office reveal part 1

i feel like this is a little anti-climactic, because it's so long overdue, and because i've been showing it to you in bits and pieces (like here and here and here) for the last 5 months.

we finished construction on my office in july and i set out to filling it with pretty stuff right away. it didn't come together immediately, but it was definitely functioning within a month or so. aaaand since then i've been procrastinating on getting pictures of it and posting a proper "reveal" here on the blog.

i had these grandiose visions of ellen, my sweet and wonderful friend & photographer, coming to take "real" pictures of it, which i would then submit to the every girl, who would of course swoon over it and publish it on their site immediately. heh. i got busy, and ellen got busy having beautiful babies, and we never even made it to phase one of my master plan.

well, as part of my thanksgiving weekend to-do list, i finally took the time to get some pictures (iphone attempts are better than no attempts i've decided) and to put away all the crafty junk piles i have been amassing in the meantime. and now i'll be one room closer to that "house tour" tab all bloggers are supposed to have on their sites!

so here's the reveal!! (well, the first half anyway)!

starting here, you've just come in the front door of my house, and you're standing in my entryway. you'll turn to your right, look through the newly narrowed (and trimmed!) doorway, and you'll see this:

just to refresh your memory, here is what the view looked like through that door when we first began this project:

and now here's the photo explosion of "after" pictures:

i shopped my basement, primarily, to fill the tops of the built-in bookcases. i had all this pretty stuff down there and family heirlooms that was just collecting dust, and it's so nice to be able to display it. i don't have very many shelves or surfaces in the rest of the house, so this is really the only place i've got this kind of display happening. i love that it's so personal.

ryan and i found this rock at pebble beach when we lived in california. i have several vintage books from my parents' collection.

i DIY'd a few baskets with a bright woven pattern to provide hidden storage (they're mostly hiding craft supplies like yarn and fabric paint) and the "easy as pie" appetizer plate from target is a new addition. at $1.99 how could i pass it up?! (looks like it's in stores only).

i have my grandma's bible on the shelves, and i found my grandparent's wedding announcement in the basement. the dollar store had a gold frame that was just right.

this is one of my favorite pairings on the shelves. the vintage video camera is from a garage sale and it's sitting next to a picture of the iphone (the hand and the phone belong to kyla, my house of hipsters blog buddy, which i had to photograph in front of a pink brick wall on our renegade outing. i mean, come on, how perfect is that picture?) anyway, just looking at these two together sure makes you think about how fast things change.

everyone should have a well-worn copy of c.s. lewis' mere christianity. what a read.

moving around the room...

i placed a work table in front of the bookcases. it is from target, but we got it almost ten years ago. i've intentionally kept the walls on this side of the room white and blank, as they are the backdrop for photographing blog projects. i like to think of it as my mini studio. i also turned it into a portrait studio the other day to take pictures of the kids, and it worked perfectly!

the top of it has been destroyed by years of kids and abuse, which is wonderful, because i don't have to worry at all if my hot glue gun goes a little bonkers during crafting sessions.

so that's my bookcase styling and work table/ studio space. it's been so wonderfully functional. after all the months of having the house torn up and our stuff displaced, i've just loved using this room and having it work so well.

i'm going to pause here because this post is never going to load with all the pictures, and thursday i'll show you my desk area on the other side of the room. we've waited five months, so what's a couple more days right?

see you thursday. i can't wait!

{update: lucky you! it's like you dvr'd this post and you can fast forward three days to part 2 right here!}