This week’s project was a bit of a challenge. I’m always using this space, so cleaning it up has been an ongoing process. Especially since Felix loves opening up the cabinet drawers and pulling out all of our office supplies.
Getting this room in working order was fairly simple. It came down to painting the room white, adding a few pieces of artwork, and keeping stuff off of surfaces. I’m constantly bringing in papers, projects and miscellany so I need the room to be as bare bones as possible.
With the white walls, I thought this would be the perfect chance to include my bright artwork that doesn’t usually match any anything else in the house. I even busted out some old artwork I forgot I had!
Here’s a quick reminder of what it looked like just days after we moved in. It’s nearly impossible to get inspired in such a haphazard and messy place.
The bright artwork is a homage to the yellow on the walls previously. It brings in a nice pop of color.
I bought the print on the left ages ago for Father’s day for Chris. It was from the Beehive Bazaar, but I can’t remember the seller. I love the neon square background pattern. If you know who sells these, leave a comment. I’d love to give credit!
The middle piece I did my sophomore year, using latex house paints. It will probably deteriorate in about 15 years, unfortunately.
The two smaller pieces on the right were made at Design Camp of Alt Summit last year with Eva from Sycamore Street Press. I’m planning on putting a family photo in that bottom one. I just need to get all of us together (and dressed) at the same time.
For the desk, I wanted to add a bunch of storage, but I still needed to take the photo corner into consideration. I tilted the Expedit on its side and slid it underneath the desk. It makes the desk a bit on the tall side, but I like the functionality of it. We have all of our hard drives and cables neatly tucked into cubbies underneath the desk. This is definitely the cleanest set up we’ve had thus far. We have two tethered screens (which I love), two keyboards (his and hers – Chris’s is the blank black one) and two mouse pads. Chris has switched completely to mousing with his left hand, but I’m too impatient give it a try, hence the two mouse pads. And the blank keyboard? Well, it’s set to PC functions, so I can’t use my keyboard commands, so I use the regular mac keyboard.
I mounted the shelf above the computers to house my Silhouette cutter, camera remotes, headphones and other compy gear. I should put some artwork above there. It looks really lonely up there.
The quote is by AnnilyGreen – I scored it at a gift exchange last Christmas, and the painting below is one of mine that I completed when chris and I were just starting to date. Artwork is very much like having my personal history up on my walls. You know how songs can take you back to a specific memory? Art is totally the same way for me.
Of all the guys I dated in college, Chris was the only one that was actually game to come to my painting studio and study while I painted. Heck, he even busted out a painting while he visited. It was then that I knew he was a keeper.
Behind the door I house the tripod. Right here, it’s set up for studio shots. I like having it set up in the corner of the room, so I can just butt the leg up to the corner and have the camera in the same position every time I bust it out. I’m trying to work on consistency this year.
The above artwork is self made. The big painting was recent this year, and the print was a litho piece I did back in college.
The closet is still a work in progress. I put my paper storage in there along with photography, watercolor and bookbinding supplies. I’d like to have it more organized with shelving, but it works well enough for now.
And here’s the corner where I shoot all of my pictures now. It’s so lovely to have this space all ready to rock and roll at a moment’s notice. Back when we lived in California in an insanely overpriced 1 bedroom apartment, I just dreamed and dreamed of space and light like this. It’s heaven.
Along with making matching his and hers mouse pads, I decided it was high time to recover this desk chair. I have recovered it three times now. This time I covered it in a plush leather that will resist stain and wear well. I was hesitant to work on this thing again. It’s a $15 office chair from ikea from 4+ years ago. There are so many prettier desk chairs out there, but updating this was free. I figure, if we ever end up trashing this and sending it off to the thrift store, I’ll strip the leather off the bottom and use it for something. Heaven forbid this amazing soft leather goes to waste.
Overall the only expenses on this room (counting from the time we moved in until now) were: the paint $45, photo floor $10 and rolling drawers $40. Everything else I had on hand. If I could do more to this space, I would tile this (and the whole top floor) in slate, add a rug, swap out the desktop for reclaimed wood and hairpin legs and get a taller drafting desk chair.
For these ideas and more, check out my office pinboard here.
We’re fortunate enough to have a “tiled” entryway by the front door, but there’s nothing to protect the carpet from the door leading to the garage. We have two rugs on either side of the door, but the one on the inside of the door always gets crumpled up, and bunches beneath the door.
