Office Makeover

My husband and I bought our first home in July, and finally moved in this September. We had granted our Seller's occupancy so that left me a lot of time to stalk Pinterest and plan out how I wanted to decorate every room of our new house. One of the rooms I have really been looking forward to was an office space. I do occasionally work from home, so it would be really nice to have a dedicated area to work as well as having a set space to do other planning. Nathan and I spent a lot of time painting different rooms in the house, putting in a shiplap wall and other various things you do when you move in so it took some time before we started on my office. But finally, my office is complete and I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out!

My office is the only place in the house that is truly "My" space and I couldn't wait to have a girly domain. I absolutely ADORE Kate Spade and wanted my office to reflect this. I'm obsessed with the whole blush pink and gold theme which I included in my wedding, so you know I was going to draw off of that inspo for this space as well.

The first thing we needed to do was give the space a fresh paint job.  I wanted to paint three of the walls a light blush pink ( I chose Opulent Opal by Valspar 1005-6c) and the third wall I was considering this gorgeous rose gold cracked marble wallpaper, but it turns out that the wallpaper alone would have been over $250! Don't get me wrong, the paper was beautiful but this homegirl is on a budget! After some research I found these really neat peel and stick gold dots from Amazon and I knew exactly what to do with them. We painted the fourth wall white and my husband and I measured out and leveled line by line where each gold dot would go. I spent $9.50 on 200 gold dots and only used about 120 of them! Much better than the $250 wallpaper. Not only were the gold dots a cost saving but they totally embody Kate Spade.

I would describe the style in my home as modern farmhouse (Yes, I love Joanna Gaines) but I also really love mid century modern. My office was the perfect place to pull in mid century modern pieces with lots of gold touches. Target's Project 62 line is awesome if you haven't checked it out, and is where I got my tripod lamp, marble side table, gold picture frames, wall planters and large gold circular mirror. I also replaced the handles on the closet door with gold handles from the Project 62 line at Target.

I wanted the office to have a very clean but chic girl boss feel to it. My office would be a place for me to work and to collab with friends, so it needed to accommodate at least one other person. I initially was thinking a plush padded chair would be perfect for the corner of my office, but I was concerned that would take up too much space as my office isn't that large of a room. I ended up deciding on a clear acrylic chair, which I freaking love. It's so funky and modern and very on trend I ended up getting a great deal on my chair from Wayfair. I paid only $69.95 for the chair. Most places I looked online and in store were marked at about $100 so I was excited to get a good deal. (I am always looking for the best deal so stay tuned for lots of great deals).

The office was feeling a bit cold and too modern, so I needed something to cozy up the space. At first I was thinking that a faux sheepskin throw would be perfect to accompany my acrylic chair so I started looking online. To my surprise faux throws weren't as budget friendly as I'd expected, so I held off ordering one from Amazon. I really liked the idea of the shag throw but needed to spend some more time researching where to get a quality one. At the same time I knew a rug would be a great way to warm up the space but, I hadn't found what I was looking for. One day my husband and I were in line at Costco waiting to check out when I noticed a woman in the line next to us. She had a gigantic sheepskin rug in her cart. I walked over and asked her how much the rug was and she told me $99 dollars and I couldn't believe it! I was looking at spending $60 dollars on amazon for a faux throw that was not even half the size. Nathan was the one who actually convinced me to get it and ran back and grabbed if for me, and boy I am so happy that he did! I got a quad sheepskin rug for only $99 dollars! You cannot beat that deal. I absolutely love this rug and my pups love it too.

For the wall art I ended up finding these really cute 8 x 10 gold picture frames from Target's Project 62 line. The prints were downloadable art I found on Etsy. I also found the two geometric wall planter's from the same line. The large polka dot planter is by Opal House from Target. I saw Opal House's polka dot collection awhile ago at Target but I held off purchasing. I ended up getting this planter on clearance for only $5.09 when it was originally marked $16.99 and a matching large vase for only $5.99! I love macrame wall art and was able to find a really affordable one from Target. I paid about $15 dollars for mine!

The desk is from Ikea and is the Alex white desk. I paid $150 for my desk. I absolutely love that the desk has the panel flap in the back to keep cables out of sight. Inside the flap there are holes on both the left and right side for cables. It makes your work space clutter free. The desk came in white, so I bought some gold spray paint and some clear protectant spray and painted the legs gold. This was much cheaper than a lot of the gold and white desks that I looked at online. The desk is good quality and should last me a long time. I also love that the two drawers provide ample storage space. I found my desk chair from WayFair and love that I found a chair in gold and white. I found some desk accessories by Kate Spade but felt that they were simply priced too high so I found very similar ones on Amazon. The stapler, tape dispenser and pen holder pictured below were all purchased on Amazon.

