Nestled between our kitchen and living room is a quiet little corner that has easily become the most utilized area of our home. Despite having a dining room mere feet away, we eat all our meals here. Our command station (i.e. family calendar) lives and dies here. The kiddos tackle their school work here. Even the dogs use this space for their meals and naps! Everyone is spending time here! While it has taken many forms over the years we have lived in this home, I finally feel like it’s functional…and fun! Our wacky style isn’t for everyone. We do not have a perfectly styled home ready for it’s Instagram close up…but it works for us!
Kids’ School Work Station
We scored this old TV armoire off of Facebook Marketplace and though it’s huge and seemingly unnecessary, we gave it a purpose through some paint, wall paper, and storage baskets!
After a few coats of paint, upgrading hardware, and wallpaper…it was ready to go! The color and wall paper were left over from a previous project so I knew it would look coordinated throughout the house. We put the kids’ homework computer in here as well as a few storage baskets to make it more functional. I added dry erase boards and corkboard strips for reminders. They can even toss their backpacks in the bottom cabinet to keep them nicely stored away!
This upgrade alone made this space SO much better for us. Clutter can easily overwhelm me so having a space that the kids can tuck all their school work into at the end of the day was huge! The armoire didn’t take up the entire wall, so I added a vintage table to one side for our record player and then our tiny beverage fridge is hidden on the other side. With a few plants and baskets across the top, I was content…at least for a little while. 😉
Feature Wall
One thing you’ll notice from the picture above is that the color of the armoire really fades into the wall color. Because we spend so much time here, I wanted it to pop a little more…so a fun wall paper was a must! I found one that had a color that coordinated with the rug and other room decor, without being too distracting. Thankfully, this wall is fairly flat so it was only mildly frustrating to install the temporary wall paper!
The second I got the paper placed and took a step back to admire…I was hooked. It’s just funky enough to fit our personalities! Throwing in our previously owned décor really helped solidify the space for me!
The final step was to add a few more pieces to the wall…like a couple records, a cross-stitched piece, a propagation station, and a vintage piece I scored at an estate sale! The mini-federal mirror and letter holder on the side of the armoire were also estate sale scores that I was pleased to add. I also added a tiny little lamp to the beverage fridge top to add more light to this dark corner. And…voila!
This project lasted over the course of several weekends to paint, paper, and scour estate sales for inspiration! Below are a few links from the project:
Project Links
Armoire Project
- Behr Paint – Dark Storm Cloud & Wax (This was left over paint from a different project and only took two coats!)
- Wall Paper (Again, left over from a previous project)
- Hardware Butterflies
- Storage Baskets
- White Boards & Cork Boards
- Computer Stand
Feature Wall