The office/closet project is in full swing at the Hasler household. Here’s the purpose of the project, what the plans are, where we’re at, and where we’re going.
The Purpose
I’ve worked from home on the main floor of our house for the past 3 years. I finally decided to move my office to another room to help with work/life balance. That was what started the new office plans.
This officially became an office/closet project after coming to terms with the fact that I just can’t do a small closet anymore. All the closets in our 80’s built home are small…or at least not big enough to handle my obsession with Stitch Fix and Amazon. The biggest closet in our house randomly happens to be in a spare room which we used as an extra guest room. That extra guest room hardly was used because people usually prefer the other one we have.
This became a full-on project for 2023. I needed a bigger closet and a better work environment. That’s the purpose for the office/closet project that this blog post is all about.
The Plans
My best friend and almost sister-in-law, Sam Sangster (she’s officially a Hasler this September!), graciously agreed to help design and work on the space with me. There were several priorities for the room: storage, professional working area, comfortable seating, and a pretty closet.
Built-ins were designed to help give “library wall” vibes that Mike and I have always wanted in our home. They would also provide storage. At the start, we wanted the desk to be in front of the built-ins and part of the focal point upon entering the room. That didn’t work out as planned because the lighting from the windows was terrible for video calls. The lighting could be fixed with blinds but then the room would be too dark and feel like a dungeon. The easiest solution was moving the desk to the side wall which offered better lighting and more space for seating.
The closet will be arranged so that there is one wall of hanging clothes, one with a giant mirror, and the other to house purses/shoes/etc. It will also include a “getting ready” space so I can do hair/make-up in the closet.
The other important factor was comfy seating. I like to lounge when work doesn’t require using two screens at my desk. Previously, I’d move around the house into different cozy areas but that meant work traveled with me after standard work hours. That’s why the new office will have at least two lounging spots.
Where We’re At
We’ve made progress over the past few weeks and the most time consuming part so far was swapping things from the prior guest room (aka the new office) and the old office space (aka new guest room). There was a lot of purging and reorganizing that had to happen during that phase.
A few furniture pieces have been selected so far and the room has been painted Blustery Sky by Sherwin Williams. The desk that I ordered came from Ashley Home Furniture and I purchased the Loloi Rug off Amazon.
(Special note: the paint color in the design photos is not Blustery Sky and different wall-paper has been purchased, the design photos were our base idea as we began planning.)
Where We’re Going
We have a lot to do but will tackle it in phases. We’ll start the closet at the end of this month while we plan how to make the built-ins and order materials. We anticipate the built-ins to be the most challenging part of the project. While we do all of that, we’ll shop for decor and new light fixtures.
Follow @haslerliving on Instagram to stay updated on social media as we go along! We hope to finish this project by May. We work full-time jobs and have personal lives to live so we’re taking things one step at a time. Thank you for following along with us!