My filing cabinet is from HGTV. I love that the cabinet is wide enough for my printer to go on. The bottom drawer is perfect for hanging files while the top drawer is additional storage. I was thrilled to find a filing cabinet with gold hardware. I paid just under $64 dollars for this filing cabinet.

Overall I absolutely love my office. It is my favorite room in the whole house. I love that I have a space that truly feels like me. If you are interested in purchasing any of the items I found for my office I am attaching links down below. As an Amazon Associate and Target affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases. By clicking on any of these links I may make a small commission at no cost to you. As always I only recommend products that I truly love. None of these items have been sponsored. I purchased them all because I truly love them and think that they add value to my space!

Shop These Items

Round Decorative Mirror

Tripod Floor Lamp

Geometric Wall Container

Macrame Wall Tapestry

Gold Picture Frame Matted

Gold Knobs

Acrylic Pen Holder

Acrylic & Gold Stapler

Acrylic & Gold Tape Dispenser

Gold Dry Erase Board

Gold Aluminum Mouse Pad

The Keto Diet

At this point, I am sure that a lot of you have heard about the Keto Diet which is short for The Ketogenic Diet. It's a diet that is high fat, low carb, and moderate protein. The Keto diet has been gaining popularity and celebrities like Vinny from the Jersey Shore aka "The Keto Guido" have brought a lot of attention to eating this way. Before my wedding in 2017 I decided to give this diet a try as I had ordered a wedding dress three sizes too small and had 6 months to fit into my dress. I know, I'm totally crazy! Typically I don't do well on restrictive diets and always end up giving in and then going to town on sugar. I was a bit nervous to try out a high fat/low carb diet. You see, I'm a big sweets person. Giving up sugar seemed like it would be awful, but I really needed to drop the weight. When I first heard about the diet, it seemed a bit contradictory to everything that we've been taught about whats healthy and how you should eat to lose weight, but I did a lot of research and what I was reading made a lot of sense.  I had read about so many success stories. I decided that I really didn't have anything to lose and that I would give it a try, I needed a change.

In January 2017, I started working out about 4-5 times a week, watching what I eat and as a result I lost 10.6 pounds that month. My husband and I started the Keto diet February 15, 2017 and  I was hitting the gym 5-6 times a week. From that point until my wedding day I dropped a total of 55 pounds and felt completely amazing. In January, I weighed 269 pounds and in June I walked down the aisle at 216 pounds. The Keto Diet didn't make me feel restricted like I thought it would. I was able to eat so many foods that I enjoyed. Surprisingly, I didn't crave sweets like I used to. I also found that my acne had mostly cleared up and my skin looked the best it had since I was about 11 years old. I have always struggled with acne and had problem skin. Before going Keto I thought that I had a sensitivity to dairy as anytime I ate cheese or moderate amounts of dairy I would get an upset stomach, but my stomach issues cleared up. I think that by me eliminating sugar and gluten from my diet it really cleared up a lot of the issues I was experiencing.

Nathan and I decided that for our honeymoon, we would treat ourselves and eat however we wanted. Well, we kinda spiraled and continued that after the honeymoon. I found a million excuses to I found skip the gym, eat whatever I wanted and of course drink beer. This lead to my weight gain and here I am almost at my starting weight again. My clothes are tight, I can see the gains in my face and other areas of my body  and my energy levels have been so low. My acne is back to being problematic and some of my stomach issues have returned. I did briefly try weight watchers and I liked that there was a lot of freedom and less restriction with the diet. I also loved the weight watchers app, but I haven't found it to be as good of a fit for me personally as when I was doing Keto. All of that to say is that I am going to start eating high fat, low carb, moderate protein again and Im really excited to share my journey with you all.

I will post updates on my progress as well as recipes of Keto recipes I love and enjoy. For the time being, here are a few pictures of my progress from 2017 doing the Keto Diet and exercising. If I did it before, I can do it again!

Please note that I am not a nutritionist or doctor and am not qualified in any way to give medical advice. I am just simply sharing what has worked for me. Please consult with your doctor before trying any new diet plans to find the right fit for you.