My husband, Page, is a web designer “by day” but also runs a freelance design business out of our home that has (knock on wood) been busier than ever in 2011. Workflow doesn’t slow and deadlines don’t disappear just because you’re moving to a new home, so getting him set up and productive again was at the top of the to-do list after we closed.
He is really excited about this space (which is quickly becoming an office/man cave) and I’m really excited FOR him. Finally, he has a place to shut the door and do whatever he needs to do to make the web magic happen – be it blaring some music, taking a brain break with the Xbox, making phone calls to clients, or hunching over pages of coding.
So here are the quick iPhone “before shots” from the night we closed…you’ll notice he already has the ladder in there to get to painting and the door off the hinges in anticipation of fitting a new couch through the frame.
He wanted to go darker with the color in here and chose a color, “Storm”, that is several shades darker than our color throughout the rest of the house. I like the drama it adds to the room. He ordered some blinds for the window and added a rod and curtains.
The first couch he ordered to put in here just BARELY wouldn’t fit through the door frame, so back it went and option 2 turned out to be just as awesome.
Some green Crate & Barrel pillows and some organization from IKEA brought in his favorite color, and a new Expedit shelf now houses his books, files, and vinyl collection. The dude is ALL about lighting, so a few cool lamps rounded out the vibe.
Black Friday brought a “couldn’t pass up” deal on the TV that can double as an extra-large monitor when needed.
And what’s a good work space without some tunes? After inheriting these Polk speakers from my dad, my only contribution to this room was to paint the previously oak finish the same color as his walls…he did everything else!
Page is constantly scribbling out bits of code and navigation ideas for his clients’ sites, so these three “notice boards” from IKEA were a great addition for him – and a little more modern than a traditional whiteboard.
My favorite part of this room though might be the closet that keeps all of his ski/golf/sports gear all out of sight. 🙂 Can’t wait to see the next web creations that come out of this room!
Very nicely decorated. Love the grey color with accents in green. Great color choices for a man cave. We have 6 bedrooms. My husband has an office and I have a scraproom, but 3 other rooms are just with the kids bed rooms sets. I keep telling him to get rid of them and put a man cave in one of them. But he just can’t get rid of the kids stuff. He is attached. Go figure. The kids are 23, 22, 20, and 19. His 2 live with the mom and my two are away at college. Once kids are gone they usually don’t come back, so why not use the spaces for us? We will see, maybe 2012 will be the one.
I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Love the room! This is really random, I was just looking at the website for my BIL’s business and sure enough, at the bottom, it said Page Smith design. That has to be your husband, right? I’ve been following your blog for a few weeks now and have loved watching the house progress, I love your taste! I just read this post this morning and for some reason your husband’s name stuck with me, so I recognized it on the website. So funny, and such a SMALL world!
Thanks, ladies! Ana – maybe show your hubby this post and show him what could be if he got rid of the kids’ stuff. 🙂 And Erica – I’d love to know which site is your BIL’s!
He owns Acceleration Iowa! Their site looks great!
What paint color did you use throughout the rest of the house?
Hi Jennifer – sorry this just came through! We used Sherwin Williams’ “Mindful Grey” in the majority of our house – would choose it again in a heartbeat. LOVE it! 🙂