The Two New Homes of Morgan Trinker Photography

I’ve been super excited to share the results of almost an entire month of working on our third-bedroom-turned-office. As you know, we bought this house back in November and I’ve been teaching myself how to be handy ever since then. The whole house needed work in some way or another, but I decided to start with my office so that I could start hosting client meetings again as soon as possible. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s really satisfying to see all the blood, sweat, and tears (literally, there were all three) pay off.

But first, let’s start with a before photo. This is how it was set up when the previous owners lived here:

Not bad, but definitely not my style. Also, the walls and trim needed a TON of work- sanding, patching, caulking, painting- and let’s not even talk about the ceiling fan that used to be in there. It was so bad I couldn’t even bring myself to take a photo of it.

When I thought about my vision for the room, all I knew was that I wanted it to be bright and airy. I chose this room in the house because even though it’s the smallest, it has the most window light. So to keep that lightness going, I replaced the yellowed mini blinds with white faux wood ones and chose a silvery gray color for the walls (Lowe’s Valspar called “Footbridge” for anyone who’s interested). At first I planned to hang bright floral curtains on the windows, but decided it would weigh everything down too much, so I opted for extra-long IKEA panels in an off-white color. SO glad I did! (It’s very difficult for me to restrain myself when it comes to color and pattern, so this was definitely a small victory. :) )

I also decided to frame prints instead of ordering more canvases, because I kind of love the polished look of them and the fact that they’re a LOT less expensive to change out as time goes on. I already had the green Urban Outfitters couch from our last place, but I added in the knockoff Eames chairs I found online for $60 a piece (versus $500 for the real thing) to create a sitting area. I found the coffee table at a thrift store and gave it a few coats of high-gloss turquoise paint for a little drama. I found the ceiling pendant light at World Market for super cheap, and it’s definitely quite a step up from the fan. The desk, chair, shelves, and all the frames came from IKEA, and the two lamps are from Target. I found the side console at an antique mall on sale, and it was exactly what I was looking for to hide all the cords and cable and internet boxes that had to be plugged in on that wall. I just gave it a coat of fresh white paint and added a metallic finish to the wicker panels. Some of my favorite accessories in the room (the vintage glasses, colorful metallic tray, and pillows on the chairs) were given to me by my mom. Clearly she has awesome taste. :)

All in all, I love the finished result, and even though I’m sure it’ll never really be “done,” it’s nice to have a clean, happy place to take my morning coffee, turn on some Florence and the Machine, light a candle, and work every day.

 

But wait a second…. surely you noticed that my office isn’t the only thing that got a makeover! Welcome to the new home of Morgan Trinker, which is now morgantrinker.com and morgantrinkerblog.com all rolled into one! I’ve been itching to update my site for awhile, and when I sat down the other night to open up my Showit account and start redesigning my main site, Jamie, the WordPress guru, was all “Are you SURE you want to spend all that time making another Flash site? Flash is almost dead.” Ugh. So reluctantly I began thinking about alternatives, and after seeing all of the incredible features that ProPhoto has added in its 4th version, I decided to take the plunge and upgrade. The beauty of it is that now I can have galleries and all sorts of other good stuff right here with my blog. And I LOVE it! Better for SEO, better for compatibility with the most devices, and all around I think it looks cleaner and easier on the eyes. So take some time, look around, and let me know what you think!

Perhaps my favorite part of the whole thing is the addition of the “pin it” button that my husband so lovingly added to the bottom of my posts to make it even easier for you to pin anything you want! (The true story is that I asked him to do it at 11:30 last night and he was so tired when he did it that he doesn’t even remember doing it now. So we’ll just assume he loved every minute of it!)

WHEW! Okay, I promise to wrap it up now. Thank you guys for stopping by!