home office makeover - the beginning

We use every inch of our house and that is how I want it to be (I've talked about that here). Occasionally though, it does result in some creative thinking when it comes to carving out a new space in our little cottage.

Case in point - I need an office. I've worked from home for almost a decade now and originally I had a huge office. Then Amelia and Eve came along and over time my whole office was eaten up to make room for a family room/play room. So for the past few years, I've been a nomadic worker. Thanks to my laptop I could work at the dining room table, on the couch in the family room, outside on the deck, even in bed (shh, I know that's 'bad for you').  But a nomadic office leads to traveling office papers in every corner of the house. Things were getting lost, and colored on.

Then several weeks ago my computer went to the big help desk in the sky and I got myself a shiny new desktop. "Uh, Elizabeth, that was kind of a foolish decision - you can't carry a desktop around the house with you." I know, but it was like when you buy jeans a size smaller to encourage you to loose weight. That desktop was the push I needed to get started on the office I've been meaning to tackle for a long, long time.

There is a spot in what we call 'the basement basement' (aka - the unfinished portion of the basement) that makes for a natural office. It gets great light in the afternoon, has a closet and is screaming make me over.

So because we are friends, I'm going to take you into 'the basement basement', a space houses guests are never allowed, in order to show you the frightful before.

Totally screams office, don't you think? Me too.

So the plan is to spruce this space up and create a space that I will want to get, well, creative in. And if that wasn't exciting enough the plan is to use only what I have in my stash. This is partly due to the fact that I have a million and one estate sale purchases that need to be put to good use and partly because I don't want to spend big money down here.

Goals for the space:

- brighten it up

- fix and paint the floors

- do something with the exposed ceiling

- replace the window to let in even more light

- girly this place up to create a happy, adult work space

- add more light

- use what you HAVE

- get organized girl!

How long will this take? Good question. I'm guessing as long as it takes me to get annoyed with having a desktop at the creative station of the family room.

What do you think? Can I create something I'll want to spend any time in without spending the earth? Ever feel like showing your 'family only' space is a bit like posting a picture of your underwear drawer on Facebook?