Last week we made some major progress on the remodel of our home office. First of all, I finally chose a paint color! After narrowing it down to ten possible colors (the eight dark gray paint colors that I had been considering for a few weeks plus two more colors I found more recently through readers’ comments: Behr’s Fashion Gray and Restoration Hardware’s Charcoal), the winner was Martha Stewart’s Zinc. I wasn’t sure how I was going to decide because all ten are gorgeous colors but when I placed the paint chips next to the paint color in my foyer and my drapery fabric for the room, Zinc jumped out as the clear winner, coordinating beautifully with both. We also had the hardwood floors in our office refinished last week and we pulled down our old wimpy chair rail and crown molding that we hope to have replaced within the next week (well, the crown molding at least, we’re not going to put up new chair rail). Now I need to figure out how we’re going to furnish our space. If you’ve been reading for a while, you may remember that we started our bookcase hunt back in August, at which time we were debating between traditional white and industrial bookcases. We ended up compromising and going for a bookcase that is somewhere in between these two styles (FYI, this picture is from the store where we purchased it – we haven’t put it up in our own house yet):
The bookcase we chose has a little bit of an industrial feel to it with the metal bar and ladder but also has a fairly traditional style. It’s hard to see in the blurry iPhone picture but the finish is a very pretty distressed white wash. We ended up choosing this bookcase in part because we decided it was important to buy a freestanding unit rather than creating a built-in bookcase. We’re not sure that our current house is our “forever home” and if we were going to invest some $$ into a bookcase, we decided we wanted it to be something that we could move with us rather than stay with the house if we moved. Our next step in furnishing the office is to find a desk to go along with it. I’m still searching around but I’m leaning towards a glass top desk. This type of desk doesn’t take up as much visual space, making the room feel larger, and it would add a little modern edge to our office, keeping it from looking overly traditional. A glass top desk shows up in many of my inspiration pics of beautiful home offices:
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| {Nate Berkus} |
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| {Nate Berkus} |
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| {Nate Berkus} |
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| Williams-Sonoma Home |
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| West Elm |
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| {House Beautiful} |
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| {BHG} |
I’ve shopped around for glass top desks and one of the first options that I found is high on my list of possibilities because it would be so inexpensive. Two bloggers (Alexandra of Luisa Design and Sarah of Matters of Style) have each combined a glass top with IKEA’s Vika Lerberg metal trestle legs (only $10 each) which they spray painted gold to create these beauties:
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| {Luisa Design} |
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| {Matters of Style via Apartment Therapy} |
Other options include Crate & Barrel’s Strut 70″ Work Table,
CB2’s Silverado Rectangular Dining Table,
West Elm’s Mix + Match Table Collection – Solid Wood Base with Clear Glass Top,
and Pottery Barn’s Sawhorse Desk:
Do you have a favorite or do you know of any other great glass top desks out there?
I love how my glass desk came out, using the ikea inspiration from Matters of Style. I spray painted the legs a hammered bronze and had a glass top made for it. I also bought the Vittsjo unit and sprayed that as well. They look fantastic!
I love hearing that you created the glass desk using the IKEA legs and are really happy with it! I looked up the Vittsjo unit – I can see how that would look fantastic with the desk – great idea!
The first picture of the bookcase…I cant help but feel the ladder is so unnecessary that its kind of funny (in a bad way). I would love the addition of the ladder if you couldnt reach the top without it and if the space didnt seem small. The rustic feel of it is great though.
Actually, the size of the bookcase may be deceiving in the image. It is just a few inches under 8 feet tall so you do indeed need the ladder to reach the top shelf!
Great pictures of glass topped desk! You always do your homework 🙂
Hi there, are you able to tell me where you got the bookcase – its exactly what I’ve been looking for!
It’s from a furniture store called Merridian Home Furnishings. The store in Cincinnati actually went out of business a few weeks after we bought it but they still have locations in Nashville and Louisville. Their website is http://www.merridian.com (FYI – they run sales every now and then with 30% off so if you find what you’re looking for, you might want to hold our for a sale!)
Thanks so much!
Not sure if you ever bought the glass desk… I traded mine in for a wooden desk because my arms froze resting on the glass when working on my laptop for hours at a time and also because the glass often looked messy with fingerprints and sticky marks from my arms (lotion) rubbing off on the glass. Maybe for light use but for my heavily used home office glass drove me OCD.
I really appreciate your comment – we haven’t bought a desk yet because of our surprise upcoming move and I hadn’t thought about the issues of the glass being cold or always looking messy. Our home office desk is a busy place so these are definitely issues that would affect us as well. Thanks again for the input.
I’m thinking about the CB2 Silverado table/desk and have the same concerns about cold or fingerprints. However, I think this time I will have to go for looks over practicality. As I think about moving into a new place that is significantly smaller, I have major issues with visual and real space, but I may incorporate some kind of a desk pad to protect myself and the table as well.
I’m torn on the issue myself. If you decide to go for it, I’d love to see a pic of your new space!
Hi,
I like the bookcase with the ladder you choose very much. Who is the manufacturer / supplier?
Thanks,
Nathalie
Hi Nathalie, our bookcase was bought from a local furniture store called Merridian Home Furnishings, which has locations in Nashville and Louisville. They buy directly from sellers in India so there is no manufacturer or other site to buy it from. Their website is http://www.merridian.com – we’ve had it for over a year now so I don’t know if it’s still available or not.
This looks so beautiful! I want to do this in my office. How did you affix the table legs to the Glass Top? Was is a glue? Which one did you use?
Hi Alisse – we didn’t end up going with a glass desk top in our house but the ones that I’ve seen simply rest on the base and aren’t attached in any way. The glass is heavy enough that it tends to stay put!
Hi do you know where I can buy the glass top? TRying to do a DIY glass desk like this but haven’t had much luck- ikea’s glass tops right now are only with geographic designs
Hi Ashley,
You can get a glass top cut to whatever size you need at a local glass shop!