Mr BC and I share office space in the form of a converted L shaped garage. Despite the fact that Mr BC mostly works from home, this office is not at all a calm, orderly oasis and is the repository for a whole lot of junk. Small house + many hobbies + not a lot of storage space + lots of projects on the go + continual house renovations = JUNK. It's not pretty, and I'm not even going to show you Mr BC's side of the room. That will be Part 2, and will have to happen another day.
Prepare yourself emotionally, and promise me you will not call hoarders.
Are you OK or do you need to go and have a cup of tea? I can wait. Lets do a 180 and see the entryway, it's not so brutal. See? Hills self watering garden bed leaning on an over full double wardrobe, and a glass cabinet stuffed with craft supplies while it waits to be restored. Practically soothing.
The blue desk is mine, and it was hard up against a large window looking out to the garden. I loved the view but at about 1pm when the sun moved over the yard arm, the light belted into the window and was so blinding, I couldn't sit there any longer. So I assessed the situation and made a plan.
The plan involved moving my desk to another wall, finding homes for a lot of stuff, and getting rid of a lot of stuff on Gumtree. Some stuff found a new home in the rubbish bin! I called in some muscle to help with the heavy lifting. That teenager is stronger than she looks!
One of the three metal shelves I use for magazines was emptied, the desk was moved to it's new home, and the shelf moved to the other end near the window.
Thank you for your help, please go play snails in the other room.
Still not perfect but starting to look a lot better. This is far from my dream office, but it was once a garage after all, and our budget doesn't allow for a total makeover.
It was a good opportunity to address my magazine obsession and get rid of some, this was surprisingly easy! I was very happy to get rid of this giant pile, and only flinched a little as they where flung into the recycling bin.
So this is as good as it is going to get for a little while. Still not perfect, but a vast improvement. I wish we had a proper room to use as an office, but we don't: so we just make the best with what we do have.
After we sort out Mr BC's side, there are a few more things that will make a big difference...
- I would love to replace the shelving with something glossy and white from Ikea.
- New flooring, or at least some fresh white paint. Now that the junk installation has gone you can see where I ran out of paint last time. Maybe a nice mat or some tiles over some fresh white paint?
- I am so happy to not have the full force of the sun in my face, but now I need some lighting on my desk. There are two lamps on my desk that I think would look better elsewhere.
- That weird thing going on in the corner above the right side of my desk? It is the back of the fuse box and must be hidden, somehow.
- I need a large notice board above my desk. That little one does not make me happy or add value to my day.
The other end of the room! A stack of raw cushions waiting to be transformed. An exercise ball that everyone has to have a go on. That old chair should have new covers sewn by now, but the section of arm that has been repaired keeps breaking and I am not keen on going to the trouble of making covers if the chair frame cannot be fixed. It will be the perfect place to sit and read (magazines) in the sun, or even watch a movie on that monitor on top of the shelving. I hope the chair can survive, but if it has to go, I have another that can replace it.
I would love to see the fan go. In part 2 of the office makeover the filing cabinet will be moved here, and the fan (or it's replacement) can sit on top of that, rather than hang off the ceiling. Those storage tubs you see are full of my material stash.
Because this is an old garage, there is a lip across the section where the door used to be, to stop rain coming in. This makes the floor uneven, so instead of bringing the desk out and wasting 30 cm, Mr BC quickly threw together some leg extender thingys for the front legs, to make the desk level. This means my chair is quite short but not that unworkable, and in Part 2, this desk will probably become Mr BC's desk, so I will live with it for the moment. If this was to be a permanent thing I would be shopping for a taller chair or stool very quickly, and making a regular appointment with the physio!
Before and after, of part 1. Stay tuned for part 2!
Do you have a room that you have to make the most of? I love looking at inspirational images on Pinterest and (obviously) in magazines, but sometimes it is just a struggle to get the reality anywhere near to the dream, and you just have to do the best with what you have. Can you relate to this?
xx