Industrial Military Office Reveal

We can stick a fork in it ’cause our industrial military office is DONE!

This is what we were sporting in here just three months ago:

I’ve been showing sneak peeks of all of the many projects in this space for a while now, but in case you don’t already know, Robert has always said he wanted a man cave with all of his mementos from his military days.

So we devised the plan to decorate a masculine office for him.

This is the space where he reflects, where he works, where he spends a few moments most days in devotion. And I’ve always wanted to reward my best friend in some way for everything he does for me.

Up until the other day though, after all we’ve accomplished in here, there was just one little thing left that needed a fix.

Ye ol’ boob light. I mean really… once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Ever since a friend pointed it out to me, I’ve despised these fixtures in our house. And guess what?! This was the last one! No more boobs on our ceilings. Yippee kay yay.

Del Mar Fans and Lighting offered to provide a light fixture for this space and really, how could we say no to that one?

We decided on the Quoizel Wilder Drum Pendant and could not be happier. It’s bigger than I’d anticipated, but I love the statement of it in here.

Robert really was the one who took charge in this room and made most of the decisions, including the layout, since this was technically all for him. I’m glad all of his military mementos are at least dug out of the closet and are now on display in here where he can see them and be proud of them.

He just beams every time he walks into this new office of his now. And that makes me happier than anything.

So now… are you ready for the grand tour? (All of this room’s sources and budget breakdown are listed at the bottom of this post.)

I DIYed this ginormous “vintage” map from a poster I found for way cheaper than the real deal.

We installed these industrial shelves and I decorated them with lots of items that Robert already had or were passed down to us or that I found at the thrift store. We hardly had to pay anything for any actual decor on our shelves.

It’s amazing to me that those boots that are now on display on this shelf once trudged through the desert. That little Bible sitting on top of that book stack is what he carried in his pocket overseas and what he read a few scriptures from in his bunk most nights.

I ended up painting or recovering most of our books, and maybe it’s a tiny bit neat freak of me, but I like how they are unified and clean looking now.

I found this typewriter at the thrift store for $9 a couple of years back and always knew it was perfect for a military inspired office.

I placed my grandmother’s old suitcase in here that now houses all of our old photographs. We can just lift the top whenever we feel like getting nostalgic.

These horse head bookends once belonged to my grandfather, who also served in the Army in World War II and the Korean War. They’re one of the few things I have left of him, and I think he would have appreciated these being in an office like this.

So now every spot in this room is all filled up! Normally, I’m a bit more of a minimalist, but this room is definitely the exception, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. A lot of personal history is in this space.

For Robert’s desk, I picked up this fun desk calendar and metal letter tray to (hopefully) keep us a little more organized.

Over on the other side of the room, it used to look like this:

But I gave our closet a little vintage love with this DIY office sign I made.

Robert originally had an all black safe in here that I painted with a faux zinc finish and accompanied it with some thrift store finds on top.

The wall adjacent to it used to have this cluttered look going on:

So we sold the bookcases, donated some of the things that were taking up space, and hung up some of Robert’s accolades in a gallery wall along with this DIY yardstick flag art we made.

We placed that WWII relic on top too and hung up his pack and field books.

Our window looked like this in the beginning:

So to recycle our blinds, I made them into Roman shades with some olive drab burlap, and we framed the window with our usual Craftsman style method that we’ve used on almost all of our windows in our house now.

I gave the floor some texture too with this olive and jute herringbone rug.

Starting tomorrow (May 20), Del Mar Fans and Lighting will be hosting a giveaway on their Facebook page for free lighting too. Ya know… if you have a ceiling boob that you hope to replace in your own house.

So now here’s the big ol’ budget/source breakdown:

• Wall Color | Sherwin Williams Pediment – $0 (leftover paint)
• Desk | Craigslist find – $180 (Originally from Pottery Barn)
• Chair | Craigslist find – $65
• Light Fixture | Del Mar Fans and Lighting | $389
• Shelving | Home Depot – $210 for all 3 shelves
• Herringbone Rug | World Market | $80 (on sale and with a coupon)
• Craftsman Window Trim | DIY – $60
• Burlap Roman Shades | DIY – $50 for both
• Zinc Safe | DIY – $50
• Office Sign | DIY – $18
• “Pull Down” Map | DIY – $48
• Wall Frames | Michaels – $40 for all 4 (on sale and with a coupon)
• Yardstick Flag Art | DIY – $50
• Clipboard Frame | Michaels – $10 (on sale and with a coupon)
• Vintage Tin War Loan Sign | Local Antique Shop – $12
• Vintage Military Trunk | Thrift Store – $5
• Office Supply Organizer | DIY – Free
• Artificial Plants | IKEA – $6 each
• Wooden Desk Calendar | World Market – $21 (with a coupon)
• Pencil Cup | World Market – $7 (with a coupon)
• Paper Tier Tray | World Market – $25 (with a coupon)
• Desk Globe | World Market – $20 (with a coupon)
• Typewriter | Thrift Store – $9
• All the rest of the decor was free since they were items we already had.

Grand Total: $1379  Not our cheapest room ever by a long shot, but considering we had to furnish this entire room from a completely empty space, I guess it’s not too terrible. And since we sold the pair of bookcases for $100, we could really say the total was $1279, right?

So you think it’s worthy of the title “man cave”? This is absolutely the most masculine room in the house. Robert works so hard behind the scenes of this blog and does so much for our little family that I can think of no better way to show him how much I appreciate him than with a space that’s all his own.