modern cottage core office before & after
i can’t believe it….i finally have a functioning, beautiful office!
we’ve lived in our house a year & a half now, & my “office” was THE most neglected room. it basically became a horribly messy, storage room (which got even worse from foster sneaking in & pulling * every * single thing out of the cabinets) 😆 i let it stay a hot mess for so long because i had big dreams for it & didn’t want to do just a quick fix. i wanted to new floors, shiplapped walls, updated lights, fresh window treatments, & so on!
when LL Flooring reached out to partner together i was THRILLED. one look at their gorgeous floor options & i knew they were the perfect fit for this room! i’m so thankful to partner with them to share this post + renovation today! so without further adieu, here is the reveal! i didn’t set out for a “modern cottage core” vibe but it morphed into that & i am intoooo it 👏
how about this before & after 😳
i would be embarrassed of the before if i wasn’t so happy with the after 😂 scroll on to see pictures of all the details!
my first step was choosing the flooring & working around that! i went to our local LL Flooring (which was only 10 min away! there’s over 400 locations total) & picked out some samples so i could see what the flooring looked like in the lighting. i can’t recommend this enough when you’re picking floors or paint colors! they can look sooo different in different lighting.
i ended up going with this white oak engineered hardwood! the color alone sold me - perfectly neutral with a bit of warmth - but i also loved the thicker plank look (7.5 inches) & the texture! they give * european * which i was all about.
they’re also “character grade” which means they showcase more of the wood's natural characteristics from the variations in tones and color, small knots, variations in grain pattern, & even mineral streaks.
WHY WE LOVE ENGINEERED WOOD —
we have engineered wood all throughout our second level (kyle & his dad installed it all!) & are huge fans.
if you’re not familar with engineered flooring….it consists of real hardwood layers with either a plywood, medium-density fiberboard (MDF) or lumber core. it's extremely stable, which means it's the perfect floor for any level of the home. with plywood engineered products, real wood veneer layers are stacked on one another, with the grain of the adjacent layers oriented perpendicular to each other. because wood expands & contracts in the direction of the grain, one layer stabilizes the next, resulting in a product that is less susceptible to the effects of moisture and temperature change!
like i said, kyle & his dad recently installed engineered wood on our whole second story so for this project, we opted to use our local contractor we love! they actually ended up installing the shiplap before the floors (because of timeline). the shiplap alone made the room look SOOO different 😯 look how beautiful in the golden morning light ☀️ the paint color is Behr Ultra Pure White! one of my very favorite bright, true whites.
there were 4 recessed lights that i swapped for these $6 ceramic port lights 😍 i like the look so much better than can lights!
my friend gave me the idea to use a dining table as a desk! i found this antique table on FB Marketplace for only $50 (!!!)
my SIL & i stripped it with oven cleaner (with proper gloves, masks, & a lot of her help since i was supa pregnant & didn’t want to breathe it in haha); isn’t the end result stunning??? we applied the oven cleaner, waited 20 minutes, scrubbed it, hosed it off & then repeated once more! in addition to being beautiful—a larger workspace table like this makes the most sense since we do a lot of shipping.
the cabinet wall was a TRUE labor of love. kyle saved the day! we used IKEA ivar cabinets that i had on hand & transformed the to look like “built ins”. it ended up being muchhhh more complicated than we expected! i was kind of tired of those cabinets so paint felt like the best option to freshen them up. i was between these 3 colors (i taped the swatches to the office wall to see how they’d look in the room’s unique lighting) & ended up going with the middle—”limescent” by Behr! we used foam rollers (pictured below) to paint all the cabinet doors & siding.
i wish i could give you a better tutorial to achieve this final look but it’s impossible with the amount of jerry-rigging he had to do! 😂 however you would neverrrr know looking at them because he did SUCH a good job. basically the top row isn’t meant to sit on the below cabinets so he had to essentially rebuild / cut down every part of the top row of shelving 😬 it took a ton of time but in the end achieved the “built in” look i was wanting at a wayyyyy cheaper price.
the caned doors are from IKEA but sadly discontinued!
the cabinets are home to my office supplies, shipping materials, extra essential oils, DIY products, personal documents, & so on. i love having the shelves to style too - went for a “general store” vibe with those! i’m sure i’ll restyle them a million times because i am who i am 🙋♀️
i removed the original blinds & put up these gorge linen gingham curtains with brass curtain rods! i love the texture they add to the room.
i have a little speaker tucked behind that stool because i love playing focus or good vibe music while i work!
LINKS TO EVERYTHING SHOWN/MENTIONED:
if it’s not linked above, it was probably thrifted! since a large part of our budget went towards the shiplap, paint & installation…i tried to be resourceful & shop my own house first before buying anything new! most of the decor pieces were previously thrifted finds i gathered from other rooms in our house 😊 i love how much character this brought to the space.
the only final touches i’d like to add are:
+ knobs on the cabinets
+ shelf & sconce above the swivel chair
+ vintage brass door knobs in place of the silver ones
i cannot express how thankful i am to have this organized, beautiful space to work in — especially now that we have a new baby! i’m coming up on 2 years of working at the kitchen counter, couch, my bed, & anywhere else BUT a designated office space & as a work from home/stay at home mom…it will be suchhhh a gift to have a place i can metaphorically clock in & out of ✨
thank you again to LL Flooring for partnering on this project + post! i have met a handful of their staff in person & i just adore this company. if you’re not familiar with them, they have been around for more than 25 years & their selections include vinyl, laminate, engineered hardwood + bamboo…offering traditional looks as well as the latest on-trend styles. they have amazing prices without sacrificing quality & helpful expertise to get you from inspiration to installation! 10/10 recommend them for your next flooring project 🪵 & they gave me a discount code — use the code ABIGAIL5 for 5% your flooring! you can order samples of all their floors here, to find which one is perfect for your home!
okay that’s a wrap - feel free to drop any questions you have in the comments!