Dark Academia Office

My office started out as an unused dining room, then to a painting room, and eventually it evolved into the office I have today. As an indecisive individual I was having an extremely hard time finding satisfaction with the way my office looked. I felt like there could be more, or maybe less; I like this picture here, but I don’t like those flowers there … It was a little complicated. But I made it a bit easier for myself and just started from scratch. I started by planning out my big items first; making space before buying them.I absolutely love thrift shopping, you can find the most unique stuff, and sometimes it’s even better than something brand new. I wanted a bookshelf, as I have quite a few books, but I wanted it to be aesthetically pleasing and add a little character to the room. I was also on the hunt for a china chest, since all my cabinets were full of coffee mugs, and I no longer had room for my regular cups. I thought it would also spice up my living room and pull all of the furniture together.

 I looked on Facebook Marketplace and eventually came across a beautiful Ethan Allen bookshelf and chest. They were both matte black with little faded yellow flowers on the top and bottom. They matched the black and white aesthetic  of my house well.

So now, in my office, we have the Ethan Allen Bookshelf, and a handmade antique desk. The difficult part was finding things to take up the space and bring character to the bookshelf.

The David statue- This famous renaissance statue was an Etsy find and it set the mood for the bookshelf. Luckily, I was going for a light and dark academia look in my office, and the David statue was the beginning of it all.

Vogue magazines- Vogue is one of my favorite magazines, it has fantastic content, from the aesthetics to the articles. It brings me fashion inspiration, as well as insight and different perspectives on things that are going on around the world. I started collecting Vogue magazines around the beginning of 2019, and they have become an essential item to my interior design. I put the latest 2021 issues on the far right of the third shelf, to try and Feng shui as much as possible, and then set some pink flowers on top. It gave a little fashion aspect to the room.

Succulents and Aloe Vera plants– I am in love with succulents and Aloe Vera plants. Not only are they both easy to take care of, but aloe is beneficial to your health and succulents are just cute plants that can really add a pop of color and texture to a room. I got my succulent babies around last year for Valentine’s Day from my love. The planters were found at Fred Meyer in a desperate attempt to find something local that would suit the academia look I was going for. I came across these hexagon shaped planters with a washed out black and white color. They were just big enough for me to water them, and they were a great addition to the interior aesthetic. I placed the white succulent planter in the middle of the second shelf,and my Aloe Vera plant to the right of the bottom shelf. My interior design would be nothing without my plant babies. 

The vintage Polaroid camera- I found this vintage Polaroid camera at a local antique shop, Blue Door Antiques. When I walked into Blue Door I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. All I knew is that I needed something that was going to tie everything together on that bookshelf. I looked everywhere in the antique shop,and I found this camera hidden on a shelf full of a bunch of antique tools and appliances, and I just knew I had to have it. It matched my aesthetic perfectly, and made the bookshelf even more special, adding a little history, as well as some future conversations.

My little tea pot and tea cup candles- They are inspired by my (soon to be available) tea cup candles. I have an eye for beautiful vintage China, and when I was at a garage sale this summer I found three whole tea sets for under $50. The lady who sold them to me just wanted everything gone as she was in a hurry to move. I had found the tea set, but there was no tea pot, and of course there is no better place to look for one than Value Village. I was honestly amazed that I found a tea pot by itself, and although the flowers were a much brighter pink than my original tea set, it still fit perfectly. The tea pot is from a different tea set entirely. When I first began my candle business I was experimenting and I thought about turning it into a candle, so I did. I added rose petals and lavender on top of it. I added the tea cup and tea pot to the very far left, and it is in line with the David statue two shelves above. It is yet to be determined whether or not I will create a tea set candle collection.

I honestly didn’t even mean to create a women empowerment wall, but most of my so called ‘idols’ or people I look up to are mostly strong feminist women. The iconic crown fitting portrait is a little download I found off of Etsy that I fell in love with. It reminded me of the portrait from the movie Ever After ,and it gave me a sense of empowerment like the woman in the portrait who was becoming queen. I fell in love and turned it into a canvas with a little help from Walgreens. The little picture to the left is of the iconic Frida holding a gun; I found it in Austin Texas while walking downtown with my brother. I also bought matches that I have yet to find again with the same matching picture. The picture gave me bad ass cow girl vibes, and I often wonder how the picture came about; what was she doing, what was she thinking? 

The next canvas is of my two favorite women and idols in the world, Gloria Steinem and Dorthy Pitman Hughes. If you don’t know who these women are, and you are a woman today, you can thank them for keeping women safe from sexual harassment in the workplace; Roe V. Wade;  exposing harmful companies and people that push women back; and empowering women to live their best quality of lives. Both of these women have fought their whole lives for equality between the sexes and people of color. This portrait inspires me everyday to do my part in the world by staying persistent with the fight for equality, and making sure I do my part in society to protect my rights. 

The angel and demon portrait- This is one of my favorite portraits up on the wall. Although I moved it somewhere that fit a little better, it tells the story of yin and yang. We live in a world where good and evil exist, and without both, there is no balance. I’d like to think we can all get along in this world, the good and evil, but that is entirely impossible. But in this portrait I’d like to think they are coexisting peacefully. They’re sharing a smoke, of course they’re getting along (lol). As humans we all stand between evil and good, and to me, this is a perfect representation of it. 

China hutch interior design inspiration coming to you next week!

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