Modern Farmhouse Office Renovation

Home Offices have evolved greatly in the past 20+ years. When I started my first office job right out of college, I was given a “terminal” to work with, not a computer, had no word processing capabilities what so ever…just a basic terminal used for data input.  Look familiar?

Ok, don’t want to give away my age, but anyone out there remember floppy disks? When I talk to my kids about these outdated technology terms, they look at me like I’m from MARS.

Fast forward a few years……and I landed a new job with…yes…a fancy computer which had word processing capabilities! WooHoo! But not the word processing we are used to today, such as WORD, but it was called Displaywrite, it was used with IBM processors. Look familiar?

In those days, our home offices were equipped with huge desks to hide the processor and multiple drawers to store all the disks we had to back up on a regular basis….like all the pictures of our family and kids…in case there was ever a fire…you know. Now, everything goes on the cloud.

Fast forward a few more years….enter the laptop! Wow, what a fantastic invention this is, small enough to carry around, and kids can use them at school to take notes and do homework! Imagine typing your notes! I took all my notes with a spiral notebook and a BIC pen – until I had calluses on my fingers. Kids have it too easy these days.

With the invention of the laptop, our home offices changed dramatically. No need for those huge desks, but what to do with them? The Salvation Army won’t ever take them!

Technology is changing the way we work at home, and our desks must change with the times as well. Out went the chunky desk, in came the sleek desk without drawers. When we replaced our big chunky desk, my husband knew exactly what desk he wanted for his new office..that was the easy part.

Renovating this office was a challenge. Here are some before pictures…it was hard to capture fully how the office looked when we moved in.

This is a picture from inside the office looking out.

This picture is looking into the office.

The room has a beautiful wall of windows looking out onto the pool but nothing else, no shelving, and basic white walls.

As part of our hardwood replacement reno, we pulled out the flooring in the office and replaced with 5″ dark maple floors. The walls definitely needed color, we chose a dark blue for the walls, and a circular metal drum chandelier for the ceiling.

The most important aspect of an office, in my opinion, is that it must have plenty of space for file storage. We hired a contractor to build custom built-in’s on 2 walls. The advantage to custom built-in’s is the ability to design your storage space exactly as you wish. All the lower pullout drawers are for files, fits both regular and legal folders. They also have a soft close ability which is wonderful. The very top of the cabinets have lights shining down through a glass shelf, which lights up 2 shelves as opposed to just one. 

We also put a smaller unit on the opposite side of the room, for additional storage and filing space. The cabinets below were designed to house printers, routers and other equipment.*This post contains affiliate links.*

Notice my husband’s desk? It’s made out of recycled telephone poles and contains holes in the wood. No drawers…notta. All he needs is a laptop for his desk, and yes his desk is always this neat.

We can’t forget the America flag to adorn the room, made out of reclaimed wood panels.

I selected a few other really nice rustic looking desks at an affordable price, you may be interested in. Check em out.

Industrial Empire Desk (HERE)

or a very sleek designed desk more like we have …

Industrial Empire Computer Desk (Here)

I also love the gray antiqued design of this one

Aldridge Desk

For more of an industrial looking desk, check this one

Derry Writing Desk

Can you relate? Drop me a line. See you next time!