For a long time I had two bulky dark wood bookcases in my office. They held a lot of books, but once I got a couple of new bookcases elsewhere in the house, I decided I didn’t need a ton of books in my office and the cabinets were just too heavy for the room. The cabinets were relocated to another part of the house where they made more sense. My office is 11 x 11, at the most, so every inch counts. If you missed yesterday’s office update post, you can find it here! (PS. If you are not getting your email subscriptions on time or getting two in a row, my apologies! Just working out the bugs with the new delivery service!).
What I really needed was another small work surface and storage for office supplies. My dream was to have built ins to make the most of the space. But since built ins were not in the budget, I eventually just gave up on that idea.
Awhile back my daughter Courtney and I stumbled upon this sweet solid wood secretary and hutch at a local flea market (The Vintage Housewife in Poulsbo) and completely fell in love with it. It was already painted white and sweet as could be–complete with precious hardware.
It was funny because when I first saw it, I wasn’t even thinking about my office. We tried to think of where it could go and decided we just didn’t have room for more furniture. Sadness. We walked a couple of blocks to a coffee shop and as soon as we got our Frappuccinos in hand, it dawned on us. It was the perfect piece for my office.
We pretty much skipped all the way back to the store and before we knew it, this little beauty was sitting in our entry waiting for us to have the big bookcases moved. But it was worth the wait and inconvenience!
Now that it is here in my office, I’m so excited it’s here! We have already found a thousand reasons why we love it. Not only does it have fun little slots for notecards and all our paint samples (I love the little cubbies!), but the glass cabinets are perfect for storing a few treasures and books. The drawers are perfect for office supplies, too!
Best of all, we are able to pull the desk down to use as a second desk when we need it. It also works great for our laptop and my girls and I even brought in lunch the other day and used it as a table! And to top it off, it adds a fun vintage personality to my small eclectic office.
Here, here for versatile and affordable furniture!
PS. The fun gold Oh Happy Day print in the hutch was a gift from my friend Lara Casey. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Southern Weddings magazine. She has a cute shop shop with some inspiring items that I love, like these motivational goal sheets: Make it Happen PowerSheets. All of her shop products were created to inspire women to focus on what matters most and to motivate them to make it happen! You can find her shop here: http://
Just perfect!
What a fabulous piece. It looks wonderful in your office and such a great find.
Wow, I really love, love, LOVE it! Great find!
I LOVE versatile furniture pieces like this! So much you can do with it, so many places you can put it and oh so many things you can put in it. And you found it already painted, what luck! This is the crown jewel in your beautiful office. Enjoy!
That piece is just perfect.
I LOVE< LOVE, LOVE your new office! And, what a find in the hutch!! wow! I am enjoying following you in your home make over and will be happy to get your new books!
I knew you’d love Vintage Housewife. Can you believe the owner has QUINTUPLETS? Three of them were in my daughter’s class at school. Love the hutch.
What a lovely find! I love the knobs – gorgeous!
I love this. I also love the Oh Happy Day printable. That makes me happy.
Melissa, I love the little white secretary desk. I noticed it immediately in your last Office Update post because it looks very similar to one I own. Our’s was inherited from a parent’s home and we painted it sea-foam green in about 1990. Even though color fads change with each decade, I do not even consider changing it. It’s beautiful, functional, and adds an interesting pop of color. It was perfect in 1990 and still perfect in 2014 with our newly freshened paint colors of gray & taupe.
Great find – I love the blue color of your office. If you get a moment, I would love the name and brand, please?
Thanks, Rich Navy by Glidden!
This room is lovely, and I am lusting after your curtain panels (really thinking about them now that you mentioned they are on sale). I’m also glad to finally know what you mean when you say ‘flea market’. I noticed that you would refer to things as purchased at a local flea market and it was driving me crazy because I live in the Seattle area too. I kept thinking ‘how am I missing out on flea markets around here’, because and there are very few (read: almost none). However, there are many second hand/vintage stores and antiques ‘malls’, and I’d count The Vintage Housewife one of those. Whew. Now I don’t feel so desperately like I’m missing out! lol
Ha, well, we actually do have a couple of “flea markets” here on the peninsula (the one I mostly went to was formerly called Flea Market Chics, now they have a bigger weekly flea market for vendors in a warehouse, too!) and that is where I buy quite a bit of stuff like my blue bottle jar, my dresser in the entry, among most of the other things I’ve referred to!! Vendors sell their items in one location This was my first purchase at The Vintage Housewife and I just considered it the same kind of place, where people sell stuff second hand. But yes, second hand store would be similar! :-) A real flea market in Paris would be amazing, but as a romantic I just take what we can get here :-).
Yes, it’s the monthly or weekly multi-vendor thing that I think of as a flea. It’s good to know that a fun day trip to the peninsula is an option. The closest here is the Fremont hyper-market, and then a couple in Olympia. Paris, the Hollywood Bowl, the brocantes that are often fixtures at village markets in France…sigh. :)
Oh for sure, you could come for the day and have fun exploring. There are several flea markets (some are seasonal) and second hand shops for vintage stuff.
Here is an article about the one I have found a lot of stuff at over the last couple of years:
http://www.bremertonpatriot.com/news/254755001.html
And here’s a few more:
http://valleyvintagemarket.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ManetteTradingCompany
https://www.facebook.com/RedPlantation
http://www.facebook.com/TheVintageHousewife
Thank You!
I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the secretary and hutch!! I want one!
Love, love this! Beautiful!
I always have loved secretaries. Yours looks fabulous!
After your last post I just had to get those Anthro curtain panels for my MBR reno. Things are really starting to come together with your inspiration. Thanks!
As trite as it sounds “to every season…” We are not moving to our farm either, but we are falling in love again with our “Little House on the Creek”. Sometimes it is about being happy with what we have instead of “grasping’ for more.
Lovely, thanks for sharing!
Btw,
Where did you find that lamp?
You are so kind, Melissa! Thank you for the sweet words and the prints look so lovely in your home!
Melissa,this works really well with the blue on the wall! That was a great find, thank God it was still there when you went back:)
Oh my gosh! Love. I have a similar piece but a little taller/thinner that we also found at a flea market. We are moving and my husband and I will have our own small room. He has a desk….I don’t. I never thought of doing that and it’s been sitting right in front of me! Lol It’s going on my “to paint” list and will use…..THANK YOU