Blogger Spotlight | Teacher's Industrial Home Office Makeover with Laura Funk

Blogger Spotlight | Teacher's Industrial Home Office Makeover with Laura Funk
Laura Funk is a lifestyle blogger and teacher in Colorado. 

A Needed Home Office Change
Last year when the world shut down, my worlds of teaching and parenting collided and we had to set up a remote learning space quickly to adapt. What I had hoped would be a place for me to grade, plan, read and work, turned into an eclectic collection of things from my childhood and the dollar spot.
It worked for us though. I could have both kids at the table working on their remote schooling or one doing their reading in the little chair and have a dedicated space for the kids to learn while I taught my classes just 10 feet away. Still the space was just not what I had envisioned when we finished our basement 8 years ago.
Initially we had it doubling as a small guest room with my desk and craft stuff in here, however last year we finally took that twin bed out and I was so ready to have an office space that I could have as both a place to craft and to hone my teaching. Obviously after last year there was a drastic need for a home office change.

Prepping for the Redesign
Whether we are in person or remote this year, I knew that the home office was going to change. I had an idea of what I wanted to put together, but definitely needed to do some prep before we started the redesign. We started by checking out 
American Furniture Warehouse for the home furnishings. I had actually done some searching online to look at specific items that we had in mind, but I wanted to get my eyes on the bigger pieces to see how they would fit in the space we were working with. The sales associates took my list and showed us the various pieces and after making our final decisions, we placed our order for pick up that same day.
Once we got home, we started taking everything out of the space. I know someone is going to ask, the closet that is in the corner is not useable, it is access to utilities so we rarely open that door. The space was prepped and ready to go, so now it was time to build the desk, chair and lamp!
This process was actually way quicker than I expected. I told my husband that we would be working for a couple hours on this space and no joke, we had the entire space done with everything built in under an hour!

The Final Reveal of the Industrial Office Design
I am super excited to share the big reveal of the space. It always amazes me how much furniture and the home decor pieces can change the look and feel of the space. We were able to take that eclectic mess we started with and turn it into a comfortable and functional space with the industrial office design.
I realize that the image above makes everything look squished in, but I can assure you there is actually a ton of room in here, I think it is just the angle of the picture.

When I envisioned the home office space I wanted to keep it in line with the rest of our home. Home to us means comfort, inviting, calming, quality and functional. I like some of the farmhouse aesthetics but I also am pulled to more of the earth tones and industrial materials so we went all in with the industrial office design motif.

I wanted a desk space that had a large area for me to work. I like to spread papers out when I grade and plan and often was doing this on the floor, so finding a desk that had that surface area was important. I was also looking for open storage to place stacks of graded papers or decor or even books on for easy access. This A-Frame computer desk was perfect and super simple to assemble too.

As I was decorating the desk space, I was aiming for the functional but earthy look. I wanted things to be organized but still look clean and inviting. I found these white square containers that I could easily put supplies in and then I fell head over heels for these small and medium starburst orbs. Obviously every desk needs a lamp and a plant so I had to have the round metal lantern and grass ball in the black terra pot.

I wanted to keep that reading nook I had previously, but make it more comfortable, and man I have always wanted a bean bag. So I went all in, grabbed this faux fur memory foam lounge bag and finished off the space with this industrial floor lamp and the inspirational Be the Change sign oh and that adorable owl pillow.

To finish out the entire space I obviously needed a comfortable and heavy duty office chair. I did also decide to add the leaf wall decor at the last minute to frame the space a bit. I keep the TV in the room because I use it to do yoga and it can also double as a larger monitor for work. Overall, I am in love with this industrial office design.

Follow Laura Funk's blog at wegotthefunk.com