Since I've been sucked into the black hole that is Pinterest this week, I've been finding all sorts of home inspiration. Which is just in time, because there are still packed boxes in our closet from our move almost a year ago.
No matter what, I am always interested to see people's work space. I like to imagine them there. This is strange, because when I see pictures of people's kitchens, I don't imagine them in a chef's hat.
So if you're curious about where I'm sitting while I create this blog, I am happy to show you and even happier to say that it's almost my favorite space in the whole house. A few details:
1. Cavern Blackbird Wallpaper from Walnut Wallpaper. I eyed this pattern in various colors for literally years. But it just didn't fit anywhere in our former house. When I landed a space of my own in our new house, I knew I wanted it on the walls. It's stark and overwhelming, so I only did two of the four walls. Some people like a bright and cheery office, I like to feel the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe.
2. My beloved blue Hutton sofa from Room and Board. This was our living room couch in the former house, and I am in love with it as much as anything I own. The color, the shape, the depth, I picked it out with care. Plus it has lots of memories. I brought my baby home to this couch, I've had important and not important conversations on the cushions. If couches could talk...this one would sing Fleet Foxes.
Hot pink pillows from Ikea, oatmeal throw hand-knitted as a wedding present from a family friend.
3. Cream shag Vitten rug also from Ikea, and about 1/3 the price of similar rugs that are EVERYTHERE these days. With a toddler, this wouldn't work in most of my house, but my office is (mostly) off-limits.
4. Peekaboo clear coffee table from CB2. Totally functional, totally disappears. This is important when it looks like the walls are going to attack.
5. Random inexpensive chair I picked up at Homegoods to replace the expensive leather desk chair I originally bought. Sometimes you just have to admit to yourself when something isn't working, even if that "something" was expensive and/or looks great. I finally gave in after six months and copped to the fact that I sit in my chair Indian style. That is, with my legs crossed like I'm at story time. I do this in restaurants, so I especially do this when I'm in front of the computer. The arms of my old chair didn't accomodate my awkward legs. The new one does.
Pink and gold sari from one of The Gorilla's trips to India.
6. My industrial teacher's desk. I've had this for nine years and have hauled it to every place I've lived and the sucker is HEAVY. It has just the right combo of drawers and I like the bulky size. A couple of years after I bought it, it became really trendy to paint these desks with car paint (they're steel) and sell them for upwards of $1200. I bought mine for $100 from a friend of a friend who was moving.
Behind my desk is a large bulletin board that I use to tack up random bits of inspiration. Beside my desk is a framed announcement from when one of my very best friends adopted a little boy. (Yes, that's the original size. It arrived in the mail in a poster tube.) It makes my heart happy and hopeful to look at it every day.
Also behind my desk is a fireplace. This makes the room so cozy. On the mantle I have a few pictures that mean a lot to me and my stack of moleskine yearly planners that go back to 2005.
On the window sill in front of my desk I have my favorite Fig candle from Henri Bendel, a framed memento from my childhood summer camp, a funny picture of my husband, and a Sophie Blackall print.
That's my creative space. It has the best view in the whole house and is more than I ever could have asked for when I put it on my wish list during the house search.
A room of my own.
