So my intention was to give this room a whole new look. I wanted to give it a fresh coat of paint, new wallpaper and shift things around, perhaps some new seating… you know me. I can’t sit on a room for very long without wanting to change things. And this room was scheduled for change.
Spot the fluffy dog butt.
Alas, life does not always go the way you plan. The reason we decided to scrap the idea of an office refresh? Well, we’ve actually decided we’ll be putting the house on the market earlier than we’d initially anticipated. In fact, it’ll probably be happening in the next 4-6 weeks (ack!!). So starting a new project seemed a little insane given that we still have work to do in our hallway.
Therefore, instead of a full revamp, I’ve actually just given the room a bit of a refresh. Now, if you follow my Instagram Stories, you may have seen that a couple of months ago, I received an incredible delivery. The lovely and talented Nadia of Preciously Me had gotten in touch asking if I might like her brass and gold shelving unit.
Bearing in mind that I’d been on the hunt for another one to match the Pierre Vandel one I have in here for the previous 5 months (they are really hard to come by), it was like fate. She’d recently moved flats and really didn’t have the space for it any longer and knew how much I loved it after we’d exchanged a number of emails late last year. I was so astounded at her generosity but she refused to let me pay for it so we arranged for a courier to come pick it up from her home in London and deliver it to me in Manchester.
It may seem a little crazy to be getting new furniture for a home that we plan on moving out of shortly but I knew that no matter where we moved, I would find a place for this beauty.
For now, I decided to move it into my office with both units in the alcoves either side of my desk. While they don’t match, I actually quite like the asymmetricalΒ quality it gives and having that additional storage for all my decorative bits and bobs is amazing.
Leaving the gallery wall in situ, I then moved the sideboard to the opposite wall and hung a few prints above it. The whole room is just so much roomier and open now which I love. I think when it comes time to start showing the property, while it’s not being shown as a bedroom, there’s no doubt that it’s being shown off as a really good size double room with plenty of space for a bed and wardrobes. Fingers crossed, buyers have a little imagination!
And so, I’m so sorry to disappoint that this isn’t a full room makeover. Of course, I would have loved to have shown you my plans for this space but I’m saving all my ideas for when we move!
At least for the time being, my office is nice and airy, perfect for showing off to potential buyers and not too cluttered with the additional storage!
So just a huge thank you to Nadia for being so incredibly generous (and of course, I sent her a little expression of my gratitude privately) and I genuinely can’t wait to see where this beautiful vintage piece ends up in our next home! And of course, go check out Nadia’s Instagram and projects, she’s very talented and has such an eye for vintage items!
We will be working on the hallway over the next few weeks but it’s not going to be anything crazy unfortunately! Just paint, new carpet and a bit of a freshening up as it’s probably not worth putting a huge amount of time and money into it at this point seeing that we won’t be staying! I promise I’ll keep you guys up to date with all the excitement around here! In the meantime, what do you think of the ‘mini’ office refresh?Β
Really lovely. I am so envious of those brass shelving units & I love the stylish magazine stores. Did you paper them yourself or did they come like that?
PS. I did, just for a moment, think that you had skinned your lovely dog for a chair cover, but then I saw the tail :)
Thanks so much Alison! The magazine files are a DIY which you can see here https://www.swoonworthy.co.uk/2015/01/diy-wallpapered-ikea-magazine-files.html/
Also the dog/chair cover comment made me laugh!! Bless him, he’d make a great chair to be honest, super fluffy lol xxx
So glad you love it and it really looks amazing in that corner!
And once again thank you so much for the flowers!!!!!!
XO
Ahh thank you lovely! I reckon when we move, I’d like it to have pride of place in one of the main living areas ;) Still can’t believe this beauty is mine! Mwah! xxx
Gorgeous office!
Thanks so much Joette!! <3 xx
Such a beautiful shelving unit. I’d love to have one too. Lucky you.
You must be so excited for the move. Will you still be in Manchester? x
Very excited! Nope, probably moving to the Midlands but we haven’t yet decided exactly where – ack! lol xxx
Oh wow! Moving home. Hope you will be getting a fixer upper to give the Swoon Worthy touch ! How incredibly generous of your friend to give you that gorgeous unit x
We’re hoping for a property we can definitely put our own mark on! And I know, I was utterly flabbergasted when she offered it to me (I may have actually cried because I’m a big softie like that lol) xx
Exciting times ahead flower, i’m sure anybody who looks around the house will soon snap it up it’s a beauty.
The office looks great it’s a beautiful space xxx
Thanks so much darling – I certainly hope so!! xxx
What a gorgeous shelving unit, lucky you!! The office looks amazing and I’m sure buyers will have the vision to be able to see it as a potential bedroom. Exciting news about the move. Are you having to move to give you more content for the blog? Lol
I really hope they do! We have 3 bedrooms but only one is being used as an actual bedroom – whoops lol Of course, the additional content will be great but it’s not our sole reason, no ;) This was never meant to be our forever home, in fact we only planned on staying 3 years then it turned to 5 and now we’ve been here 7!! Wayne would like a change of scenery as well and well, it’s just time to move on to the next (bigger) project! xx
That gold shelving unit is so fab! How lovely of her to give it to you. Best of luck with the house sale – we have just sold ours and are waiting for the sale to finish going through so we can move into our new house – it’s so exciting! Can’t wait to see where you move to next x
Oh congrats on your house sale! It’s so exciting and so stressful so I’m bracing myself for the coming craziness ;) Best of luck with your sale, hope it all goes smoothly for you! xx
Love the new shelving unit Kimberly! It’s just gorgeous! Good luck on selling and moving! We sold our house…just signed paperwork this morning on it! We are looking forward to moving onto bigger and better things. A new adventure for our family! Best wishes! Amanda
Oh wow, congrats Amanda!! That’s very exciting and best of luck with the upcoming adventure ;) xx
Such a beautiful office space, I’m so looking forward to seeing what you do in your next place! x
You’ll have no problem selling this gorgeous house. Things are definitely changing when people are buying. A house on my road had knocked 2 bedrooms into one and was supposedly at a ‘disadvantage’ because of it. It was snapped right up!
All those pieces are so pretty in there Kimberly, its functional and pretty at the same time. A perfect combo! Good luck with the house selling
I am in love with that shelving unit, lucky you!! And does this mean that you’ve found somewhere new to move on to already?!!
I love that the shelving units don’t match! They’re both so pretty and the differences make a bold impact. That cat planter is too cute!
It looks great Kimberly – love the asymmetrical shelves! Can I ask where you got your adorable cat planter?! I always notice it in your photos! Rx
Hi Rosanna, Thanks so much! The planter is from Anthropologie but I bought it in store last year – so sorry about that! xx
Great job! Love the color combination! <3