My Dressing Room + Office Tour

OK loves it’s finally here! After months of planning and designing, my dressing room tour is ready for it’s big reveal. Let me start by saying this was one of the most challenging design projects I have done. Not in a way that it was something I didn’t enjoy doing but the logistics of getting it all together is what I’m speaking about.

THE PLANNING:

If you follow me on Instagram, and watch my stories regularly, you would have seen how upon my initial idea of creating a dressing/room office combination, I was going to put it in my original office space. It just made sense at the time since my office already had it’s own space. From the beginning, when I had the idea of designing a dressing room/office space, my hubby insisted on buying me pieces that he wouldn’t have to put together, so I considered some pretty wardrobes that I found online and I quickly realized that, who was I kidding…I needed way more space than one or two of those would have provided me. So I did a little research and found that what I wanted was true shelving/storage to create a boutique closet look not just an oversized wardrobe. I needed space for not only clothes, but for shoes, handbags, and my perfume collection.

So after lots of research I went to IKEA. I looked at all the wardrobe systems they had and ultimately went with the Pax wardrobe system as it fit my needs and space the best.

After working with one of the IKEA designers to create a digital drawing of what I wanted, I went ahead and ordered the pieces and set up delivery. There I was thinking I was all set. Then one day I walked into the guestroom, it was around 5pm and let me know tell you it was like angels from above was shining down. The light in the room was so bright and beautiful and airy. In that moment I knew THIS was the room I needed to make into my dressing room/office. I knew all along that the guest room had more light than my office because of the windows and the lack of trees blocking the sun. I just didn’t want to make more work for myself by swapping the rooms but I knew I would regret it if I didn’t swap them and change my design ideas and use the guestroom instead. So back to IKEA I went to redo the design and re setup delivery, which pushed it out two more week.s (cue the sad sounds) so I waited patiently and in the mean time shopped for decor, accessories and art work.

DELIVERY + SETUP:

I thought I could put the wardrobe pieces together myself (yeah that’s the super woman crazy lady in me talking) but the minute the delivery men laid down all the pieces in my room, I quickly knew I needed reinforcement. Turns out that was my hubby. Poor hubby, now I had to get him all tied up into my nonsense LOL. Here he was insisting he didn’t want to put anything together and here he was doing just the opposite. Ya’ll know I had to be EXTRA EXTRA nice to him for days after this right. Needless to say, we knocked it out putting all the shelves together in about 2 hours (team work makes the dream work). Not bad right. The next day, while he was at work, I put the draws together, installed the shelves and the clothing polls. (took me about 2 1/2 hours to do it all myself). Would have been half that time with help.

The next day I put the room together by accessorizing and putting up the wall art. I now sit back in awe that this is where I come to work and get dressed. Honestly if you have ever thought about making your own girly dressing room space, just do it. There is nothing like a space that feels like you and that makes you happy EVERY TIME you step into it, even if you are doing work in there. This was the best home decor project I’ve done in a long time and I’m loving it!

TIPS:

1. Measure and measure again: When planning out your space you want to measure all the space you want to fill. Both H, D and W. Because the PAX wardrobe system is so customizeable you have lots of options with how to lay your shelves out.You also want to be sure to have the right measurements as the shelves come in different heights. You don’t want to order shelved and discover they are to tall for the room.

2. Have someone willing to help you out with building the shelves, it’s not a one man job at all.

3. Think about WHAT you want to put in your dressing room. I knew I needed space for shoes and clothes. Some people just may want a place for shoes or just clothes. This will free you from a lot of frustration when trying to layout your space and the shelving design.

4. Make sure you have a good amount of space to put the shelves together as you have to lay out the pieces.

5. If you are putting down an area rug, don’t put your area rug down before the shelves are up.

6. Make sure to think about the WHOLE design of the space. Knowing that this space was going to function as both an office and a dressing room, I needed the room to not only have a french farmhouse feel to go with the rest of my house,  but it also had to have a bit of glam thrown in. I did this with the chandelier and the art work I chose.

SHOPPING SOURCES:

CHANEL PERFUME BOTTLE ARTWORK

OTHER ARTWORK ABOVE MY DESK

WHITE FAUX FUR OTTOMAN, WHITE RUG, GRAY FRENCH MIRROR AND BLESSED ART WORK FROM HOME GOODS

PINK FAUX FUR OTTOMAN FROM HOBBY LOBBY

DRESSER FROM TAG SALE THAT WAS ALREADY IN MY GUESTROOM. I PAINTED AND DISTRESSED

CHANDELIER FROM HOME DEPOT (linked)

I hope this helps you decide if this is a project you want to tackle. Overall this room cost us about $1,200