YOU GUYS. Chad gave me the go-ahead to decorate my office, and I pulled the trigger on something I’ve been so curious about for a while…
HAVENLY, an online design service where you simply pay a small fee, and choose a designer who will help you create a space that is uniquely you!
I wanted to share about my experience with Havenly in a 3 part series. In this first part, you’ll see what I was working with and the initial options. Part two, you’ll see what direction we ended up going in and some of the products we chose. And finally, I’ll reveal the actual room and how it turned out! Check out this messy, naked, dark space:
It has been almost 3 years since we moved into our Williamsburg address. Which means, it’s been 3 years since I worked from my office. Because when your office looks like it did in the photo below, there’s nothing inspiring or magnetic drawing me into the space. Here were my top 5 problems with my office:
- DARK. This is a north facing room. And although this is ideal for keeping a porch cool, it is not ideal for a light filled working space. There are windows, but the sun doesn’t shine in this room!
- BIG. This is a great feature of our house – our bedrooms are large! Although it’s nice to have breathing room, I find it’s easier to decorate small spaces when it comes to an office. It seems to eat up my desk and have a lot of room left over for… fill in the blank?
- BUDGET LIMITATIONS. The kinds of changes I imagined involved adding harwood, Built-ins, and Emily Henderson sourced products. But c’mon. This kind of money was not going to be put into this project. I wanted big changes with little dollar signs.
- NO WORKING SPACE. Besides a desk, I really wanted to have another option for working… A chair? Maybe a table? I do more than just work behind a computer, so having another spot I could package gifts, shoot products, or FaceTime with clients is something that was missing from my “room with a desk in it.”
- TOO MUCH STUFF. This wasn’t my designer’s problem to solve, but I realized that I have too much stuff and needed a good purge. Being a photographer doesn’t require a lot. Electronics. Gear. Deliverables. And that’s pretty much it. I have a closet that needed to be cleaned out so that I could put my work in my closet.
To get started on Havenly, fill out their Style Quiz! It’s fun, and really short. I took it a few times because I wasn’t sure I agreed, but also because it’s kind of a fun personality revealer as well! Bohemian Eclectic was what it assigned me. I was really surprised Coastal wasn’t there, but I’m also not drawn to seashells and sea foam green.
After you create a profile, you tell them what room you want help with, choose a designer based on your preferences and style, and then you wait for them to be available. Choosing my designer was pretty easy… Erica’s profile was relatable and I could get down with her aesthetic. And she was able to start about a week after I committed to her!
In the mean time, you complete your Room Profile. This one is more in depth, and it takes time. But that’s good! The idea is to get this design right! You cover your goals, style, vision [upload pinterest links and inspiration], budget, and personality before uploading photos of your space as it is. Once your date comes, your designer begins the process of providing you with 3 “looks” based on what you’ve delivered to them.
Are you ready to see the 3 Looks Erica put together for me?! Here they are:
- Monotone Glam
2. Retro Boho
3. Boho Meets Glam
Find out which one I chose in Part 2 [COMING SOON]!
Cathy Williamson says
I’m guessing #3!