Megan Atkinson's Life

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll recently have seen me whining about not having anywhere to work on my blog or new business because of the lack of space in my prison-cell sized bedroom. These moans have also been the topic of many conversations between me and my parents for years now, but despite my constant effort I’ve not yet persuaded them to empty the garage and let me make a home office in it, so I’ve been forced to a new low- the cupboard under the stairs.

You may think a cupboard with a sloped roof and less than 1m x 1m floor space would only be useful for laundry and coats from winters gone by, but with a free day, some paint and a good helping of elbow grease I’ve managed to make myself a pretty nifty blogging nook without spending anything at all!

As soon as my Mam left the house for work (side note- this was like 60 minute makeover except the makeover was of no benefit to her, it was just a surprise) I got straight to it- I dragged everything out (finds included a backpack from the 2012 Olympics, a half opened birthday present from 2015 and a violin case without its accompanying instrument) and organised it all into keep and throw away. I was then left with a mouldy, dusty cupboard with discoloured, holy walls and some precariously positioned nails (think ‘The Chokey’ from Matilda). I hoovered, poly-filled, hammered the nails back into the wall and bleached everywhere before leaving the door open for a while to let the cupboard see the first bit of daylight and fresh air it had had in years. Once it was aired out, I got to work on my first ever attempt at painting and decorating, which, as an aspiring property developer, was actually quite exciting. After twenty minutes of googling and a particularly nasty cut from a chisel, I managed to get a can of white paint that I found in the garage open and slathered two coats onto every inch of the cupboard. This made the world of difference and really opened the space up- if you’re attempting to convert a small space yourself but don’t want to put much work in, a lick of bright white paint will give you maximum results for minimum effort.

Now the walls were white and even I had a blank canvas to work with- it was time for decorating. As I didn’t want to spend anything on this project, I decorated with everything that looked Pinterest-y around the house including: an old letter holder I painted grey to display some magazines, an IKEA pen pot my sister had neglected, some fake flowers that had made a home in my bottom drawer, aesthetic coffee table books, Christmas tree fairy lights from last year, my old desk chair and a thick black and white blanket that used to live at the end of my bed. To add a personal touch to it, I hung some prints of my favourite quotes and made a sarcastic art instillation out of a particularly big hole in the wall not even poly-fill could fix and before I knew it my den was looking like all the ‘after’ pictures from the office makeovers I’d been drooling over on Pinterest!

My office took me six hours and no money to create- proof that you can create a home office with any space, any budget and any level of skill! I hope I’ve inspired you to transform a space in your home, if you need some more ideas here’s a collection of my favourite small space ideas from Pinterest. Megan x