The Evolution Of A Farmhouse Style Home Office – Before And After
When we first looked at our house, about two and half years ago, I knew what I would do with the front room that the former owner was using as a formal living room. as soon as I walked in the front door. Located right off of the foyer, it was the perfect spot to become our home office! But, first I had to remove the pink carpet (yes, pink), lavender walls and outdated window treatments that were left behind when the seller moved out.
We painted the walls, (Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige), removed the window treatments and replaced the carpeting with new hardwood floors (stained with Minwax Special Walnut). I placed much of the office furniture from our previous home in here until I could get to the makeover of this room. BUT – the total transformation of the space would have to wait. Given that we gave this house a total remodel (from top to bottom),the completion of this room was not at the top of our priority list. We lived with it like this for about a year or so.
THEN, I made my first decorating mistake in this room. We had so many irons in the fire….so many rooms to complete…that I let my impatience get the best of me. I purchased two chairs just because they were a really great price. I loved the chairs (and still do!), but they’re currently living in another room that’s waiting for its makeover. I’ll either use them in there or pass them along to my step-daughter when she’s ready for more furniture.
After the purchase of the chairs, I realized that I was going about things all wrong! I needed to come to a decision about the direction I wanted to go with the whole house. Annnd…this is a big one…I needed to focus on one.room.at.a.time.
The direction/vision was an easy one for me. I was in love with farmhouse style and knew that I wanted to emulate that look in my home, except with my own stamp on it. So, in comparison to all of the floundering around I had been doing, once I made the decision to complete one room before moving on to another, the makeover of the my family room, breakfast area and dining room was completed!
Then – it was time to get started in the office! I began by replacing the two mistake-purchase chairs with two tufted back gray ones. The starburst mirror was replaced with vintage printer’s trays and drapery panels (from HomeGoods) were added to each window. The drapery panels help to frame out the whole wall.
I loved what I had done to my dining room table so much, that I copied the same idea on the legs on the desk by painting them, but leaving the top in its original state.
Not too long after that, I completed what is hands-down my favorite project in the whole room – the total transformation of our cheapo, traditional, cherry bookcases into a farmhouse thing of beauty! You can see the before and read about how this transformation was made HERE.
I continued the planking from the wall in the dining room onto the wall behind the desk, except that we only took it a little more than halfway up the wall and topped it with a small piece of trim. You can read about how we added the planking to wall HERE. 
On the opposite end of the room, I came up with a farmhouse style office storage solution and some rustic/industrial wall decor. This corner of the room was truly a hot mess before!
The last big decision to be made was what in the world to do on the big blank wall behind the desk. I had a idea that I was mulling over, but couldn’t make myself fall in love with it and then…THEN – I stumbled across an antique mail sorter at a barn sale! Be still my heart. It’s heavy and huge and just what this wall needed. My pictures just don’t do it justice.
I have it filled with all sorts of little goodies, but I left a lot of the cubbies empty. I love that you can still see what I assume are street names. I wish that I had asked where the sorter came from. My brother and sis-in-law became all choked up when I explained to them that those airmail letters were written by him when he was in Vietnam. And yes, that’s the real deal grunge. I cleaned it up, but the grunge stayed and I wasn’t about the scrub it off and destroy that patina!
The last component that I felt the space needed was a chandelier. I had been saving the original light fixture that came out of my breakfast area for just such a spot! All it needed was a few coats of black spray paint and to have the cage thingy on the bottom replaced with a wooden ball, that I attached with hot glue. The cage piece simply unscrewed from the bottom of the light fixture. Here’s what it looked like before – forgive the blurry photo.
Once my electrician installed it, the office makeover was complete and we couldn’t be more pleased with how the room turned out!
Next on the makeover list – the foyer!
I book marked this room long ago. I plan on using your idea for doors on a couple of my own bookshelves.
Suzy, this is simply beautiful!
Thanks for sharing the before, during, and after makeover of your home office. It is just beautiful! It was really encouraging to read about your thought processes along the way. The bookcase is amazing! I love the sliding barn door, especially knowing that you took a relatively boring bookcase and made it into something extraordinary.
Love the barn door on the book case. Very cool!
The barn door on the bookcase is brilliant! Love it!
This room is amazing!!! Thanks so much for sharing as this has given me such inspiration for our office which I will be starting on soon. Love the bookcase idea with barn door and your painted bottom part of desk. (we have a similar desk and I had thought of doing this very thing, now I can show the pic to my hubby!) Hopefully I will be as blessed in finding antique wall decor like your postal box. What a find! Again, thank you!
I love everything about this home office, the best ever. And what a transformation. I love the colors, the furniture, the decor, ohhhh.
You asked to rate this room from 1-10. This is one of my favorite rooms ever. It is incredibly interesting. I LOVE the antique mail sorter, and you used it in such a fascinating way! I LOVE the sliding barn door on the book shelf. I have never seen anything like it. I would NEVER have painted over a solid wood desk, but the end result is fabulous and certainly gave the room an updated.look. Obviously, I rate this room 10++
Absolutely Love the bookshelf transformation – two tone paint and barn door. Wow !
The transformation looks amazing! I love traditional and farmhouse style too, and I have been struggled to find inspiration on how to combine the two. You make everything looks so cozy and rustic but still have the elegance of the traditional furniture. What is the small wall cubby shelf under the clock called? I think it would fit perfectly in an empty spot in our living room.
Thank you
Wow. Love the wood floor and the whole farmhouse aesthetic! I need one of those bookcases! xo Kathleen|Our Hopeful Home
Such a cute transformation! Where are the accent chairs from?
I absolutely love how you put your own personality into the farmhouse style. I am in absolute love with the mail sorter…what a beautiful, serendipitous find! By the way, you probably have already researched it yourself but the sorter is from mumbai district in India. Those are town names and the numbers are pin codes. So cool!!
That is cool! Thank you so much for letting me know, Barby!
Where did you find these chairs? I’ve looked high and low for a chair in this particular color! Thanks!
Hi Raquel. The chairs are from Hayneedle and here’s the link: https://rstyle.me/n/c8d4qib7z57 . They’re on sale right now for a great price!
I would say I have “office envy” but even that gorgeous room couldn’t entice me out of retirement! Enjoy each day you work in that room! Just lovely.
Hi Suzy
Beautiful Office Space … love the colour pallet…
What paint and colour did you use on your antique desk? Would,love to do that with mine.
Thank you.
Pat
Hi Pat. It’s the same color that I used on my dining room table legs. You can get all of the info about the paint in this post: https://www.worthingcourtblog.com/dining-room-finishing-touches/
Hello,
In searching for inspiration for modern/trad farmhouse, I ran across your blog …
I love your mail sorter too!
I googled the names – they are business districts, and localities of Mumbai, India.
Thanks for all the great ideas and tips!
I would love to know the color of that grey paint. Just gorgeous. The whole house.
Thank you so much! I had the gray paint custom mixed to match a Rustoleum spray paint that I was using called Anodized Bronze. Please refer to this blog post to get the formula: https://www.worthingcourtblog.com/dining-room-finishing-touches/