I ask you, what does a baby’s nursery, a guest room, and a French Inspired Office have in common? All I can come up with is they all once lived in this six-walled, oddly angled, roughly 14 x 14, smallest room in our home! My firstborn moved into this space when Tom the Great convinced me that I really should stop squeezing Junior into the bedside family heirloom cradle! Soft blue cherub wall paper and white billowy clouds embraced this space at that time.

A mere two years later we had the same conversation when Annalisa the Beautiful started banging her fragile newborn hands and feet against the same bedside cradle in protest, and I was forced to excile my baby girl, as she would embrace a little freedom (howbeit less than 20 yards from Mom’s listening ear). She moved into this space full of peach and pink tulle with huge silk roses (before they were all the rage) adorning the walls.

This awkward space had a very short-lived life as a guest bedroom, before being invaded with the family desktop, printer, and filing cabinets. It was a very utilitarian office, and often the dumping ground for whatever project or business idea I was working on at the time. There was very little style involved. BUT NOT ANYMORE!!! 

Voila! Mom’s office has panache.

This makeover was cosmetic in nature, no new wall treatments (I painted these stripes 15 years ago), no change in the flooring, no walls were removed to create more elbow room. This remains the smallest (salle de bains excluded) room in our home. Still though, she has a certain je ne sais quoi, right?

Let’s take a tour, and then I’ll reveal the surprising secret behind this makeover. First up, the French Desk.

She is the star of this show, agreed?

If you follow me on Instagram (click here to go directly to my account), you can find a step by step IG Story in my highlights (the small circles under my bio) on how I achieved this Antique French look with paint.

The etagere you see in the background is the recipient of a little make over as well. I will blog on that quick little project later this month.

As we continue the stroll through this massive 14 x 14 arena, we find a privacy screen.

I was all but ready to sell this dark, solid wood, dressing screen when one of my favorite  blogging stars, Janet of Shabbyfufu fame shared in an Instagram Story of one she had painted. Not one to be timid about such things, I grabbed some paint and went to work. I love how it looks now, and talk about utilitarian. You should see what lurks behind that beauty!

Here I’ve hung a sentimentally priceless Telegram from the screen. RSR sent this to his bride-to-be Mary Margaret when he was away from her in the United States Navy. 

I will do a detailed post on this process soon, as well! Looks like my typing skills will be honed this summer, and I couldn’t be happier!

I added some personal items to my office makeover from my immediate family as well. Here are Tom the Great and I on a date, sometime during our first year of dating, 1990. 

And the pride and joy of our union…

These two are now ages 19 and 21! I love that they started their lives in this very room! I’ll try to dig out some pictures of the space when they were the sole inhabitants. Although, we didn’t have cell phone cameras at the ready in those days.

Well, friends, I have to push the pause button on the reveal for now! I try to limit my blog to around 500 words, and I’m fastly approaching 600! There is so much more to see, and I’ll get that up this coming week! 

Laissez le bon temps rouler!!

Love y’all,

Lori Nell

(Oh, by the way, that surprising secret will have to revealed in the next blog post! Sorry no more word space. 😉