office

My little office/guest room/tiny house that’s connected to the back of our barn has been through a lot these past three years. But even with the huge transformation from dude sawmill office to girlie office, I still found myself hesitating to go out there and work. I shared what held me back from working out there in this post, to summarize: it’s colder and darker out there than I’m comfortable with.

I decided to pay attention to my own preferences (to be warm and to actually see) and it was amazing how easily the solutions came. And y’all, I hate disclaimers but this room is almost impossible to photograph. It’s either dark, or it’s the 20 minutes of the day where the sun shines through the door, my apologies.

office kitchen

1. warmth

When I first started using the office I layered cowhides all over the floor–it’s what I had and that’s a smart way to start. I actually love this look for this particular space, but, they do nothing to keep the chill off of your feet especially when layered on top of concrete floors. It was time to get a grown-up-lady rug.

I ended up finding this GORGEOUS rug online and y’all it’s as if they had me in mind when it was made way back when, even Instagram agreed we were a perfect match:

rug

It can be TERRIFYING to buy stuff online for your home. And even MORE TERRIFYING to buy something that is a pain to return. Ask me how I know. But, I’ve found that sometimes the best selections and prices (bonus, introvert heaven) are online. I purchased every rug in my home and barn online–without seeing them in person first.

my rugvia: eSaleRugs

I’m happy to report that this rug and its colors were represented practically perfectly in the online photos.

That’s another scary part of online shopping. If you compare my photos of the rug with the big photo above from the website, it looks like a different rug.

That’s because the natural lighting is so awful in my office that I have to doctor up the photos so you can see them and it changes the color a little. In real life, the rug colors are almost identical to the photo above an that’s what you need to know when you are shopping online so you aren’t surprised.

rug

My rug is from eSaleRugs.com (free shipping + free returns!) and I’m thrilled with it.

This is a one of a kind, Persian rug that’s older than I am and the quality is amazing. It’s my first grown-up rug and it’s wool, so it instantly warmed up the room visually and physically. I felt confident the rug colors would be right because I read other reviews and there were six different photos taken at different angles and distances so I could make a good decision.

rugexcuse how the rug has a blue undertone in his photo–see what I mean?!

I always preach about the power of a rug pulling a room together yet, when I get my own, it always amazes me at how true that is. This rug is the great unifier connecting the day bed with my desk with the wood stove with the queen bed. The room feels 100% more finished now. #rugmagic

office

We haven’t really had a cold day for weeks (it was 80 degrees yesterday) so I haven’t totally solved the heat problem, but over Christmas Chad and I stayed at a friend’s house and she had one of these in the guest bedroom.  Kind of like what a hotel has–even with a remote! It was so great. I also like the idea of these–because venting is even less intrusive–anyone have experience with this kind of heater/ac?

office

2. Lighting.

Once I knew I needed lighting I immediately went to my favorite place to find lamps TJMaxx/Marshalls/HomeGoods (the holy trinity of home decor) and I found the perfect “lady lamp” for this space.

I also needed an overhead light and this was tricky. I wanted as much light as possible, but these ceilings are only 7 feet high so it had to be close to the ceiling. I couldn’t get this light from Amazon out of my head:

light

I loved the shape and interest it could add to the room. But the black felt all wrong for my lady office. It took me about two weeks to work up the courage, but I finally purchased it knowing I was going to immediately spray paint it pink.

pink light

Here it is right after Chad put it up–you can still see the unpainted ceiling where the old light was. BUT, once it was hanging I felt the pink was too light.  I asked Megan to mix up some random paints and paint it a darker shade and touch up the ceiling with whatever white paint she could find until I can locate the ceiling paint (that will probably never happen).

flush mount light

So now my office is warmer and cozier and I’ve been working here in the office almost daily! Mission accomplished!

 

lady office

This post contains affiliate links, special thanks to eSaleRugs for partnering with me!

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