My Home Office Makeover (Plan)

I’m spending some time organizing and restyling my hot mess of a home office studio.

The ORC (One Room Challenge) starts up again this week and I thought I would do something difficult and very challenging for me. The ORC is a design challenge hosted twice a year and sponsored by Better Homes and Garden, to renovate, restyle or design a complete room makeover in under 6 weeks. I’ve participated before with my Master Suite renovation and the Main Bathroom renovation. This time I’m tackling a project that I’ve managed to avoid for quite a while.

My home office studio disaster.

The needs of my office have evolved over the past few years, but nothing inside it has. I have multiple businesses and hobbies that tie in together and share this 8’x8′ room. I need a proper plan and set up for my home office studio to make it function and cozy. Brace yourself for the disaster you’re about to witness. Here is the before shot:

And just so you can see it in all of its messy glory, I took some more photos from different angles inside my office:

It’s a work of art, really. That’s why I usually keep this door closed.

Please tell me that you have one of those rooms too.

I did have a system roughly set up though! It wasn’t a complete loss! My Epicure business products were on one black shelving unit. My craft business products were in the second shelving unit. I have a folding table I’d set up to work on when I needed room to sort orders and supplies. My drafting desk tends to be covered under paper more often than not, while the filing cabinet beside it sat empty. And my bookcase held my textbooks, references and resources, and other paper goods.

I told you it was a hot mess.

So over the next 6 weeks I am tackling my office studio finally. Here’s my home office makeover plan.

The Restyle Plan

Step 1: Clear It Out and Clean It Out

I rarely dust in here. So cleaning has gotta be a priority. The first steps of the home office makeover plan are to remove everything from this room, sort it, purge it, and do a deep clean in it.

Step 2: Plan a Proper Layout

This room has never been functional for me. I’ve disliked spending time in here so it became a dumping ground. This time I’m going to set it up properly with a functional layout. And hopefully, find some thrift furniture for it too.

Step 3: DIY Week

I hope to be tackling any DIY projects this week, especially if they are furniture. Then I can move them into the office and prepare to bring back in my tools, supplies, and business products.

Step 4: Organization Central

This week is going to focus on organizing what I am bringing back into the office after the purge. For someone who loves to be organized, this room is a huge shame and a sore spot in my life. I will need good storage tools. And labels of course.

Step 5: Styling My Office Studio

I am looking forward to this part: styling the home office studio. I have never taken the time to properly style this room. And it shows in my emotional reaction to it. I don’t like to be in this room. I’d rather haul my tools and supplies upstairs in multiple trips than work in here. Great for getting my steps in, but not so practical.

Step 6: Reveal Week

This is the week you’re most excited for! How will my hot mess office disaster turn out?

I hope you keep checking in every week to see my progress. The focus is really going to be on organization and styling here. I plan to use a lot of what I already have throughout my home to restyle my office studio instead of buying all new decor.

Wish me luck as the journey towards my home office makeover starts now!

Please check out the other ORC participant projects, there are featured designers, and guest designers like myself.