Desk Stories
Martha’s Home Office Makeover
Apr 11Welcome to our new blog! I am thrilled to share with you my home office makeover as our first ever post. One of Martha Brook’s aims is to help our customers create beautifully styled workspaces that are a pleasure to spend time in, and that spark the imagination. So, what better way to kick things off with my very own workspace!
Why a makeover?
When we moved into our house in 2012, it had a fitted home office in this tiny room, which wasn’t really big enough for anything else.
We kept it as it was, improving it with a lick of paint and new blinds, and it actually was home to some of the early days of this business – clearly before I discovered Instagram or had a clue about styling!
Once we got our studio, I spent less time working from home and all my energy on making our studio pretty.
But then coronavirus hit, and like many people, I have been working from home a lot more as I don’t need to be in our studio every day. Your workspace can have a massive impact on your creativity and productivity, so it was definitely time for a makeover!
Are you ready for the transformation?! Let’s start with the most important thing in the room…
The desk of dreams
This had to be the place I started from! I knew I wanted a white desk and one that wasn’t too deep to fit in the space, and I ended up finding this absolute gem in Ikea.
The lovely desk lamp was a gift from my Mum at Christmas (good job Philippa!) from Made.com, and the pen pot, pen tray, document organiser and all the desk pads are from Martha Brook – of course!
Colourful storage
I have been lusting after the lockers from Mustard Made for some time, so I couldn’t resist treating myself to their ‘Lowdown’ in Blush Pink.
It is deceptively large inside with moveable shelves. The perfect place to hide away files, props and my excessive amount of notebooks! It also provides the ideal surface to display a selection of things that bring me joy. The dried flowers are from MUD Urban Flowers, cute twisted candle from Sugar and Cement, postcard from Rose England and the Venus candle I made in a workshop we did as a team with Yougi.
The gallery wall
Who doesn’t love a gallery wall?! I sit facing this wall every day I’m working from home, so I wanted to create something beautiful and uplifting. Paired with my favourite Martha Brook prints are various others found on Etsy or Instagram from small independent brands. I added some added texture courtesy of this empowering velvet banner from Oh Squirrel and metal star from Oliver Bonas:
This Le Soleil print is from Meraki and Love Lives Here print from Lucy Says I Do.
The feature print on the wall is this lovely Columbia Road print from Rose England, reflecting my love of London and weekends spent exploring.
Splendid shelves
My shelves were quite frankly a mess before, so they needed a good sort and style.
The large pink document holders from La Redoute hide a lot of my paper, and then we had a lot of fun with the rest! Cute matches from Oliver Bonas, postcard from Type By Alice, useful and pretty plant book from Prick London, bookends from Made.com and pen pot from Martha Brook.
The pink door!
If you follow us on Instagram, you’ll know I have been dreaming about having a pink front door for years, but my husband – our Head of Operations Chris – said no! So I had the inspired idea of painting the inside of my office door pink. You really can’t tell from the outside, but the interior now looks like this:
Isn’t it amazing?! The eco-friendly pink paint (I know you will ask!) is from Little Greene in the shade Confetti and the tote bag is from Type By Alice.
Finishing touches
All around the office are lots of little extra touches and space for my favourite Martha Brook wall calendar. The peach candle is also from Sugar and Cement and holder from The People Shop.
And the result…
The number one aim was to create an inspiring space that is joy to be in, and I really feel we achieved that!
I adore walking in here in the morning, and it really does help spark the imagination.
Other items not mentioned:
I chose the plants from Beards & Daisies’s unkillable houseplants selection! The pink office chair, blind and lampshade are all from John Lewis, and the rug is from La Redoute. And all other desk accessories are from Martha Brook! You can explore our dream desk edit here.
As with everything we do at Martha Brook, this has been very much a team effort! Thank you to everyone in our team who suggested favourite things, Hannah for lending me her book ends whilst I was waiting for mine to arrive and Edlyl our styling queen for helping me make it look so pretty!
All photos in this blog are by Fiona Caroline Branding, who used to work for Martha Brook and now, as you can see, is a talented photographer. I can’t recommend her enough!
So, what do you think of the makeover?! I’d love to hear your thoughts in our brand new comments section below!
P.S. We’ve been keeping it a secret, but you can now find us on Pinterest! For more inspiration, follow us here.
Hi, which IKEA desk is this?