’ve decided what to do with the desk. (This is an old picture of the desk, but you can see the desk clearly here.)

I’m going to paint the base gold, the desktop white, and add two shallow drawers (which I purchased on Amazon). I think a light colored desk will look fantastic with a green desk chair and pink cabinets. And this desk is the perfect size and very sturdy and solid, so I don’t want to get rid of it and start over when a makeover will do.

And I still have my heart set on making a pendant light that looks like this to go over the desk.