Dabble's New Office

I recently retweeted the link to my old post Definition of Self and Style. Sometimes it makes sense to go "back to the stacks" and blow the dust off an old blog post to reintroduce it to your readers, or to make sure your new readers had a chance to see it! This post was important to me because it was my "Hi world, I'm Kate!" post that told everyone to define themselves before they started trying to determine their style. Also, in the post I made a list of how to go about designing and decorating a room that is pretty foolproof if you execute it appropriately and put the time into your "homework". In case you missed it, here's the list:

• Go room by room and pick a vision - this can be inspiration boards (made easy by our friends at Olioboard)
• Collect your favorite patterns, colors, furniture....and then do some old fashioned editing
• Set a budget for the entire house - or however many rooms you want to do
• Prioritize the rooms in your house
• Break down your budget by room
• Edit again if needed
• REMOVE EVERYTHING FROM ROOM
• Start with canvas - your paint and wallpaper
• Move furniture back in
• Decorate with accents

Here's the KEY to making this work:

• IF IT DOESN'T HAVE A SPACE IN YOUR NEW ROOM....IT DOESN'T GO BACK IN...IT FINDS A NEW HOME OUT OF YOURS!

Sounds pretty easy right?! Then WHY is it so hard? A few reasons come to mind:
Sentimentality: that "one thing" you got somewhere that you can't get rid of, but never use, or look at until you wonder for the third time this month if you should throw it out
Time: Isn't it ALWAYS a matter of time?
Expense: Somehow what you dream of putting in your room is always more than you have to spend (at least in my world!) That's why I'm bound and determined to pair up with some fabulous DIY experts and "thrifters" to make your dreams come true!
Inspiration: I know it's hard sometimes to pull your ideas together, hopefully the blog can help! Also, take 10 minutes and pull some things together on Olioboard. You'll be surprised how easy it is and how inspired you can really be!

Here's what I have come up with for my first BIG room project: My home office and client meeting space. Yesterday I posted the room layout and some before pictures. Now, this will show you what I've come up with on Olioboard:

You can shop the items in this look here 

Items from CB2, Zinc Door, Layla Grayce, Kirklands, West Elm, Modern Furniture, and Benjamin Moore

I'm off to Goodwill and HomeGoods this weekend to see if I can find anything the budget friendly way! I hope this has sparked a first phase of inspiration, and as always please share your design ideas as well!