Office Gallery Wall Update

Goodness, you guys! I wanted to share this side of the office a month ago and things have been nuts! November was a whirlwind between Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles (I’ll share more about that later). I was hoping to share this before the Behr Box Challenge reveal of the cabinet on the other side of the room that I posted the other day, but other things have taken over…

 

 

Thank you for your patience! Let’s talk about this office of ours. Ya know, it’s interesting. Something about our office had been bugging me for quite some time. Did some decor soul searching and realized a few things. 

 

BEFORE:

 

 

1) The gallery wall was too much on my eyes. There’s been a bit of an online debate over gallery walls recently. Some say they’re becoming dated. Some say it looks like “wall acne.” I, myself, was wanting to tear this all down and replace it with one large piece instead. But I’ve come to learn something about gallery walls. They are BEAUTIFUL when done well. And the ones I’ve been drawn to are the ones that have one subject matter:

 

 Image from Emily Henderson

 

 Image from At Charlotte’s House

 

Even though these are walls made up of many pieces, I feel like it reads as one large piece. Except it’s more interesting because it feels layered with more texture and color and dimension. I knew creating a new gallery wall was a big part of loving my office again. But there was still this…

 

 

2) The office chair. I love the shape of the chair that was in here, but I’m beyond over chevron. It screams 2013 to me. And the yellow of the chair bothered my eyes when combined with…

 

3) The gold striped drapes. Do I think these are great drapes on their own? Absolutely. But the gold next to the bright yellow just grew a bit much over the years.

 

 

4) While the rug is still pretty to me, it reads quite global and my taste has leaned a bit more clean-lined/modern these days.

 

 

So… those four things I knew needed to change. I went to Home Goods one day for inspiration, and I came across this office chair…

 

 

 

You guysssss. People often ask me where I start in a room; what one piece do I draw inspiration from. That’s different for every room. Sometimes it’s a paint color. Sometimes I find a pillow I love. Anything. But this. This chair. This is where the office started forming in my mind. And I decided at that point that a floral wall was a must.

 

 

I actually found several art pieces I loved at Home Goods, thrifted a couple for a dollar or two, and this is where I found the largest painting.

 

 

I always start a gallery wall by laying everything out on the floor. I play around until I find a composition pleasing to the eye, and then I start getting them up on the walls. For those nervous to put too many holes in the wall, I use the wrapping paper trick to eliminate mistakes. If you’re new to it, basically I trace every piece on wrapping paper, cut it out, and then lay the paper back down on the piece to poke holes where the nails should go. This way, I can tape the paper up to the wall, make sure it’s in the right place and level, and THEN hammer a nail in. After that it’s as simple as ripping down the paper and hanging the art where the nail is. Easy peezy!

 

 

 

 

I mean, if this doesn’t make your eyeballs happy, I don’t know what will! The chair works so beautifully with it all, and can we talk about the books? You all know I love me some thrifted books. You can see them in my kitchen…

 

 

And in my living room…

 

 

And in my dining room…

 

 

I pretty much find a way to sneak them in anywhere. They’re my favorite cost-effective way to add color to a space (besides paint), and in this case, I really loved the idea of using them to hide the necessities of an office: papers, cords, etc.

 

 

 

I LOVE the drapes that replaced the gold striped ones! That green is perfection and the velvet is so gorgeous. The color and texture work so beautifully with the deep, saturated walls.

 

 

Shop this post…

 

So, at this point, the thing I’m still on the hunt for is the perfect new rug. Not sure what direction I’m going with there, but I know this room has plenty of color as it is, so what I choose won’t be anything too crazy. Lol While I love to show finished spaces, I think it’s also important to show the process and let you know how things flow along the way. I posted on Instagram a bit ago, asking why people are so afraid to use color, and I loved the conversation that followed. Lots of good back and forth. I’ll share what that IG’s photo caption was, because it shares the history of my love of color:

 

Genuine question…. what is it about using color that scares you?? I know we all come from different places, with different stories. And I need to remind myself that although this space makes my color-loving heart burst, not everyone knows the colorful memories in my head that lead to this bringing joy to my eyeballs. This is every art class, every museum trip, every garden of my mother’s, every Bob Ross painting that reminds me of my dad, and every Three’s Company episode I watched with my sisters. And now I’m crying. I didn’t realize any of that til I typed it out. This. This is why I love interior design. 

 

Cheers,

Haneen

 

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This Article Has 4 Comments
  1. I am working on transitioning my daughter’s former room into a study and guest room…I love color but don’t want to paint….maybe more than one wall.. I have different furniture .. how do I make it work.

  2. Haneen says:

    Hi, Stephanie! This is a tough one to answer! I’d have to see the room and the furniture options to give suggestions. But if you love color but don’t want to paint, I’d suggest bringing color to the room with art and accessories. Easy to switch out!

  3. Stunning!! You have a great eye! I love the colors.

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