I’m taking a note out of Christine Dovey‘s book and coining a hashtag if you will for my newest project, project #OfficeKitchenMakeover!
I’ve mentioned a couple times before that during the day I’m an office zombie – an office administrator / personal assistant in the Dublin city centre, to be more precise. While I was working last week, an opportunity arose for me to put my design ‘skills’ to good use. Our office is looking to give the kitchen canteen a mini face lift, and I was asked if I’d like to help tackle the job. Well if you’re going to twist my arm!
Our office kitchen is a run-of-the-mill canteen. Magnolia walls, greyish-blue lino flooring, builders cabinets, and more mismatched plates and chairs than we know what to do with. It’s tempting to look at Pinterest for inspiration, but as there’s a tight budget, I’ll be focusing mainly on two areas – the walls, and making the storage work.
In stead of fighting the blue floors, I’ll be embracing it and pairing it with washed out mink purple and black and white. Our office already uses Viking Direct for their office supplies, so I’ll be sourcing most of our items from there. And as it turns out, they have some, dare I say, on trend stuff. Those chairs? Yep.
THE WALLS
I’m hoping to repaint the walls white to brighten the room since it gets no natural sunlight. Then I’m hoping to add some serious oompf by spray painting a quote on the wall, along the lines of what I did for the Localise Youth Room at Sophia House. Our office deals with sensitive issues with members of the public, so for the sake of my blog post, I chose a strong {and one of my favourite} Dolly Parton quotes as an example. Plus, it rains here in Ireland a lot so we can relate to it literally as well. I’d also like to add a pegboard section to one wall where we can keep all the odd shaped items which at the moment are being crammed into cupboards, patiently waiting to fall on you the moment they’re opened.
THE STORAGE
I can’t wait to put my decluttering skills {I say that like it’s a real thing} to the test and make the most of the storage we have. Our office kitchen is like any kitchen – everything needs to be taken out of the cupboards, ruthlessly downsized, and put back in a place that makes more sense. And to ensure everyone is on the same page going forward, I’m hoping to label the inside of the cupboards {Mrs. Doubtfire style}. I did something similar using a Dymo machine with the stationery cupboard before Christmas, which has remained relatively civilized since {shock, horror}. So fingers crossed my neat-freakery will be welcomed with open arms in the kitchen.
1. Graffiti wall quote, painted in the same fashion as the quote I painted for the Localise Youth Room at Sophia House.
2. 14cent Quartz Heavy Duty Office Wall Clock, €22.49, Viking Direct
3. Transworld Products Preserve Jar, 2ltr, €7.79 each, Viking Direct
4. Linen Cotton Dish Tea Towels Chrysanthemum, €13.40 for a set of 2, ColoredWorld via Etsy
5. Interact Stacking Chairs in White, Viking Direct
6. Dymo LabelManager LM160P, €38.99, Viking Direct
7. DIY kitchen pegboard, via A Beautiful Mess
8. Lavandula plant, €8, IKEA
My next blog post on project #OfficeKitchenMakeover I’m hoping to share some before pictures and a more specific design once it’s finalized. What do you guys think about quotes on office walls? Do you think it works well? Fingers crossed they’re open to the idea of me graffitying one on their walls … Wish me luck! xx A
I'm generally over the quote thing but this is great and apt and your going to give it your own 'stamp'!! Great news! Lucky them to have you at hand for the revamp xx Enjoy & look forward to the updates xx
Oh wow, so cool! I love how your picture looks – the moodboard/styleboard/collection-of-items picture (what do you call it??) Whatever it's called, it looks so good, I love the feel of the colours – those tea-towels look like they'll really pull together the mink purple with the blue of the floors. I am so excited to see before and after pics!
Quotes on office walls… I've never really thought of it before. We used to have the company motto on the wall of my last job – not painted though (must have been some kind of stick-on letters – probably expensively done by some company!) Your quote looked really good for the Localise project – I reckon what you do will look great for the office kitchen!
Maria xx
This is so cool Alex, I am really looking forward to seeing how it develops!