Welcome back to week 3 of my Office / Studio makeover! If you missed my last updates, check out my blog posts for Week 1 and Week 2.

From the outside, it may seem that up to this point I have been chugging along in a calm and organized manner with a foolproof master plan in place. But the reality is I have no idea what I am doing, and feel like I am just scrapping all of this project together so far during late night hours and on a whim and a prayer. I am happy to be making major progress each week, but really hoping I can get everything done in time.

Cabinetry

My first major reality check was... custom cabinetry for my office storage. I always knew that would be the most difficult part of the project.

I've always secretly fantasized about a life where my husband and I happily work together on DIY home projects, laughing our way through disagreements and never arguing (ha...) and my husband happily does all of the heavy lifting, just like we see on every show on HGTV.

However, my reality is that my husband works full-time (as do I), and he is currently recovering from shoulder surgery which makes lifting heavy objects difficult. So, alas, this fantasy of mine will sadly not become a reality anytime soon, and I need to take this project squarely into my own inexperienced hands.

I so badly want to become one of you badass women who can DIY whatever I put my mind to, so I got to work trying to self-teach myself how to do this. After spending countless hours on YouTube researching DIY custom built-ins, Ikea semi-customs, and free-standing options I quickly learned the following:

• I need custom built-in cabinetry rather than free-standing

• I can't afford custom built-in cabinetry

• I won't be able to build or install any semi-custom or Ikea options myself for this project (due to lack of time, skills, or helpers) so sadly my DIY cabinet dreams will need to go on hold and I will need to hire a company to execute them for me.

These realizations were very deflating to say the least. But as a last-ditch idea to still build affordable custom cabinets I thought- what if these built-ins were constructed from the same material as... closets?!

Custom cabinetry is expensive for many reasons. Mainly because wood is an expensive material that needs to be custom cut to size, joined together and then finished. But also because a cabinet consists of pre-building a full cabinet box, transporting it into the space, installing them together, and then adding on the cabinet door.

Custom closets, I learned, achieve similar functional goals as custom cabinetry, at a lower price point. Closets are commonly made up of MDF panels with a solid or textured laminate coating, which is significantly cheaper than wood. Also, closets are built as modular shelving with open backing, so they do not require full cabinet boxes to be constructed and installed. While they are custom-measured for your space, the ease of construction significantly reduces cost while accomplishing all custom functional needs.

The only obvious negative is the appearance. Creating cabinets out of closet materials can look clean and finished, but it will lack any type of character or color customization options other than white (without a significant price jump). There is nothing that will look as beautiful as wood cabinetry with all of its detail and customization options. However, to make sacrifices for budget, I swallowed my pride and decided to trudge onward determined to still make the best of it.

After interviewing several cabinet companies in the area I ended up hiring the talented Definitive Closets for the job. Together we designed three custom storage options that accomplish all of my goals for the space (see our elevation drawings below). By some miracle, they were able to squeeze me in for installation a few days before the end of the challenge... nothing like the last minute!

While this is not the direction I expected to go down in the beginning of the project I am pleased with how it turned out where I will be achieving all of my specific functional goals. Visually we will see how it ends up feeling in the space, but I already have some fun ideas how to add some life to "boring" white doors, if time allows. Stay tuned!

Roman Shades

I originally was hoping for long statement drapery to add a nice oomph to room but after assessing the angled ceilings and thinking about where the desk will be located, I decided inset shades will be a better fit. I decided to order relaxed Roman shades so they feel softer and a little more romantic.

As for fabric, I fell in love with the pattern and colors in the Schumacher Enchanted Garden floral print (see last photo) however the price point was sadly out of my project budget for shades. I ended up settling on the cheery Felloe-12 fan print from Kravet in my favorite coral pink to add a nice subtle texture and a pop of color. To finish it off, I included some Kravet Monkey Fist fringe along the bottom edge to add some whimsy and some natural fiber texture. 

I decided on a beautiful Stroheim coral fabric (Jackie, Color 01) for the chair cushion reupholstery which will tie in the coral in the Roman shades beautifully

I can’t stop thinking about the Schumacher floral fabric so there is a chance I may still splurge on ordering it for a small custom throw pillow for the chair… to be determined on a later day.

Thanks for following along! Check out my Instagram post and as always, make sure to check out all of the progress of the other ORC participants on the ORC website.

See you next week!