Hello friends!
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the amazing moms out there, I hope you are being celebrated by your families this weekend! My mother’s day schedule is packed with sports, which isn’t my first choice for how to spend my day, lol. Luckily the morning is free and my hope is for my lovely family to bring me coffee in bed and let me lounge there for awhile! I have actually arranged for my own pre-mother’s day festivities today, with some fellow mom friends. A few of us are going for a massage in the afternoon and then a group of us are meeting for dinner in the evening. Treat yo’self, am I right? This is one thing I have learned in life, don’t wait for others (ahem husbands) to do nice things for you…do them for yourself as much as you can!
And speaking of doing nice things for yourself, that leads me to today’s blog post. My new office space reveal!
I have talked before about the importance of creating functional spaces for yourself in your home, even if they don’t fit with the intended purpose of the room. Last year I wrote about how we never use our formal living room, which also happens to be the biggest room in the house. We tend to gravitate to the kitchen and family room, and even though we tricked out the Living Room with a tv and wall speakers (my husbands idea not mine!) we just don’t tend to sit in there.
Last year I ened up making space for my daughter’s extensive playmobil collection in our living room cabinets, and the living room became her playroom. You can read more about that process here.
I have to say, that over a year later, this is still functioning really well for us and it has inpsired this recent change.
So obviously I work from home, and my most productive hours are the ones from 9am-3pm every day when the kids are at school…shocker right? I created an office in our basement a few years ago now, but I was really struggling to go down there during the day when I am home by myself. Not only is it a dark little room with no natural light, it just feels weird to be down there when the house is empty. I have been realy struggling with this for the last few months, and it was starting to compromise my productivity. I was feeling so resistant to going downstairs to my office, that I would find myself setting up temporary workspace areas at the dining room or at our kitchen counter, just so that I could be upstairs and have some natural light.
Then I had an “ah-ha” moment and got the idea to create a permanent workspace for myself in our Living Room! We have this little corner, on the opposite side of Stella’s play area, and it was home to a console table and some decorative items. I realized that it would be the perfect place to have a little office nook for myself! This is how it looked before…
and this is how it looks now…
When I decided to create this little office nook for myself, I got excited about making it a pretty space that I would look forward to sitting at.
I took some inspiration from two of my favourite decorating and design bloggers, Casey from The DIY Playbooka and Sarah from Room for Tuesday. First up was this office nook in my friend Casey’s bedroom office space. For more photos of her incredible Chicago condo, click here.
image from The DIY Playbook
I loved the picture ledges above the desk and I was really excited to display some of my personal treasures, like the prints I bought when I visited Magnolia Market for the first time. The one on the top says “Joanna Gaines is my spirit animal”…#truth.
My second piece of inspiration came from Sarah over at Room for Tuesday. In her previous home, she had a beautiful office space and feaured a really unique rattan office chair which I fell in love with.
image from Room For Tuesday
Luckily Sarah linked where she got the chair from, and wouldn’t you know, it was from World Market. Last weekend I was in Seattle with my son and his basketball team and I was able to buy the same chair AND it was majorly on sale! Score!
I love the warmth of the rattan against the white desk, I couldn’t be more excited about this chair!
Now instead of being down in the dark basement, I am right beside the big bay window in my living room and I get tons of natural light, which is 100% better. This little transition also motivated me to hang some curtains, which has been on my to-do list forver! I got these ones at Ikea and I love the subtle dot pattern.
Not only am I now on the main floor and beside a window, but I also find that I can easily squeeze in a few minutes of work even when the kids are home, having my desk so accessible.
I am facing the wall which minimizes distractions for me…I do suffer a bit from shiny object symdrome and am prone to get off task easily. I also love that I am not facing Stella’s playmobil set up, which she often has spread accross the floor.
It’s like the boogey-man, what I can’t see won’t hurt me, lol! I had fun styling my desk top with some of my favourite decor, like this plant and holder beside a scented anthropologie candle…
and books…always books! Not only do I love these books and find them inspiring, but they make the perfect resting spot for the little nest that holds my business cards.
I am pretty smitten with my new desk sitatuation and wish I had of thought of this years ago! But like they say, home wasn’t built in a day and I believe it really takes time to settle into your home.
Hope you have enjoyed this little office reveal, and if you have any questions, leave them for me below!
Thanks for reading!
xo, Kerri
