A Very Organised Office

Lanne is one of the most organised people I have ever met (or because of the internet world - never met). Followers on the Decorating Forum will know what I mean:).

Lanne runs a successful photography business - Painted With Light- and has shown us the odd glimpse of her office set-up on the Decorating Forum but today she reveals to us her Media Room for clients.

"We have a couple of rooms for clients and this one is our media room. It is used for client viewing and ordering appointments. We have tried to keep it to our brand and style, but not make it into a traditional sales area. Clients watch their slideshow and make selections over either morning tea or if it is an evening appointment a cheese platter or dessert.
The colours stick to our branding of 60% white, 30% grey and 10% school bus yellow. The room has a dark grey carpet and blinds and the furniture is simple and mostly ikea. It is simple, minimalist and functional.

The candy is a must. Clients tell us it is like going to the movies.. so we added M&Ms.. very popular. The second image is of our storage cupboard. We keep the dishes and serving items in a white 'billy' bookcase from ikea with glass front doors. We added a large photographic print to the doors. Each door is approx 20 x 40 inches.

This desk is a recent purchase from Officeworks. The Sierra desk is awesome value and it gives us a place for clients to sign EFTPOS receipts and sign off on orders etc. There is a 30 x 40 canvas on the wall above it and some brochures/business cards stored in a Kikki stationery holder.

YUMMY snacks for client viewings. We keep a record of all of our clients preferred snacks and ensure we have them ready for appointments. Clients also love T2 teas and sugar cubes. The yellow cups were from Freedom and we use them to hold spoons, bags etc. Our Painted with Light letterpress business cards. We bought the cushion from etsy.com and asked for a custom colour combo.

And the main event. We use a 32inch screen calibrated by our printer so that clients can see the images exactly as they will print. The media cabinet (Ikea) stores an apple macbook which runs our software and screen. We operate it with an Apple Wireless keyboard and bluetooth mouse. The glass fronted cabinet was perfect for this. We also have a large grey rug (an Ikea bargain) and a simple off white sofa and coffee table with storage underneath + side tables (lack from Ikea). We had the wall decal custom made to match our colour and branding. Our second brand Light + Love uses this same pattern on the back of the business cards. "

What an amazing Media Room. Now do you see what we meant by organised?

Join Lanne and all our other members over on the Decorating Forum to help get your office organised.

By the way I have told Lanne to record that I would like a nice Chardonnay & King Island Dairy Seal Bay Triple Brie and Maggie Beer's Spiced Pear Paste for when I visit:) Do let her know what your preference for nibbles will be when visiting her Media Room.

Office Nooks

This week on the Decorating Forum we have been looking at different ways to create a little nook for your desk.

Somewhere to rest the laptop and pay the bills. Or a place to let the little ones play on the computer but where you can keep a watchful eye on the screen.

Here are some of how favourite pictures we shared.

To see the full discussion and all the solutions we came up with pop on over to the Decorating Forum. Feel free to add any of your ideas or pictures there.

Behind the sofa.

Tucked in a bay window.

At the end of the hallway.

This little hideaway cabinet is from Ikea.

In a corner of a living room.

So which one did you like the best?

We would love to hear from you. Hope you have a great start to the week. 

 

My Office Transformation

Today I thought I would share with you a peak into my crazy decorating world. I don't proclaim to be a decorator at all, I just like to move things and paint a lot!

Most of you who know me from my personal blog would have seen some of these pictures before, but not in a story like this.

I will commentate how a brand new house (now 12 months old) has received THREE makeovers in the office already.

This is how it looked on the very first day...blank canvas.

The 3 photos above are how it first looked. Ok, it's gross. I was going through my 'black and green' stage. Readers need to know that this little ‘duck’ waits for nothing. Nope, I do not sit back looking at an empty room; I find ALL the crap left over in my house and throw it together. I am not one of those normal people that waits until I have enough money to do something special or fantastic... I do not sleep very well knowing there is an empty room. Poorly done Katrina, I know.

 Oooooo... looky here.. it's my 'pink and something' stage. Again, just a shuffle of random left-over bits in my house. The chalkboard was cool, but I just slapped that paint straight on the wall (don’t even ask how I got it off – think electric sander).

I must explain the desk bench and shelf. I had a brainwave (I have these often, whether they are successful or not is another story). I had seen on TV where someone bought a door from Bunnings and used this. So I made my husband buy a series of doors and brackets, and drill massive holes into the walls of our newly built house. Was he happy? No, but I am the boss. Next picture please...

 What have we here? Hmmm.... was my husband right? Could I admit to him that the whole office looked awful and rushed? Yes, I had to. I had to admit this to him so he would pull every bit of it down and start again (this time I had saved some money!). So now the process began of filling up all the holes - in our newly built, less than 6 months old house.

What is he doing?? Ssshhhh... please DO NOT say anything about that piece of devon on his head (aka bald spot). He is tricking us here in the photo; he did not do this wall! So what's the wall all about anyway? It's paint (not a sticker). I saw this idea over here and I decided I had to do one. I stayed up late one night sketching it all on and with a fine paint brush I started filling it in. I was a nervous wreck. I had never done anything like it before.

 Coming together and making a big mess as I go!

And... finished! Oh gee I was so happy! The paint was ‘Taubmans Shale Grey’.

So in went some new furniture I saved to buy, and a few other bits and pieces. With some fancy photography I think it's looking pretty good. What do you think?

Watch the vlog above to see me talk about it only for about 1 minute (warning - turn DOWN your speakers - I have irritating loud voice, I know this!)

Last days to enter our Giveaway - hundreds of entries!

Also, I will be chatting with the gang at The Decorating Forum today.