Step Ino My Office

The blog "Cape27" is doing a series of posts on "Never Before Seen" rooms in her house. And that reminded me. I have a couple of never before seen rooms in my house too! One of them I promised to show you...oh...ages ago.

So. How about a little tour.

Let's start at the bottom of the stairs, shall we? Don't believe I've shown you "the map", have I? Well there she be. That big blank space called for something...big. One Great Garage Sale (which no longer happen, btw...boo!) and some price dickering later, I had something big for the big blank space. And I looove it!

Turn the corner at the landing on our stairs and wouldja look at that? More artwork I've never shown you! These frames were an evening project over a year ago. The frames were spraypainted white, I pulled out some dictionary pages and added some scrapbook paper and silhouettes and came up with a "directory" of rooms.

For example:

Now, go ahead and follow the arrows...

...and you will find yourself at the door to...

...my office. Go ahead and let yourself in. Just remember that it's still a work in progress. Desks need to be painted, artwork needs to find its way to blank walls. But it's come a long way from this:

 To this...

Ah yes. Much better. The little room was all decorated to be a baby room when we moved in - a monkey baby room to be specific. But a couple coats of Wickham Gray (BM) and some office furniture later...I have my own little office.

I'm sitting in it at this exact moment in fact.

I like that.

The bookcases are Billy's from the clearance section in Ikea. You may remember them from our home in Grand Rapids - they were housed in the corner of our living room. The dresser in between was a $5 find from a thrift store down the street. My desk was a yard sale find before Tim and I were even married. The chair? From the trash.

Quite the collection, eh?

But it's my collection. My collection that makes up my very own office. So no one here is complaining! It did take awhile to get to this point. The room has changed quite a few times since we've moved in. But it probably won't be done done for awhile, so I thought I'd share it as is.

Shall we move on to some details?

I found this frame at Bibles for Missions with a really cool design on it and turned it into a chalkboard. Love the quote "I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun - not because I can see it, but by it, I can see everything else". C.S. Lewis. The little birds I cut out from scrapbook paper and rolled up a couple of pieces of tape to stick 'em up there.

The yellow shelf was a yard sale find as well - from before we were married - and it received a coat of yellow paint, some sanding and a stain wash for a little bit of aging. The tweaking of the top of the shelf isn't nearly done, but I do so love a couple of the things on it. The wood box was my Grandpa's cigar box (now filled with my alphabet stamps) and it may be my favorite thing up there.

And then there's the button bouquet that Hadassah made for me at Vacation Bible School last year. Love it. And I found a new use for my tiered wire rack - ribbon!! Ink!! Cute and useful!!

In an attempt to keep my graphic design jobs organized, I prettified this cork board with library pockets made from scrapbook paper - the jobs I'm working on are in the pockets written out on library cards. When I have a number of jobs on the go at the same time, it is very helpful!

And a couple of my favorite pictures help the "pretty" part:

It took something like 4 years to actually use the little label holders on my craft supply boxes. Not sure why it took so long to label what's in each box...because wowsers...it's so much easier than shifting through each box until you find what you need!!

During a HomeSense shopping trip, I saw this really cool card holder that I kept coming back to and coming back to. I loved it and could not leave it there. My initial thought was a Christmas card holder. It served its purpose last Christmas, but now it houses my blank note cards and wrapping paper and I am so glad I didn't leave it on the shelf that day!

Another find I couldn't leave behind was the wire rack that sits on my desk. I found it at an Antique store in Grand Rapids, carried it with my throughout the store only to put it down two feet from the cash register. But two minutes later I picked it right back up again, paid for it, brought it home, and it sat in our basement for ages! But I recently discovered it fits file folders perfectly and it's finally used and useful.

It's so lovely to have my own little space. I do love sitting here...

...writing blog posts, working on design jobs, pressing 'send' after writing an email, paying bills, or shopping while in my pj's. (gotta love Old Navy's free shipping...)

Do you have your own little spot? I'd love to hear about it! I'd love to step into your office...

Linking to Savvy Southern Style.
& The Trendy Treehouse