An office décor update and amazing DIY!

An office décor update and amazing DIY!

• 9.23.2013

And now, the story of a boring office and sewing room space, that got an update, a fabulous shiny gold DIY wall accent, and a little re-arranging.

I'm so super excited about this home decorating update because I spend so much time in our office/sewing room and it's been so blah until now! You may have seen the photos/tour of my home, but I haven't shown much of my office. It hasn't been really ready for your eyes yet. It's very small and pretty plain; I like a little minimalism and light colors in a workspace, but it's almost boring or un-decorated-looking.

I hardly even had any DIY's in it! Just these framed quote prints I made, with fave quotes from from The Happiness Project, and the gold spray paint initials I made for above the bed but have since moved.

(How about that bare bulb above the ironing board... ;) )

And if that wall was boring... how about the opposite side? Sharing it with Husband and the big computer. This space has not been decorated! (Shhh!! Don't look! Still a work in progress!)

If you've been following along with our house decor process, you may have seen my recent attempts to jazz up our new home with faux wallpaper stenciling, a big stripe pattern, and a bold navy guest room wall (see it all in my home tour). I've thought about painting something fun on one of the walls of our office, and I love brights in sewing rooms/offices (see those pins!), but I did not have the energy or commitment for painting another wall this time. I was hoping for a DIY project with a little less time commitment and mess.

So it is super fabulous that I got a chance to check out the fabulous wall decals from Urban Walls--you may have seen these around or in your Instagram feed--so many gorgeous accents! Gold polka dots, little silver or black stars, cute words... so, so many wonderful things! I reached out to Danielle like literally as she was having her baby, so it was so sweet of her to send along this fabulous gold heart decal anyway. (She has a beautiful blog, too!)

How to put up a wall decal

Prepare for some serious before/after success here, but first, here's a little on how to use the decal! I had never put up something like one of these before, so big and sticky! My husband got this AT-AT decal on Amazon for our game room and it was such an enormous pain to put up because of all the tiny pieces... it looks awesome, but it was nuts. So I was a little apprehensive but I'm glad to say that this decal went on much easier. And came with better instructions.

It came as a huge roll, so you cut around the shape with a little of the backing surrounding the design. (I put that tray on top to flatten it out for few minutes after unrolling!)

I taped it up in various configurations, trying to imagine the angle I wanted. I'd seen this decal put up straight on, but I wanted to include more of my wall space in the active part of the design, I guess... stretch it out a little from desk to ironing area.

A couple options I considered...

Once I found *the* spot, I taped it on well and traced around the paper here and there so I could line up the top paper layer once I peeled off the backing.

Then I peeled off the backing and had a huge sticky gold heart on my hands! (I probably should have done this with help, but... I didn't. I was impatient. It's cool, it worked out. ;) )

I lined up the edges of the front paper layer with the pencil marks I'd drawn on the wall and began to carefully stick the whole thing down.

Then I pressed reallllllly hard on the top round piece of the heart, and slowly and carefully peeled the front paper layer off!

And tore it as I went...

Done!!!

Before and after, pretty sewing space!

Now for some "after" shots of the pretty sewing area! I did have to change a couple other things when I hung the heart and moved the quote prints and thread rack. I also covered that bare bulb with a pretty Ikea chandelier I had sitting around!

This is where I sew!
(Edit: The amazing clear pegboard system is this one. I love it!!)

I found an even better place for the thread rack, too.

The "Keep calm and blog on" print is by my blogger pal Macey of Motormouth Studios--she made them for us for a blogger event once. Love it!

Yes, I know I have a lot of scissors. ;)

There it is! A much improved office and sewing space, and a fabulous and doable DIY decor project!