I write this post while sitting on my living room couch, with my back to the massive hole in the wall behind me (on purpose; I can’t stand to look at it).  Yep, we’re mid project, dust and dirt everywhere.  Christian decided to tackle our “2nd” front door, which is one of the remaining key parts of our almost-complete front porch reno.  So this is a bit of a we’re-in-between projects post, however, it is related to MY current project: the home office!

Our third bedroom, or “office” has been somewhat of a catch-all since we moved in.  Over the past few months, I’ve been tackling it bit by bit, finding new homes for things and giving away/ throwing away things we no longer need.  A few weeks back, I posted a few items on Craigslist: a love seat from my bachelorette days in my basement apartment (woo!), striped area rug, and a swivel office chair.  All were in pretty good shape and we felt we could get a decent buck from the items – here are a few of the goods:

Christian and I agreed on the room make-over terms before we posted our pre-loved goodies on line: whatever we make off of these items will become our budget for the office makeover.

Well, I love a good challenge and Christian loves to be thrifty, so this little project was a match made in heaven!

And it just so happens that today marked the day that my make-over budget would be revealed!  $215….whoop!  Not too shabby.

We’re going for a sort of a 60’s inspired look with some modern pops.  I’ll be suing the fab peacok blue and chartreuse green fabric that I recently picked up and shared with y’all in this post on DIY inspiration. Here’s another little bit of inspiration to help me stay focused, found here:

Gorgous.  I love the modern look, the bright blue sofa and chairs, and that funky lamp!  $215 will certainly not get me this room, but I’m excited to see what I can do!

In terms of great feature items for the room, we’re off to a good start.  We scored a cool teak desk off of Craigslist (where else?) last year for $100, and inherited a lovely teak chair from Christian’s grandmother (here’s a sneak peak of our new desk chair…the recovering will be coming soon to a DIY post near you!):

Here’s what we plan on accomplishing within the room:

• window coverings – fun fabric panels in a colourful print or solid textured material
• covered bulletin board
• black and white photo wall/ collage
• recovered office chair
• new handles for the Craigslist desk
• recovered lamp shade
• pillows for the amazing FREE arm chair that we scored on Craigslist a few months back
• throw blanket for some extra colour
• area rug to replace my striped friend that we recently sold
• backing of existing bookcase with shelf paper/ wrapping paper for an added pop of colour behind our book collection

Good heavens this is a longer list than I thought!  And I only have $215 to do it!  Ah well, I’ll get crafty.

So I leave you with this challenge:  what room are you looking to update?  What “not perfect” or unused items do you have that you could sell to free up some cash for your project?  How creative can you get?!

Bring it!