I’ll just cut to the chase here and give you the bad news… we didn’t organize the office this weekend.  But at least the kids enjoyed the mess…

In the middle of Darwin’s “I’m being adorable” photoshoot, we heard a bang…

“What was that???”

“Um… WHOOPS!”

Yes, balancing your Ikea desktop thingy on top of a box, and then stacking things on top of that is not a good idea when your cat is Macky. He used it as a diving board. Anything to be the center of attention!

Anyway, we got caught up with some family stuff over the weekend and since we’re weekend warriors, losing a good portion of our weekend leads to zero progress.  But before we knew we wouldn’t be able to work on the office, we were out running some errands on Saturday and decided to run to Office Max to check out an office chair I was thinking about.

Our current office chair situation is quite pretty, though not meant for office use…

We actually ordered these chairs from Target.com for our dining room, but we received two and then they were discontinued.  They had already been assembled, so we kept them.  Plus they’re good to have as extra dining room chairs.  Mike has sat on this chair since we moved in and for a while he didn’t mind it.  This made me super excited because I wanted a classy chair to balance all of the modern Ikea furniture in the office.  I was going to reupholster them and keep them in the room.  But for the past few weeks, the chairs have been uncomfortable for Mike. (Sidenote: For our new friends, Mike spends much more time in the office than I do, since he’s busy running his own lil website that could)  So we began looking for actual office chairs, though I was extremely hestitant and well, nervous.  Then I found this nice little ditty…

DiVoga Managers Chair, Office Max, $139.99

I liked that this chair was white, sleek looking and had chrome feet to go with our Ikea desks.  We wanted to sit in it before we decided and figured we’d check to see if our local Office Max carried it.

Before we hit up Office Max on Saturday, we were near a Staples and figured we’d check it out.  I didn’t expect to find anything but we spotted this..

Once again I love the sleek, modern lines, the white color and the chrome feet, but I especially love the squared back of this one. I am very happy that I snapped a few pictures of it because apparently, it is not available online.

So it was on sale, but we hadn’t yet seen the Office Max chair.  I couldn’t remember exactly what the Office Max chair looked like that the time, so we held off on the Staples one and headed to Office Max.  One look at the first chair and it didn’t hold a candle to the Staples chair.  Pretty good for just walking into Staples without doing my usual internet research!  We were busy, so we didn’t head back to Staples right away, assuming it would be on sale throughout the week.

We went back to Staples tonight and it is back to full price! $179.99! Hopefully it will a) go back on sale soon or b) we will get a coupon or something!

After our garage project this past weekend, our office seemed to become even more cluttered…

(I know my husband is cringing at the lighting in these photos, but it’s 10pm, I left the house at 7:30am and I clearly missed the opportunity to take pictures in natural light)

A good amount of the boxes in the garage belonged in the office.  Since we didn’t have a “true” office area until now, we held off on unpacking any of our supplies.

Apparently, when I’m away from the house for as many hours as I was today, the kids suffer. They must have been very excited to see me because they seized any photo bombing opportunity they could get their paws on…

“Hi Momma!”

“OoOoH FOR MACKY??”

Attempting to circle her birthday on my new calendar.

Due to the bad lighting in the office and the presence of photo bombers, I decided to take my party to the kitchen.  Hence the out of context pictures that are coming.

So Saturday, as we were cleaning the garage, we ran to Walmart to get some more garbage bags.  In passing I spotted these great desk organizers…

I picked up two of these, it’s hard to tell but they’re a dark purple color and have my current favorite pattern on the inside…

I also picked up an organizer with cute little compartments on the inside (which are removable)…

I have mentioned before that the lighting in my kitchen appears orangish in pictures.  So yeah, moving my new office organizers there wasn’t my brightest moment. Someday I’ll learn how to control for that.

Anywho, the moral of this story is that the next item we are tackling on our pre-Christmas list is #4: finish organizing the office! Hopefully we can do it in one day and the furry party crashers will be on their best behavior! 🙂

Dear bloggy buddies, I need your help.

I’ve been searching for a grass greenish and white, graphic print area rug for our office.  I want a modern yet classy print, along the lines of this…

Happy Trellis Rug in Sprout from Shades of Light, approx. 5’x8′, $578

Yes, five-hundred-and-seventy-eight dollars.  So I set out to find a cheaper alternative.

