Happy Monday, my friends! When HomeGoods asked me to give a space for someone else a makeover, I jumped at the chance!
I immediately thought of Coach’s school. He’s a teacher and coach at a nearby county high school, and I figured I could spruce up a corner of their world. I wasn’t sure whether the library or the front office could use some love, but I knew either would put it to good use. And guess what? We found the perfect spot that needed a little bit of love.
Coach reached out to the assistant principal, Mrs. Reynolds, one evening. As it turned out, she had planned to go shopping the very next day to freshen up part of her office.
Before you assume she only wanted to spruce up her own space, that isn’t it at all! Her office has two rooms: the one where she keeps her desk and works, and a second room where her student aides hang out, do homework, or where visitors wait for their appointments. We fixed up the second room.
She had already picked out beautiful fabric, made valances and painted the walls, so my job was pretty easy. I brought along a fabric swatch from the valance to make sure the pillows and chair colors matched.
Tip: when shopping for accessories or furniture, bring a swatch of fabric already used in the room. It keeps you from buying things in the gray family when you really need brown ones, and vice versa. When I spotted the patterned couch pillows, I knew they would work perfectly because I had that swatch!
Mrs. Reynolds wanted the room to feel warm, homey and inviting, all things I knew HomeGoods could help with. She also needed more seating and a way to make the existing seats feel cozier.
(Sorry about the blurry picture, but you can see the fabulous clearance section. Even better deals on already great prices! I laid my fabric swatch over the chair, and they looked great together.)
When I walked into HomeGoods, I headed straight for the chairs and furniture. There was a huge clearance section full of seating options, and I spotted the perfect piece right away. I scored it for a steal at $69. I also grabbed a stool (on clearance too) for the computer desk, plus some pillows and decor.
A little side-by-side action
Along with the upholstered chair, the computer desk stool, the pillows and the decor on top of the bookshelf, I picked up the little side table you see in the photo above at HomeGoods. Mrs. Reynolds already owned the black coffee table, but she was using it somewhere else before I snatched it up.
I also pulled a few items from my own home decor stash. Some of them I was going to sell at my next yard sale or donate, and they worked perfectly for this refresh!
I absolutely love the fan clock, faux succulents and the cute little globe on the bookshelf. I thought the globe was a fitting touch for a school study room. I grabbed one of my Scrappy Fall Pumpkins from my stash for a little autumn decor.
By the end of the day, I had so much fun adding a little cozy warmth to one corner of the school. I am a little worried it may be too cozy, though. Coach came home one day and said he caught a football player napping on the sofa with all the pillows. Ha! Mrs. Reynolds might have to keep them from sleeping in there.
