A home office should be a pleasing, comfortable space and reflect who you are.  A couple of years ago Kev started working from home, and little by little we have been tossing around ideas on how to make it “his” space.

Recently we removed the carpet and put down wood floor…looks great!  I made new panels for the windows , keeping the cornices I made years ago…still love the fabric, and they work well in the room.  Most of the furniture in the office isn’t new.  There is an old wardrobe that belonged to my grandmother’s brother, a hunt board that my brother made for me, and a pretty chair from a used hotel furniture outlet.  Kev picked out a new desk and other small office essentials.

One thing the room really needed was bookcases.  Well, I am a big fan of IKEA’s Billy bookcases.  Their simplicity, versatility, and glass doors from top to bottom are what draw me to them.  (We used them in our “Family Room Refresh” post.)  Kev chose the black-brown color which looks nice, but I had one big problem with it!  The backs of the bookcases are dark as well, and most everything I put on the shelves seemed to disappear into the background.  So I thought of covering the backs with fabric, painting them, wallpapering them, but couldn’t make a decision.  Then I started thinking about how this room should reflect who Kev is.  He loves his family, traveling, the outdoors, and American history.  With those things in mind I thought it would be cool to line the backs with maps!  We have lots of National Geographic maps and those are what I chose!  With a little measuring and cutting I was able to line the backs of the bookcases with the maps using double-sided tape.  I am really happy with the results, but more importantly Kev is a big fan!