Welcome to Part 1 of my multi-part office makeover series.

If you are like me, you’re office is cluttered, stressful, and completely unorganized.

But not for long.

Because I’m going to walk you through — step-by-step — how to take back control of your space as I document every step of my home office makeover.

If you follow along, by the end of this series you’ll have a pristine, relaxing, organized, and most of all, beautiful home office that’s to die for!

So get ready.

You’re about to see some truly amazing tips, tricks, and techniques that will give you the gorgeous office you deserve.

Part 1:

Here’s a before picture of my office.

Now, it can be challenging to design a room like this for a few reasons:

1. I’m working with a small space
2. I need a lot of work surface area
3. I also need tons of storage for files, binders and samples
4. I’m dealing with a huge window on the main wall of the space (a very typical and hard problem to deal with!)

But we’re going to take it step-by-step, and I promise the results will be amazing

Step 1 — The Layout

First I started with the layout. Like I always recommend you to do, we’ve been exploring a few options.

When we first designed this room years ago, we didn’t really put too much thought into the pieces – I just based the layout on what would fit in the space and what I needed to make the office function for me.

The first step is to start laying out the space. After doing this exercise a few times, I know exactly what can (AND CANNOT) fit in my office.

The first step is to start laying out the space. After doing this exercise a few times, I know exactly what can (AND CANNOT) fit in my office.

Layout option 1

Layout option 2

Which one do you like better?

Initially, I entertained the notion of using a few pieces from IKEA.

I really liked the white file cabinets in this desk and how easy it is to rearrange the pieces.

Plus, the dimensions fit my office really well.

But alas, being the lover of antiques that I am, I just couldn’t stand it — so we swapped out the IKEA for some gorgeous antiques.

Here are the ones that truly captured my heart:

The desk will go in between two storage pieces as seen below.

Step 2 — The Window

Next, I had to figure out what to do with that big, huge window.

I’m going to treat it like a wall.

Here are some window treatments I’m considering for my new office space.

I actually love the sunlight that trickles in through the glass so I put one of my desks right in front of it.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten so far.

Here is a quick sketch of what I’m thinking it would look like. Love it!

But stay tuned. I’ve committed to completing the entire project by May 15.

Which means I’ll post a new blog post very, very soon. Because there’s still A LOT to do.

Leave a comment below and let us know what you think!

And don’t forget, to get the perfect antique style for your home head over to Village Antiques.

And be sure to share this post with at least two friends today!

Talk soon!