After living in our home for a few years, it was more of a Hodge podge of furniture and style.  We moved from one home that the furniture fit into perfectly and then not so much in our new home. Getting settled in can take years and we kind of have paid more attention to every other room rather than the one that we spend a lot of time in.

Michael and I are both have home offices as we both run companies and there are so many nights Mike is one on a side and I am on the other working till all hours of the night.  Aw, his and her office space! Disorganization due to lack of storage space coupled with furniture that did not adapt to our work needs,  we decided that it was time to renovate.

We headed out to our favorite store, chose what made sense and paid attention to specific needs from wireless printer housing to a desk that hides the mess.  Lavishly live solutions for a Den DIY renovation out loud and learn how you can easily style your den and not spend a small fortune.

RENOVATION PLANNING 101

We did not have a lot of time to get this done because we are in the midst of 2 other large renovations that we are again ‘diy’ing’ so this project had to be manageable. I loved that fact that we worked with IKEA to accomplish this project and that we could take pieces that some might not use in the manner we did, and turn them into very practical usage in our den. So this is us before we started, and every day was a task to clean up before we started again and it gets old real quick.

The room is one of the first rooms everyone sees as they enter our home and I simply had lost control of the room due to lack of storage and always working.  Life is busy so the furniture in the room has to support the lifestyle and our current style was not. I need to be able to close up and not share what I am doing when someone enters, as does Michael, and we have found the answer.

Consider Your Style

While the products in this DIY renovation have been provided to me by IKEA, remember I only share items that make sense for my readership.  Thoughts, story and use of products are all my own. The den is all about functionality.  For the longest time, we had this old desk that held CD’s (you remember those things right?) as well as the desktop, the CPU, a router and a printer.  Guess what? This piece of furniture had no style and offered nothing more than a storage holding tank for the computer.

The lack of functionality and the fact that there was no storage of any kind makes it an obsolete item.  Additionally, getting to scan or use the printer is a task, because we climb under the furniture and often bang our head coming back up!

Michael’s continual use of an architectural table called for an update from the plywood one we owned to something a bit modern.  Finally, office supply holders, a secondary desk (making me the Queen, HA!) and a bookcase were really necessary items.

Solutions For A Den DIY Renovation

COLOR

Before we started all of this we painted the room, we actually did white baseboards and a lovely palm green wall. We had not committed to changing the room up so we just put everything back in and then decided we needed new furniture.  To play off the white trim, we decided to coordinate the fresh white and transition it into our furniture, pulling it all together with a clean, crisp and open look. The trip to IKEA allowed us to pull everything we needed and wanted into one room and make it look so much better. In fact we are organized and it looks nice, so that is a bonus!

DESK Fit For A President

I am the Queen and President of my office and this desk makes  it ‘Like a Boss!’ 

First, remember my black desk that had lovely scalloped legs and no storage? We replaced it with this white finished IKEA LIATORP desk.  I have 2 cabinets storage spaces on it as well as a middle drawer and what makes it work is that it balances out the ‘large-scaled’ trestles that the TORNLIDEN rests on.  Balance = style.

DRAFTING TABLE

The TORNLIDEN offers the ability to slant the back of the desk to the adjusted liking and I bought these clamps to hold the drawings that Michael marks up firmly in place.

The Drafting Table is the TORNLIDEN and there are a few things you want to know about this versatile desk. Some people use this as a table in their home. We got crafty and have turned it into a Drafting Table because I like nothing else on the market and trust me we have shopped till we have dropped.  The quality of this solid piece of furniture coupled with the unique Trestles that it rests on create a good, modern look.

The Trestles are perfect for CPU Storage, bins or any other thing that Michael needs to store, off the floor and onto a shelf.  Did you know that the TORNLIDEN is solid wood and has a clean cut on it, so you can cut it down to size?  Yup, cool styling and the ability to size it to what you need, that is why we LOVE IKEA.

PRINTER AND PAPER

Admittedly I don’t like printing and wasting paper, but not everything in our world is on-screen.  Paper storage is a must, and a new printer location was needed.  Scanning, copying and printing are done wirelessly on our favorite printer and our stand is ALEX.  ALEX is a drawer unit on casters, so I can push it away and CLEAN when I want. The white color is neat, clean and offers me plenty of storage with its 6 drawers.

HIDE IT WHEN  YOU CAN’T MAINTAIN IT

Our lives move like lightening, so some days I am working and then the doorbell rings or I run out of the house, our solution to a messy computer area was not storage alone, but a messes best friend: IKEA PS 2014 Secretary.  My favorite piece for faking it! I can’t be perfectly meticulous in a room we use nonstop but I fake it because this unit lets me fold up the front leaf (where our keyboard often is) and it lets me hide away all the clutter surrounding the work.  In addition, there are cable outlets cut out inside the secretariat so the wires are manageable.

TRICK: our current monitor did not fit inside the unit, and of course that threw me for a loop (best-laid plans of mice and men) but I headed out to the craft store and bought a few picture acrylic picture easel holders.  We took the monitor off its stand and set it in these acrylic easel stands for photos and it worked like magic.

BOOK CASES TO FINISH OUT THE LOOK

What would a den be without a bookcase? I think it would be pointless. Back in the day, den’s were used to display books, awards, and book collections.  Today, they are more practical for storage of all those mislaid items that need a home and pull a room together.  My ability to display the issues of Magazines I have been featured and my mantra that I have designed a life I love all come together as I have just started to decorate the bookshelves with a little bit of my hard work:) Now let’s not forget Michael has to put some of his stuff there (I hate sharing, lol!)

This is our HEMNES Bookcase in natural stained white! We have decided to use the benefit of adjustable shelves to our advantage and configure it to meet our needs. From basketed hidden storage to displays of our work, we have managed a bit of everything on this vessel.

CHAIR UPDATES

Flinten swivels in black to give a little color perk to the room, comfortable and supportive for posture and so easy to relax in.  My bow-tie beautiful chair is known as the LILLHÖJDEN . Comfortable and I can wash the cover, so lavishly live it out loud and then wash and repeat!

Luxury, comfort, style and complete organization were the end result and what we were after from the beginning. Head to your local IKEA to see all the options, and remember to think outside the box. Traditional pieces of furniture can be used in unconventional ways like we did with the drafting table (dinner table), there are just endless possibilities.  Clean out your office, renovate and become a weekend warrior to be able to lavishly live den DIY renovations out loud!

All products provided by IKEA.  Images, thoughts, solutions, are my own – In Need of more DIY Inspiration? Here’ area few more of my projects