Using my skillz...

It was a couple of months ago when Ricky, our team leader (as well as country leader for Thailand) asked Corina and I to team up and transform the head office here in Chonburi.  Corina is great with purging and organizing and I have the eye for design so we knew that between the two of us, we could work some magic on a space that desperately needed some help.

It all started with my very favourite thing to do...

drafting up the floor plan for the new layout.  

I didn't realize just how much I missed this until I got busy doing it again...

... such satisfaction. :)

Then it was time to make it all come together.

Corina and I had the help of two ladies on the MB Mission ACTION team that was working here in Chonburi, as well as Corina's dear friend, Jessica, who was here visiting.  It was a full 2-day affair for the 4 of us (plus some help from my sweet hubby too!) but by the end, I'd say it was worth the work!

Corina and Jessica did the sorting, purging, chucking, and re-organizing, while Annelisa and I painted and Jana gave the office a thorough, much needed clean. 

Then we all started moving furniture and slowly but surely,

the office went from this...

(please note the drab white walls and nassssty-falling-apart-vertical-blinds)

To THIS...

Before...

AFTER...

More "AFTER"...

(that space between the curtains will house the King of Thailand's picture...

just haven't had a chance to re-hang it yet)

And more "AFTER"...

As you can see, the old layout didn't utilize the fact that that entire back wall is one giant mirror.  They had the filing cabinets up against it and so the room felt small and dark.

And there were pictures hung all over the office, that were just sort of "haphazardly" placed, with no real flow or order.  It all felt a bit cluttered.

... Before...

So, we changed up the space to utilize that big mirror (which makes the room feel twice as big now)... 

... and gave some order to all the great pictures that are worth showing off!

I had a very small budget to work with (which needed to include paint, paint supplies, curtains, hardware and new accessories, such as plants and a new door mat) so I tried to reuse things we already had around the office.  This giant bulletin board was one of those things.  All it took was a $2 can of black spray paint and now its ready to house the new TMBF logo and new picture collages of the ministries happening all over Thailand. 

Another "AFTER" shot...

And one more "AFTER" of the office entrance...

So there you have it!  I have to say, the pictures really don't do it justice.  Anyone who has been into the office before, and now after the transformation, will admit that it is so much warmer and more professional looking.  The space seems much more useable and hopefully more inviting as well.  It was a lot of fun to get to use my design skills again and I know Corina enjoyed getting to throw out lots of junk! :)  I hope I'll have more opportunities in the future, to express my creative side.  So good for the soul to get to do the things we love, hey!? :)