TADA! Yes, I typed “tada”. I wish I could stand next to these pictures with my hands spread wide and yell it. I’ve been impatiently waiting to share our IKEA office makeover with you all, so here it is! Our office is my new favorite room in the house; I’d sleep here if the floors weren’t so hard. Obviously it’s much easier on the eyes now. The main reason it stole my heart? It is FUNCTIONAL!
This “eye chart” is actually a wall light fixture. Stu picked it out, jokingly at first. It ended up being the one thing we both loved and decided on without hesitation. Now that we have two desks, I’m using my antique drop-leaf table as catch-all spot. (Do you recognize the little dipped ceramic pot? Also from IKEA. I should really get some compensation for this post.) The metal crate was another flea market find. We filled it with empty milk jugs from our local creamery.
Product Sources:
Black and white striped tote bag: Hobby Lobby
Bulletin boards & magnetic dry erase board: Target
All items below from IKEA
Desks: Numerar counter tops and Vika Alex drawer units
Shelving: Ekby Jarpen
Desk lamp: Arod
Eye Chart Light Fixture: Gyllen
Black frames: Ribba
Storage boxes: Kvarnvik
We’re still looking for a rug, but I’m having trouble finding one in budget. I might end up spray painting one from Wal Mart. If I do, you all will be the first to know about it.
OK…I’m dying to hear what you think!
Wow, like unbelievably wow! I love it!! I just passed an ikea on the way to work and I am going to do some serious shopping. These spaces look so great!! So motivating!!! Where did you guys put your printers? I know ikea has these lil tables on rollers….
Great spaces!! Enjoy!!
Lemanie’s Randomness Blog
ooohh! i love this! love the balance of black and white with just the right amount of pops of color here and there. love.
fantastic, great looking and functional with two work areas! Enjoy it, Janell
Love it! And seriously lusting after that chair.
Love it! You are soo talented. =) Being organized will make life oh so happy.
Heather!!! This looks soooo great! I love that everything is a budget find or an ikea purchase. Great job!!!! (see, I used a lot of exclamation marks too)
Looks fantastic, Heather! I recently bought those Kvarnvik storage boxes too to hide our messy DVD collection that was in total shambles. They are so elegant looking.
The entire rooms looks so gorgeous. We had to sacrifice our home office for our son’s nursery (ugh, gotta love downtown city living, right?!) but if I still had one, I’d want it to look like yours. LOVE!!!
looks awesome! and that light fixture is a hit in my book. totally love it!
it looks fabulous! i love the red chair with it!
it looks fabulous! i love the red chair with it!
it looks fabulous! i love the red chair with it!
it looks fabulous! i love the red chair with it!
it looks fabulous! i love the red chair with it!
it looks fabulous! i love the red chair with it!
Looks SO organized! Ahhh I’m inspired :). xo
Champagne Lifestyle on a Beer Budget
I love the desk.
It looks awesome Heather! I have the same black and white basket 🙂
Yay! Thanks ladies for all the sweet comments (and using exclamation points.) My little office is going to get a big head…
Oh, Heather, it all looks so nice! You did such a wonderful job!
It looks great! I love all the little accessories that make send it over the top. That wire basket and milk crate…perfect. As for a rug, you should totally keep your eye on Craigslist. I’ve found several on there (4 now) for really good prices. That’s the first place I look. Good luck and great job so far!
congrats! it looks fab. I have the same Ikea drawer units and I love them
Love all the white and the red chairs, very cool office space!
Woooo! I’ve been waiting for this reveal! It looks FANTASTIC! It’s so bright and airy and organized! I just love those desks. Well worth the 16hr drive!
Wow! Looks amazing! You are so creative!
The office looks great!! How did you attach the counter tops to the drawers?
Thanks Heather, Kat, Krista, Lakchi, Tan and Sarah!
Sam, we didn’t attach them with anything. They’re so heavy that we thought it would be ok. The IKEA said we could attach them to the wall but didn’t need to. Other than the 2 hours to build the drawer units, they were “instant” desks.
I’m gonna keep with the all caps theme – LOVE!!! What a great job! How I love IKEA. I only wish there was one in St. Louis!!!
So nice, I love that chair and the butcher top desk is so handsome!
Great job now get to work!
It’s beautiful!!! Bravo!! Love the jar of pencils:) It’s really looks great.
It looks great! Enjoy it!!
Very nice. I love Ikea. Love the red chairs with the neutral colors.
Stopping by from the DIY Project Parade! http://queenofsavings.com
It turned out so nice! You are really going to enjoy this space! Great inspiration for the office I am working on!
Amy
Love the wood tops of the desks and that awesome fabric combined with the red chairs. Great job! Also, I’ve been eying an identical white lantern at HomeGoods. I think it was $19.99 so yours was definitely a STEAL for $3!
