When it comes to decorating, every couple’s decorating agenda is different. Since this is our first house, we are learning about ours a little more each day. Lately, it’s been all about the shell of the room (walls, floors, wiring, molding, lighting, etc) rather than what is actually going in the room, so we haven’t quite perfected our groove, yet. Thus far, we have been working pretty good together as a team. When I find something that I think will look good in a certain place, he says “yae” or “nay”. If he says “nay”, but I really love it, it just takes a little more persuasion. You ladies know the drill. However, today, our process is going out the window because we’re going to talk about a room that is 100% Greg… almost. ;)

Greg’s office. Aside from the hall bathroom, this is going to be the first room to get major attention. The main reason for this is he needs a place to work. I think he may be going a tad crazy writing code and putting together his blog posts in my parents’ dining room for the past 6 months. (Wow, have we really been here for that long?) Aside from that, his room needs to house five guitars, one ukulele, lots of books, office supplies, a bunch of computer parts and all the rest of his tech stuff. All of these things have been neatly packed away in a climate-controlled storage unit, but it’s kind of hard to use them from there. We’re getting a little tired of having to drive to the storage unit whenever we need CD-Rs or printer paper.

To refresh your memory, here is what Greg’s office looked like on the day we got the keys to the house. Yes, he got the Redskins room!

Remember that style quiz we took a few weeks ago? Greg’s results were 80% Rustic Revival and 20% Modern Elegance. But the choices he made on the quiz were based on what he’d like to see in a living area of the house. Since this is his home office space, he wants it to be, in his exact words, “tech geek modern”. So far, we’ve ripped out the carpet, had hardwood floors installed, put Martha Stewart’s Cobblesone paint on the walls and had trim painted with Sherwin Williams’ Extra White. Here’s what the office looks like today:

As we mentioned the other day, we are in the process of wrapping up a few projects, then we are having the hardwood floors stained. Once this is done, it’s going to be time to put everything in this room, so we need to come up with a plan now.  Here’s what we came up with…

For years I have been putting together “mood boards” for friends and family. Actually, ever since I took my Desktop Publishing class in the 10th grade. At this point, it has become such a staple in my everyday life that before I make major purchase for a particular room, I must make a mood board first. That’s just how I roll. Over the past week or so, Greg and I have been slowly but surely putting together a shopping list for his home office. The “tech geek” stuff will come through the accessories and finishing touches (including some fun homemade geek art!). For now, we’re focusing on the room’s decor “foundation”. Here is what we have in mind:

1. Kivik Chair When we set out to find the perfect chair for Greg’s office, we knew it needed to be practical for playing guitar, yet comfy for reading a book. We think this Ikea chair is the best of both worlds.

2. Circuit Office Accessories I love these glossy white desk accessories. They have the perfect mix of modern and tech minimalism.

3. Fado Pendant This simple pendent from Ikea is modern yet affordable; coming in at only $29.99.

4. Giant Wipe-Off Board Some people like to write out their flow charts and to-do lists on paper. Greg likes to do it wipe-off board style! For as long as I’ve known him, he’s said that he wanted a large wipe off board in his office. This gigantic wipe-off board will make this dream of his come true in a big way.

5. Crane Grellow Desk Lamp This is one of those “nay” items that Greg isn’t too keen about yet. I’m trying to convince him that it will look great and tie in with the grellow (green & yellow) beads on the abacus. I assured him that if he hates it after we put it in, we can trade it in for something like this.

6. Abacus Wall Art This is the very first thing we purchased for Greg’s office. It’s 100% math geek, but it has a lot of great colors to pull into the rest of the room.

7. Galant Desk Did you notice the odd-shaped box on the floor of the office? Well, that’s the top to this desk! We are really anxious to put it together and see it in the space.

8. Knitted Pouf Rather than getting a bulky ottoman that would use up a lot of space, we opted for this little guy. It’s even sturdy enough to serve as extra seating.

9. Array Bookcase Aside from guitars, one thing Greg has a lot of is books. Rather than putting them on an ordinary bookshelf, we thought this would be a fun way to display his collection.

So that’s what we have so far! We’re going to address the layout once we get the floors done.  We’ve obviously got an idea of what will fit and what won’t, but we want to wait until the floors are done to plan the final configuration. Until next time, how do you like what we’ve put together so far? Are you worried about the geek factor? How would you do a “tech geek modern” room?” We’d love to hear!