Before & After: Home Office/Mudroom Renovation

This little nook was a catch-all for junk! The plaster walls in here were cracked and crumbling. The floor was warped and soft in certain spots. And every inch of the floor was covered in old vinyl.

Before

After

We knew we wanted to continue to use this space as a mudroom. But we also wanted to transform it into a small office space. The ceilings in here were also low and we wanted to address this issue when renovating.

The other side of the room before.

After

We started by ripping up the floors entirely since they were water damaged from years of poor drainage outside the side door. Water splashing up and in over time made the floor soft.

We also gutted the ceilings and the area where the closet used to be.

Down beneath the floors we found some Schaefer flat top beer cans. (Guess the contractors were drinking on the job!)

A Schaefer beer can we found beneath the floors!

Once the floor was reframed we hung drywall and raised the ceiling by exposing the ceiling joists. This gave us an additional 6"of headspace.

Then, we started hanging shiplap trim work on all the walls. We cut strips of shiplap from thin boards of 4x6' plywood and nailed them up about 1/4" apart.

We also replaced the side exit door with a 6-lite prehung door, which was badly needed! Just this small window at the top lets in so much more natural light.

Anywhere we did not hang shiplap we patched with spackle.

And then we started on the fun stuff! Tile...

I am obsessed with these patterned black and white tiles from Floor and Decor. And I guess other people are too! Because they were sold out everywhere. We literally had to piece together boxes of tile from multiple locations to buy enough for our space.

I wanted to contrast the patterned tile with a matte black hex on the landing and on the steps.

Once all the tile was set and grouted we covered it up and moved onto paint!

I prefer to prime first and then go back and fill any gaps or blemishes with caulk or wood putty.

We also decided to add some paneling to this door to make it feel a little more high end.

With the walls painted in Behr Smoky White, we were ready to start on furnishings! I wanted a built-in desk for this nook. And this Target hack was the perfect size.

We simply bought the desk and never attached the legs. Instead, we used black metal brackets from Home Depot to hang the desk off of studs in the walls. The brackets are invisible from the front but they are located along the sides and back of the desk to give it total stability.

For lighting I chose these black & white flush mounts from CB2 which I absolutely love and will definitely be using again on future projects.

We also added a pop of color by painting the doors in this space a very moody green! This shade is Behr Bamboo Black.

Finally we repurposed the salvaged floor joists and made them into floating shelves!

We found them in the floor with "Newark" and "Made in France" printed on them.

I absolutely love working from this little nook! It definitely inspires happiness and motivation to love your surroundings when you are grinding away all day! I hope this space inspires you!

Product Sources:

• Paint: Behr Toasty White & Bamboo Black

• Tile: Floor & Decor

• Green Chair: World Market

• Lighting: CB2

• Floating desk: Target hack!