Love your results. I also have a printer sitting on the boxier came in!!!
Here is a great article that will certainly be handy to those who are thinking of doing a makeover for their office space.
Hi Heather. Which IKEA Numerär worktop have you used here please… Is it the Oak or Beech?
We purchased the oak.
Great thanks. Really good idea going for the kitchen worktops. I wanted to do similar with the IKEA drawers, but didn’t like the office worktops, I hadn’t thought to use the kitchen worktops. It looks great! Are the drawers holding the weight of the oak okay, it’s no doubt heavy…?
Yes, the work tops are quite heavy! We purchased a support bar that screws into a metal bracket, so there’s support on both ends and the center as well. I think they were under $15 a piece (from IKEA office deptartment).
Like Lemanie, I would also like to know where your printer went. There are always big and bulky essentials that are an eyesore or are hard to hide. Would also love to know if that is all the electronics you have in the office or if the rest are hidden somewhere. Great looking office!
We ended up putting the printer on the left hand side of my husband’s desk. So my desk looks pretty much the same now. (We did put the paper shredder on the floor underneath my desk. Thankfully the white drawers hide a multitude of wires!!!
Hi! I realize this post is from ages ago, but I just found it googling “Numerar as desk.” I LOVE your office! It’s absolutely gorgeous! We are in the process of putting together our Alex drawers (and “lockers”). We got the white Numerar countertop (still in the package as I type this), but I’m having second thoughts about the white top as I see how gorgeous the oak looks in your office! Luckily, we have an Ikea 15 minutes away so it can be exchanged if needed. 🙂 The wood seems to look higher-end than the white–we just weren’t sure about the maintenance/ durability of the wood.
On that note, how is the wood holding up for you? Do you treat it with mineral oil? I saw you mentioned a “support bar” in one of the comments — is that the same as putting a desk/table leg in the middle? We’re not sure if extra support is needed or not.
Thank you SO very much for any input you can provide.
Summer
Hi Summer,
Thanks! We got one of the white bars that are used as supports in desk systems. You screw in a plate to the surface and the cylinder tube screws into that. Maybe it wasn’t necessary, but it made me feel better. I treated it one time with oil and haven’t since, but it still looks great!
Hi Heather,
Saw this earlier and off to Ikea we went! 🙂 Thanks so much for your reply. We exchanged the white laminate for the oak, and just put everything in place — we love it! As you know, the wood is so beautiful. It’s awesome to hear that your desk is holding up well! As you can probably tell, I’m as excited as you were when you did the office reveal! 🙂 My husband loves it, too.
Thanks again,
Summer
Awesome! Would love to see pics. Email if you get a chance:)
I know this post is old but I just stumbled on it via Pinterest and it’s SO helpful! We’re turning a big walk-in closet into an office for my husband and we’ve even having a hard time finding a desk we both like (he’s very modern, I’m more cottage/classic) but we LOVE those Alex drawers. Can I ask why you chose a kitchen countertop rather than the office ones – was it just an aesthetic choice? I do like the Linnmom desk top they have on the website but I haven’t seen it in person yet so I don’t know what the differences are between that and other options in real life. Thank you so much!
Hi Betsy! Thanks for the comment. We specifically needed the length of the kitchen countertops. If I remember correctly, they were quite a bit longer than the desk tops. Also, I like the thickness of the “butcher block” feel. Almost two laters, we still love them!
Hello, looks terrific! What length are your desks.
Rebecca, they are 73 (and 1/4) inches long.
I see the length you used, but did you have to cut the depth of the desk top? There are two depth measurements for the desk top. (25 5/8 and 39 3/8) The drawer unit has a depth of 27 1/2 so it seems that the smaller depth desk wouldn’t work. If the wider desk top (39 3/8) is used, that is a foot difference with the drawer unit. I see no overhang in the picture and it seems to fit nicely. Am I going to need to cut the countertop? Thanks for your time! K
Hi Kris, the height on the Vika Alex drawer unit is 27, but the depth is just under 23 inches. Our Numerar counter tops are the 25 5/8inch and we let the back hang over the extra couple inches. Good luck, we love ours!
My husband came across your makeover monday feature on curbly so I clicked over to your page and I had to tell you that i am completely swoooooning over everything. We are about to major overhaul on one room that has both of our *non-matching* desks and this is exactly what we needed to inspire us!!
That is awesome, Sarah!! Good luck with the room. I hope everything turns out well. If you run into any issues, let me know if I can help:)
Love your desks!! Looking to do the same in my kids room.
What are the measurements for the table top? And did you use screws to fix the table top to the drawer unit or it’s just resting on top on them?