Ta-Dah! The New Office

In May, I left my office job where I spent over two hours a day driving to and from work. My new job enabled me to work from my home.

I moved all my sewing things from the small bedroom back to the basement, and erected a folding table and small computer table in the new office, which had been painted many years ago to an institutional blue green yuck color. The heavy old double-hung windows were painted shut. A heavy metal rolling cart from the basement became the bookshelf. I sit with a view out over the vacant lot next door, which my neighbors, Jean and Marilyn, have landscaped to the hilt. As I work, I glance out and watch squirrels and birds cavorting.

My Really Good Man (RGM) decided I needed a new office if I was going to work from home and sit in this space all day every day. See if you agree:

RGM started with thinking I needed a deep, rich color for the walls, similar to the lovely deep colors my brother used in his mountain house. Then he said we should go to Star Supply and get a countertop. He started talking to Tom, an acquaintance who is a retired contractor/jack-of-all-trades. When they started talking about mitering the corner of the counter, they decided to place a large square of wood in the corner and run the counter off both sides of that wood. Then he started talking to Tom about building a bookcase at the end of the counter.

The floor was an ugly, ugly sheet vinyl, circa 1927. I watched an episode of Trading Spaces, where the homeowners painted the sheet vinyl floor. We googled "How to paint sheet vinyl" and found the instructions on eHow.com. RGM did most of the work on the floor, but I did the faux finish, while nearly asphyxiating myself on the chemicals in the glaze. RGM did all the painting—the walls, trim, bookcase, and bathroom. Look at that trimwork in the bathroom! The man is a genius!

We looked at rugs at Home Depot and Lowe's on Wednesday night, then on Thursday I went around the corner (shop local!) to a little rug store on Belmont owned by some Palestinians. There we found a beautiful rug at a very affordable price. The rug will keep the floor warmer, and will hide the inevitable cat throw-up that's sure to come its way.

The gallery of photos from travel—mostly abroad—that was in the hall downstairs will go on the wall to the right of the bathroom door. Diplomas will go in on the green wall in the corner. Once I move the rolling cart back to the basement, a comfortable guest chair will go into the space occupied by the cart.

New double-hung fiberglass windows have been ordered and will arrive in about four weeks. Two weeks later they'll be installed, and this will be the warmest room in the house.

And my new office will be done!

See what you think of the result:

The window overlooks the "garden". The basket for Angel is in place beside it.	Beautiful bookcase, custom made for the space.
Don't you just want to wrap that green around yourself?	And look at the trimwork in the bathroom!
The view from the bathroom back into the office.	The Guardian overlooking the office.
How about that floor? I love it! And don't you love the rug? Isn't it perfect for this space?	This is the gorgeous square of wood, put into place to get around a mitered corner.

Many thanks to Tom for hard work and good ideas on the new office. And mega-thanks to the Jazzman, my RGM, for conceiving the idea and bringing it to fruition.

A final note about the first photo on the post. This Native American figurine is named the Guardian. He guards his family and his home, and yours too. This cool guy was a gift from Tyler and Jaci when I was again newly single in 2003 and all alone in my new house. They found him to help take care of me. And look where we are now!!