Turning my blank canvas home office into a cosy writing corner

Home office1930s house renovation

17 Nov

Do you remember I spoke about Julian Charles in my "Best of Autumn Homeware" post? I shared my must-have items from their Autumn bedding range as they have such great quality sheets at very reasonable prices at Julian Charles, hence my new found love for the brand.

I also spotted their gorgeous wares in my local C&H Fabrics when I popped in for a mooch about their Christmas bits, and again, saw yet MORE of their bedding I need in my life.

Well, shortly after I shared the Best of Autumn Homeware post, the lovely in-house interior designers at Julian Charles got in touch to help me with our house renovation.

They told me about the help they are giving people across social media (people like me and you!) – to turn their #BlankCanvas corners in their home into more considered, styled spaces suited to your needs.

I thought, crikey this couldn't come at a better time for me having spent almost a year in our house now with our ground floor work happening, and upstairs having not been touched since we moved in. I work from home, and my office is one of the places we haven't decorated. Not properly anyway.

While the renovation to our Kitchen Diner has been happening I've been locking myself away in my teeny uninspiring office trying to stay sane. So, I thought I would use the #BlankCanvas opportunity to get some ideas for how I could temporarily spruce up my home office until I've got more time to sort it out properly, calling on the Julian Charles' in-house designers and my instagram friends for advice.

This was the post I shared in my cry for help....

You can do this too if you've got somewhere in your house that's a bit unloved – just use the hashtag #BlankCanvas and you'll get free advice from Julian Charles' designers with lots of ideas!

As you can see my office corner was unloved, tatty and impractical with that big chair that didn't quite fit under the desk.

My very own #BlankCanvas to play with.

I was thrilled with the ideas and advice I received on the pic (READ HERE). Some I'm banking to do later on, and some I've done now in the updates seen below. I mean, I never even thought to hang curtains to make the space cosier! (that's a tip the Julian Charles designer left me, thank you for that).

Can I ask you all for ideas for every room in this house from now on? ;)

So, with a little help from Julian Charles who kindly offered me some products to try out and style up the space, I managed to turn this unloved corner into a more cosy, inspiring corner for me to write and work in.

I am loving the way it's starting to look...

This gorgeous curtain pole is from Swish. I've always wanted a thick wooden pole to bring warmth to the room so I'm really happy with how this looks. Apparently it was quite easy to assemble too (thanks Neil!) We've previously just used Ikea poles which are a bit of a nightmare – as is all ikea flat pack/assembly. I'm thrilled with this curtain pole, and how the curtains and voile have given me more cosiness and privacy in the room.

You might also have spotted the charming Rita – my little office friend who keeps me on track during the working day. I love the Ruby Ruth Doll collection (so does Zoella dontcha know) and was thrilled when Rita arrived on my doorstep after I interviewed the wonderful founder Jenny Mustill on my blog a little while ago.

I've put together a little shopping guide below if there's anything you like the look of for your home. Can't recommend Julian Charles highly enough - particularly if you're on the market for good quality but affordable curtains which seem to be hard to come by these days.

Visit their site and peruse: www.juliancharles.co.uk (they have some lovely Christmas bedding in at the mo).