Old Space Made New

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Jennifer Hofmann of Inspired Home Office inspired me to give my office a total re-do. The project, while not impossible, was somewhat daunting.

It began with stripping wallpaper, and the last big thing that remains is completing work on the windows (this house was built in 1928 and has the windows with the weight pockets). Here’s a photographic journey.

Enjoy.

The above photo is of a desk I purchased in 1996. It has been moved to four states. I like to spread things out as I work, so this horizontal space was much too small to be functional for me.

Yeah, so have I mentioned that we have a lot of books? These two bookcases are two of 9 that are in the house. And for those who wonder if I was telling the truth in a post a month or so ago, all of the blue books in the above photo are the full 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary.

I am a geek.

1 1/2 days later, we have stripped off all of the wallpaper. There were two layers of paper, with a thick coat of paint over top. This was not fun. I got a blister on the pad of my thumb. Oh the humanity!

If you look at the window, you can see that the lower part of the actual window isn’t there. The weights had not yet been removed from the window casing in this image. This also shows the naked walls. Horsehair plaster is really smooth.

We removed as much of the paint on the wooden windowsills as possible.

Here’s the first look at the new room. Painted, art hung, Turkish carpet on the floor. According to Martha Stewart, this paint color is “Wild Bayberry.”

Here you can see that we are down to one bookcase (though I’m still thinking on that, because obviously not all the books fit and I do use them). In the foreground is my slanted writing desk. The cardboard box is one last piece of the desk we need to get another part for.

Last view of the new room. The desk we acquired from Ikea (several parts from the scratch-and-dent; my fave part of Ikea). Better view of the slanted writing desk. The recliner on the far side of the desk was my grandfather’s. It’s sooo comfortable … and note that I can’t see the computer monitor from there (so no temptation when I’m working in the chair.

The strange looking thing tied to the radiator is a makeshift kitty perch.  I need to rebuild it. Soon. Mimi is pretty fat as kitties go.

The labyrinth hanging on the wall was made by my SBH. She’s a costume designer, but does a number of fiber art projects between shows. She sells them over on Etsy. Check it out if you have interest. I believe she’s recently been putting up the Yarn Sprites that suddenly appeared in the house. Yes, I said “Yarn Sprites.”

So that’s what can happen when you spend some time hanging out with Jen Hofmann. It was a ton of work, but worth every single minute.

I cannot remember another time in my life in which I had a room all my own that felt as welcoming as this one. I want nothing more than to work from here every single day. I’m working toward that, but that’s another project entirely.

The Point

Yup, there’s a point, even to this post (which is really show-and-tell bragging about this massive accomplishment).

Jen got me to listen to myself … just for a moment. And in that moment, I heard something very important about the physical space in which I tried to work. Working on communication skills with yourself is equally as important to working on them with other people. Seriously.

As Martha says, “It’s a good thing.”