My Favorite Room: Tada!

I've been promising forever, and I finally dug through the digital photos we've taken over the last year to pick out all the ones from my office makeover.

As I think I've mentioned before, when we moved into this house, it was originally #4's bedroom, being as she was still in a crib. Now that she's an official big girl, she's moved downstairs and shares a room with #3. My old office is now #2's bedroom.

I love spending time in my new office, complete with a gorgeous view outside and plenty of sunlight . . . neither of which you'll be seeing in the photos, because the blinds are closed because of the glare.

Finally, without further ado, the transformation of my office, with waaaaay more pictures than you probably care to see!

First, the beginning of the demolition. The carpet is gone, the trim all ripped out. The walls look a bit pink here, but the color was really more of a cool taupe.

Honey ripped out the closet shelves, bars, and trim, leaving this:



Then he built in bookshelves just how I wanted them: most of the shelves are built to hold novels and research books, but a few on the lower right are really tall so I can fit in big binders that are filled with research fun. And below that is room to store boxes of my books and stuff:

I primed the walls and the bookshelves, then painted the shelves a yummy chocolate brown:

Time for the wall color to go up. Again, it doesn't come all that accurately in a picture. The room doesn't look like a tub of margarine. It's more of a golden tan.


The paint looks pretty cool next to the shelves, huh?

Next up: installing the walnut laminate floor:

Ain't it purty?!


Trim work begins. I think my honey's knees and back about gave out doing this one because of all the extras I picked out for him that required that much more time on his knees and bending in awkard positions. I still feel a bit guilty for inflicting that on him . . .


With the trim all done, I volunteered my exceptionally lame handy skills and caulked it all. Be impressed people. Be very impressed. Here's some of the cool molding honey put in, along with some of the less-than professional caulking I did:


When it was time to move in, these books went in first. Anyone who knows me knows right away what they are. (Can you make out the first edition Windy Poplars? Volume V of the journals isn't pictured, as it's still on my night stand.)


Tada!!!

Some day I'll get curtains and do a few other touch-ups, but for now, it's pretty darn awesome.

I purposely didn't bring in all my books. I left a lot downstairs where the kids can read them. Okay, and to leave room for future books. I didn't want the whole place chock-full right away.

A couple of notes about the stuff on the wall: When my first book came out, part of the celebration was getting a poster of the cover framed, so that's the big picture. My BYU diploma is on the bottom. The 4-picture frame will eventually have pics of the kidlets.

And the wooden sign is something I got from Josi Kilpack that brings me joy. It reads, "I will NOT live like a NORMAL person. I AM A WRITER!"

Truer words were never spoken. Or put on a sign. Whatever.

And below is the view from the door, where you can almost sort of see the rugs (the one on the right I featured in my "closer look" photo meme).

One fun thing to note: See the wooden name block on the desk? Below my name, it says, "Writer." I love it, not only because it's pretty, but because my husband bought it for me years before my first sale. Even during all the rejections, I kept it on my desk as a reminder, a symbol of what I was and where I could be someday.

When you've got someone who believes in you, it really helps you get through the rough times in this writing gig. He always has believed in me.

Oh, and the stack of papers are critiques from my weekly group that I hadn't gotten to when I took the picture. That stack is smaller now. Not gone, but smaller. I think I'm down to three or four weeks' worth of notes rather than twice that.

What you can't see in these pictures is the wall to the left of the door, where there's yet another bookcase (of course). Some day I might get a reading chair to go next to it.

And right below the window (you can just make out the black edge) is an electric fireplace Honey got me for Christmas to put in my future office to keep my toesies warm. (I freeze year round. It's really sad. Today might be August 1, but I'm wearing a wool sweater.)

The left wall also bears this print on it from my sister that's very much me. It shows a street with a cafe named after Shakespeare and a chocolate store. Oh, yeah. I could spend all day there.

As it is, I spend plenty of time with the print in my spiffy new office. Honey did a ton of work on it just for me. Yes, I married a keeper.