Upstairs Office/ Bonus Room Updates

Its been awhile since I have updated on the progress of our upstairs bonus room / office.

When I last left off it looked like this...

We had just painted the whole upstairs in Martha Stewart Sandpiper and I had grand plans of bringing in a seating area and small TV for the kids to use. I really didn't expect to use the space unless I was working in the office.

Then something happened. We decided to give the TV downstairs the boot! That's right, we decided to try living without a TV in the main living space. Our goal was to create a TV free zone so we could actually have conversations now and then! ha! (btw, I am super struggling with the layout of the living room..)

(old before, but you get the idea!)

Our big sectional needed a new home and obviously the TV did too. So it all got moved upstairs. The easiest thing to do with the TV was plop it on the little mid century credenza that I made over  (top picture), but it wasn't exactly the safest thing in the world...

Any guess why I didn't blog about that hot mess!? #fail

We had a very clear problem and I was trying to come up with all sorts of ideas to make sense of it all - think built ins or a giant floating shelf - but we had much bigger projects we need to tackle, so it kept getting the shaft. Until we ran across this baby at an estate sale in Boise...

Its a gorgeous pecan mid century dresser (with a mirror, too!) that we snagged with a few other things for just over $100! Score!!. We both agreed it would be perfect for our huge TV and could also provide awesome storage for movies and art supplies!

And it does!!

The scale of the dresser is much better suited to the TV and I love how it fills the wall space between the hallway and the weird little wall shelf. Much better!

The sectional fit perfect too!

I still have a long ways to go in here. I want to bring in a few other colors (coral!) so that it has some of the same vibe as the kid's bathroom. I want it to be happy, bright and fun up here since its our family zone. Nothing too serious.

The other side of the office pretty much looks the same, other than I added shelves to the opposite wall, but its kind of a hot mess so we will ignore it for now. Hopefully soon I can do a whole office / bonus room reveal!

Gotta just keep chugging along!

Project: Bonus Room Makeover - Before + Layout Plans

Even though we are still in the midst of #projectkidsbathroom, I can't help but start thinking about whats next on the list.

I really want to finish our office/bonus room, because it gives me a headache every time I walk into it.

After recently reorganizing the kids toys, I decided it was time to get serious. The last straw came over the weekend when I decided to sell my daughters old crib and couldn't find four of the many bolts that went with it. Luckily, the people buying the crib were happy with a reduced sell price to make up for it, but seriously? 

Annoying, much?

So, here's the room from back in January...

and here it is in its current condition (looking in from the hallway..), after I went thru every random box looking for those four bolts...

As you can see, I have everything in the center so I can paint! The paint for this room will actually be carried into the hallway and down the stairs as well, so there's a fair bit of prep involved! I will be pulling out the paint this week after the bathroom is caulked so I can do touch ups in there too.

See there is a method to my madness...most of the time!

So since there is no real progress to show as of yet, I thought I'd share some of room layout plans I have been playing around with in Floorplanner.com  . Keep in mind that our wall height is only 4'10" on the side walls. So that does limit where I can place things.

Option A: This option puts my desk closer to the window and utilizes the window wall for work space and storage. This eventually could be a homeschooling area (should we ever decide to go that route) or a place for arts/crafts. It also means the couch/guest bed is closer to the hallway. For good or bad, I'm not sure yet. I am concerned the window could interfere with this plan if it sits too low.

Option B: This option would also utilize the window wall for some low bookcases with artwork/family photos above it. The bed/couch area would be closer to the window. You would have to walk through my office and craft area to get to the lounging area. This is basically how my office was set up before and it worked well, but I'm concerned a work table in the entry could get a little tight.

What do you think?

Am I missing some obvious room layout options? 

I am very open to suggestions!!!