Today I’m sharing my updated home office desk nook area! I’ve shared this spot before, but I made a few small changes recently that have just made it so much better.
When it comes to home projects, one thing always leads to another. When we bought a pair of new, updated sofas for the living room this spring, it of course led to a few other updates around the room. This little desk nook area is kind of the final piece of the puzzle. I kept most of the main pieces, but switched out some of the decorative elements to better balance out with everything else that’s now in the room. We now have a space that’s pretty solidly grounded in the traditional, but punctuated with modern elements here and there. To me it feels fresh, bright, and uplifting in this space, but it’s still in keeping with things that make sense for our 120 year old home. So here’s a little tour of my updated home office area!
Updated Living Room Desk Nook
OK, first of all, I have to say that this is definitely not a “home office” per se. It’s really just a desk in the living room that gets lots of use between kids’ drawing projects, birthday card writing, and my blogging work whenever I feel like sitting at an actual desk. This desk also has a built-in filing cabinet and lots of room for kids’ colouring supplies, but we definitely have another home office area where Chris works on photo editing, as well as a cabinet that holds our printer and other office-y paraphernalia. So I use the term home office pretty loosely here.
Pictured above: Lamps | Desk Chair | Black Floral Pillow | Similar Oversized Mat Frames | “Tranquilty” Print | Similar Gold Frame | Made for Living Book | Home Made Lovely Book
I get questions about this desk all the time whenever I share a photo from this corner of the room on Instagram. Unfortunately, it’s just a secondhand desk that I refinished about 10 years ago. It’s such a good, traditional desk and it’s one of those pieces that you can just keep forever.
I added the two large lamps and they just really reinforce the desk area as a focal point on this side of the room. They also provide really great light for working at the desk. I hemmed and hawed over the lamps for this side of the room, but as soon as I saw these I just knew they were the right ones. I love this style of lamp because it adds so much style to a space while still being able to work with almost any type of decor.
Pictured above: Coffee Table | Bronze Side Table | Marble Topped Side Table | Washable Rug | Basket | Similar Gold Frame | “Tranquility” Print | Lamps | Glass Door Knobs | Velvet Curtains | Oversized Mat Frames | Marble Chain
Home Office Artwork
The other main change that I made back here is the art work. I’ve been loving the frames that I’ve been seeing lately with the really oversized mats, so I knew that was one thing I definitely needed to use. I particularly love this style because the actual photos that fit in it are just 4x6s, so you can really quickly print off any family photo, pop it in there, and elevate it into a really eye-catching piece of art.
This view through the archway is a new favorite of mine. 🙂
Pictured above: Lamps | Desk Chair | Black Floral Pillow | Oversized Mat Frames | “Tranquilty” Print | Similar Gold Frame | Made for Living Book | Home Made Lovely Book | Velvet Curtains
I also ordered a new print for over the desk from Juniper Print Shop. I still really enjoy this super traditional gold frame, but I switched the print inside to this modern abstract piece. I love combining super traditional elements with fresh, modern pieces, so this really feels right to me, and I love that the effect is still so calm with the soft colors that tie in so nicely with our new rug.
Since I work so closely with so many designers doing interior photography, I sometimes play a game in my head called “If I was a designer”. 🙂 I like to think about how I would furnish certain homes that we shoot or what fixtures I would use to help pull a space together and make it work cohesively with other things around it. Our home definitely has a distinctive style to it, but I think that if I was a designer, I would definitely re-use some of these same pieces that I used in our living room in other homes because they would all just work so well with so many different color palettes and styles. I could easily swap out the desk for a more modern light wood-toned desk, and pop the print in a thin wood frame, and this whole thing would work perfectly in a more contemporary home.
Pictured Above: Lamps | Gold Frame | “Tranquility” Print | Marble Chain | Side Table | Washable Rug
So that’s my updated home office and another project checked off the list!
OTHER IDEAS LIKE THIS
- Traditional Farmhouse Paint Colors and Finishes: Whole Home Palette
- How to Make a Cheap Pillow Look Expensive
- Small Design Details in Our Bedroom That Make a Big Difference
- DIY Framed Vintage Art Prints
- The Creek Line House Decorating Archives
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.