Corner of my Home : Office Progress

It all made sense to me one day, after flipping open the cover of a new notebook.  Inside was a quote from Martha Stewart that said:

Craft Happiness

Modern science tells us that good old-fashioned handiwork like gardening, pottery, or engine tinkering is one of the best cures for depression.  Getting lost in such activity satisfies a primal craving to create solid objects and can result in a pleasure mostly forgotten in modern living.  It's a terrific way to reduce stress and combat anxiety.

I. Couldn't. Agree. More.

Having a craft room, office, dark room, a place to write, a place to edit, a place to be creative, is important to me.  Maybe this room (which is really a dining room) won't always be just my office, but for now it is.  And since I spend a lot of my "free time" here, it's one room that has progressed quite a bit since we moved in.

Here is what it looked like in late December, when I came for the inspection.

Roughly six weeks ago, Beau decided the outer wall needed to be re-sheet rocked, due to settling and poor installation of the big picture window.  There's good and bad when it comes to having a handy husband.  Having my office become a destruction zone in less than an hour one random evening is a prime example, but I love him.  Aaaand so began the remodel of my office.  Within a week's time a new wall was up, board and batten was added to the walls, and new paint covered the entire room.

Over the past month I've slowly spiffed it up to be what it is now.  It's more organized, it's brighter, and we can still make it a usable guest room when needed.  One with doors even, someday.  Maybe.

Three things I kept in mind for this room:

1. I wanted the room to be filled with life and greenery.  Unfortunately, the room lacks natural light much of the day, so plants probably wouldn't do well.  For that reason I aimed to find a shade of green that reminded me of plant life, without darkening the room any.  I ended up with Behr - Asparagus.

2. I was desperate for storage.  We purchased two basic Ikea desks 2.5 years ago while we were living in Minnesota.  They have zero storage, but there's nothing wrong with them.  So I added two Ikea Alex drawer units to the room.  Since the majority of what I needed storage for was flat (photos, paper, small tools, magazines, etc.) they work perfectly.

I have one full drawer dedicated to Project Life cards, stored neatly with the Antonius basket insert & easily accessible when I'm working on my album.  A much better system than keeping them all in the boxes like I used to.

3. Lastly, I wanted art on the walls.  Something inspirational.   So far I've created three different pieces (two paintings and a print), that I'm loving, and I already have ideas for more swirling in my head.  I'm kind of falling in love with abstract painting if you couldn't already tell.

A small table is kept near the window for the boys to draw or paint on, though most recently I caught Beau and Alwyn having coffee together here.  Pretty dang cute.

I can't tell you how glad I am to have this space to come and create in when I can.