I checked West Elm and found two favorites…

Zigzag Rug from West Elm, 5’x8′, $229

West Elm Andalusia Rug, 5’x8′, $229

Okay we cut the price in half! I love the Andalusia rug, even in yellow, but I don’t want yellow for the office. And neither are available in green 🙁

On to Target!

DwellStudio for Target Orbit Rug, 5’x7′, $139.99

Have I ever mentioned my love for DwellStudio? Especially their kids’ stuff? Love it.  It’s fail proof.  And I love the price of this rug and though the pattern isn’t as repeated-graphic-design as I originally wanted, if it was green I’d be all over it. But it’s not :::Snooki cry:::

Then there was this one, which I originally spotted in person at Target…

Target Home Medallion Wool Shag Rug, 5’x8′, $129.99

It’s like the less expensive, more neutral version of the above West Elm one.  I spotted this before I got the green idea in my head, so I almost pulled the trigger.  But it is very very fluffy.  So much so that I was afraid that Darwin would mistake it for one of our washable puppy pads and would pee on it.  TMI, but true story, we’ve learned from experience.  Oh and it’s still not green…

Then there was a glimmer of hope when I was browsing Pottery Barn Teen…

Pottery Barn Teen Double Dot Jacquard Rug, 5’x8′, on sale for $129.

I wasn’t sure about the dots, but I ran it by Mike to assess the girlyness and he declared it acceptable.  Not my ideal pattern, as I wanted something a little more sophisticated, but the size, price and colors were right.  So I got all set to order when I saw that the GREEN WAS SOLD OUT.

So I’m back to square one.  Has anyone seen any green and white patterned area rugs out there? Do you know of any rug retailers I haven’t thought of? (ps- I’ve been checking HomeGoods whenever we go, but they are so hit or miss) Or has anyone used those carpet tiles to build your own area rug?

Any help would be very much appreciated! 🙂

Thursdays and Friday, mostly Fridays, are my hardest days to post.  Not for lack of ideas, but lack of time.  Mike tells me it’s okay to take more than a day off, but I just can’t!  I have far too much to say.

Case in point… today after work I had to grab some things from Target, which happens to be near West Elm.  I knew I was tight on time but I had to run in.  It was full of adorable things today, including this guy…

I know that owls have been done, then done, and done again…. especially for kid’s rooms.  But I just love them.  I think it goes with my love of all things rustic, woodsy, dark tones, plus they add that little bit of whimsy.  He was only $9, which was cheap compared to the other things I was eyeing up, so I decided to get him to feed the hunger.

He’s pretty lonely up there right now…

Okay by pretty, I mean very lonely…

I figured the fact that he was white would help balance all of the black in the room.  Once the place is painted, he will look so nice and clean up there.  Plus we found another white element to add to the room, but I’ll fill you in on that if it all works out 🙂

(Good news! I just went to link from the website and there are TWO sizes of owls! And they have free shipping! Guess who will be getting a buddy….)

Some other things I was eyeing up at West Elm today…

Paper Mache Bird, $10… I liked that this one was made of paper with writing on it.  Very office appropriate.  But I thought two different kinds of birds might not get along..

Kraft & Silver Flower Stems, $14 for a set of 3… They had a cute little wooden vase that went with them, but I have a bunch of vases I could have used.  Though I love flower alternatives, I thought they were a little pricey for paper.  Maybe I could try to make them myself? Sara?? 🙂

Twig Tree, $69 for a large one… they had the smaller one in the store, but I wish there was a medium sized one.  $69 is a lot, though I loved how the trees were made of these sort of interlocking twigs.  Plus they’d go with my pre-existing, non-traditional, woodsy christmas decor.

And finally…

2×2 Console Desk, $299… mmm future art room…but I’m pretty sure Ikea has a less expensive version.

See ya soon (probably very soon…) West Elm!

Little Expedit bookcase is up and running!

The printer has found a new, much safer home.  Though we may move the bookcase to the other side, by my desk so that you don’t see the printer as much from the doorway.  We have yet to decide 🙂