Home Office - My New Happy Place

I have started a contract working one day a week from home (so far) and I love it.  It is so much fun to work with some old friends a project I feel so comfortable with.  I feel like I am dipping my toes in the water of working part time from home and so far I am all over it.  Unfortunately I didn't really have a space to work.  We had visions of moving the boys in to the same room and turning Cam's room into an office, but it doesn't look like that would be a great idea at the moment.  We did have this little nook in the basement where we had stuck an old home-made table (we got the plywood in an alley and added some Ikea legs).  We had put our old not-really-working-anymore sounds-like-it-might-explode computer there and it is where I have been doing my sewing.  But mostly it was just a place to dump things we had no other place for.

The bookcase was just loaded with books and photos and pictures and jars full of sewing stuff.  I had velcroed some fabric on to the table to try to cover the disaster of cables and the two plastic rolling drawers crammed full of MESS, but it made sitting there and doing anything a little awkward!

So a couple of weeks ago I tackled it with gusto.  I threw out a tonne of stuff we hadn't looked at in years, weeded through the books, and boxed up our poor old computer.  Then I hit Ikea and Staples.

I ended up just getting a couple of Ikea drawer towers to hold the same piece of plywood, since it fit so well.  I may eventually paint it white, who knows.  I was going to put a shelf under the window, but decided cork boards would be more useful.  While the results are not too exciting visually, organizationally this new space is rocking my world.  It is clean, streamlined, organized, and mess-free.  I am in OCD heaven.  Sadly (lighting-wise) it in the basement - here I am doing this photo course and posting terrible photos.  However, it is actually nice and quiet to work down there; this little nook is so cozy and tucked out of the way.  Plus we have a heated floor in the basement - enough said.

The bookcase now holds my sewing and craft supplies, a couple of magazine racks, and a file folder, along with an inspiring assortment of books (can you spot the Encyclopedia of Beer?).  On the wall, I finally hung the three prints my dad and I got at an auction and Avril Loreti's awesome tea towel.

The other side still has the studio shot of my grandmother and dad, I think I may add some more old family photos here.  You can see a double frame on the windowsill that has photos my grandmother and grandfather when they were kids. (They grew up in the same town, which is also where I grew up.)  And of course no office would be complete without some kid art - a valentines drawing to be exact.  :)

The drawers are so deep and hold so much more than those stupid rolling things.  (I put one of them in my closet to hold belts, scarves, and tights;  I was on a bit of an organizational tear.) Add a clear drawer tray from Staples, and Bob's your uncle.

And while I didn't find a chair to suit my needs yet, I did at least re-cover the one that was there which was looking pretty worn and sad (and filthy).

So there you have it: my new happy-place.  How many times did I say organized in this post? I love organized.