New Room Makeover: Spider-Man Home Office Reveal

Our friend Ray recently got a great new job with one big caveat: it's a work-from-home deal. With 3 young kids at home on summer vacation, that meant he needed a proper home office, STAT.

John and I immediately jumped in and convinced Ray and his wife Julianne to swap the kids' current playroom - basically an extra bedroom at the end of the house - with the family office, which had 2 sets of French doors and zero privacy. Next time I'll show you how we turned their old office into a Star Wars-themed playroom, but first, let's see the playroom-turned-office:

 Ray had already moved his standing desk in here, but this room used to house toy kitchens and princess castles and LOTS of LEGO.

The entry door has an unusal angled wall butted up against the closet:

You can see furniture arrangement is already a challenge, since I was determined to get Ray's desk off the walls (too clausterphobic) while keeping the natural light behind him. More on that in a bit.

First, though, that old carpet had to go. John and I quickly sliced it into strips, rolled it up, and carted it out to the garage, followed by the padding. After cleaning up the concrete, John got right to installing some gorgeous new vinyl laminate:

John finished the flooring and trim in a day, then I scootched around doing all the caulking, puttying, sanding, painting.... ug. Quarter round is such a pain, y'all. Worth it, but a pain.

Next we replaced the old kids' fan with something more chic:

Ain't she a beaut? It's from Home Depot, here's the link.

Then the fun part: painting the walls!

Ahhh. Am I the only one who breathes a little easier just looking at this? It's so calming. I especially love the color with the flooring.

This is the most accurate photo of the wall color, by the way; it's a gray blue called "Meditative" from Sherwin Williams. It's going to look more baby blue in some of my photos after this, but trust me, in real life it's more gray.

Now let's peep that oh-so-satisfying B&A:

New Dollar Tree DIY: Hobbit Door Wreaths!

I've got a super fun DIY for your next craft night, gang; this was a huge hit with my group, and I think my favorite thing we've made all year:

Hobbit Door Wreaths!

Or alternatively, Fairy Door Wreaths.

In fact that's what I love about these: they're infinitely customizeable. And - AND! -  you can buy everything you need from Dollar Tree, so they only cost a few dollars each to make.

Here's my Friday Night group hard at work on theirs:


I'll show you all their finished wreaths as we go along.

First, let's talk materials:



 I found the wreaths, flowers, rope hangers, moss, and I think even the wood beads all at Dollar Tree. The only thing not from DT on mine are the tiny mushrooms and the insulation foam we used for the doors - but here's a handy foam substitution you CAN find at Dollar Tree:



Did you know you can peel off the paper backing from DT foam board? I just learned this trick from Studson Studio, my new favorite Youtuber. You can stack the foam together to make thicker pieces, and just like pink or blue insulation foam, this stuff carves & textures like a dream. Perfect for woodgraining.

Again, we used pink foam because we have so much in the garage, but everything I'm about to show will also work on DT foam.

Last thing: be on the lookout for things you can turn into tiny door handles. Wooden beads, jewelry pieces, or these finger puzzles from Dollar Tree all work great: