One of the perks of being two people in a three-bedroom house is that in addition to having a guest bedroom, you can use another bedroom as an office, which is what we've been doing for the past two years. Nick had a dual Ikea desk setup with a pair of monitors, and my computer was hooked up to the television to enable us to view Hulu and Netflix options on our television. This worked reasonably well, but it wasn't ideal. Using my computer as an actual computer was difficult on a gigantic screen as the font size was always too small, and I had no place to actually sit and work, as the couch and coffee table just didn't cut it.
When we first moved in, we had originally intended that the office would be located in what I call "the front room", which is the first room inside the front door. It adjoins the dining room and the hallway leads from it to the bathrooms and bedrooms of the house. It's closer to the kitchen and the main living space of the house, plus it has a lovely bay window. The previous owners hadn't really been using it at all, as best we could tell, and it seemed like wasted space. We put bookcases fully of books and a comfy chair in the room, but truth be told, we never actually used it.This year, I decided to finally get serious about the project. This involved, first and foremost, replacing the boring white color on the walls. Our friends can tell you about the months this room spent with various swatches of brown and gray on the walls while I hemmed and hawed. Literally months, and I am using the word "literally" correctly here. I finally decided to go with a color called Purbeck Stone, from my favorite paint company, Farrow and Ball. Who else? I love them. It's a soothing medium gray that shades to taupe in the right light, and it's quite earthy. Darker and more brown than the light gray in the dining room. I hoped it would be just what we were looking for.
I purchased two gallons of paint back in June, while my parents were visiting, but only got around to painting about three weeks ago. My fantastic husband helped me empty all the bookcases of books (which are currently covering our dining room table) and move the bookcases away from the walls. I painted the trim with Benjamin Moore Impervo in White Dove (same as in the kitchen). The weekend I set aside to paint the walls unfortunately happened to coincide with the weekend I first received what's called trigger point dry needling as part of my physical therapy plan for chronic back pain (a tale for another time), so my motion was markedly limited. The fantastic husband saved the day again! I did all of the prep (cleaning walls and taping off the newly-painted trim) and did the cutting in, while he did the actual roller painting since I couldn't stretch to do that. Once the painting was done, we (read: hubby because I'm gimpy) moved Nick's desks into the front room and split them up to give us one desk apiece. I have a desk again! Over the last week or so I've been hanging artwork, and although this room is by no means fully completed, we are quite happy with it. See for yourself! The photos were taken at night so the lighting isn't quite right, but you'll get the idea.
View from the entryway
My desk
Nick's desk
It's awesome! We have an office, one that we can both use at the same time (or rather, we will once we replace my wireless card and I have internet access again). We still have a lot of work to do, though. Needs some kind of window treatments, for one. I kind of want to put a cushion on the wide windowsill, but it's far too high to be a window seat so perhaps I'll just put out candles and seasonal things. On the far side of the room the wall juts out to make room for the hall closet, leaving a recessed area 15" deep by 11' long. Guess who's planning DIY built-in bookshelves? They're going to be a sort of 5th wedding anniversary present to each other, since wood is the traditional gift. Stay tuned!
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