Thursday, March 09, 2006
My Dream Office
About a year ago, my husband and I moved to our current house. The house had much more room than our old house, and I decided to take the bonus room over the garage and convert it into my dream office cum library.
I've always wanted to have a room in my house that was exciting and different, a kind of fantasy room. And since I spend so much time in my office writing, this seemed like the perfect room to do it with.
When we moved in, this room was plain old beige walls with plain old beige carpeting and my cheap, old, crappy office furniture. (In our old house, my "office" was a corner in the breakfast nook of our kitchen.) I hired an interior designer to help me transform this mundane room into my medieval fantasy office, complete with comfy reading nook (pictured above).
I wanted the walls to look like castle stone, and the floor to look like old wooden planks. The designer found a faux-finisher who could achieve these effects with paint. I'm amazed at how cool and realistic it looks. She also painted the designs on the window to give it that old, leaded-glass feeling.
But the thing I like best about my fabulous new office is the bookcases. A local carpenter designed and built them for me. There are more bookcases to the left of the ones you see in the picture. Those bookcases have doors on them, so I can store my less-attractive paperbacks. I used to have my books stored in bookcases in an attic storage room. And I had to fight my way through all the stuff that manages to gather in storage rooms as years go by in order to get to my books. Now, they're at my fingertips. Which isn't always a good thing when I'm supposed to be writing . . .
Even so, I wouldn't trade my office for anything. I hope someday to write full time. When I do, it will be nice to have a place within my own home where I can feel as though I've stepped into another world. A way to separate my "work" life from my home life. I think this office will do the trick!
posted by Jenna Black @ 12:57 PM
10
comments
10 Comments:
This is just. so. cool. I'm totally awed and just a leeeetle bit jealous! ;-) Great to see you in the blogging community! Catch you later, I'm sure.
Jen,
Your offic is too cool. I love it. Once you finish your vampire trilogy, maybe you'll be inspired to write something gothic.
Gayle
WOW, Jen!
I truly love your office - fantastic!
Candy
This, my dear, is absolutely gorgeous!
Amazing taste!
Lady M
Wow, that's a fantastic office. I first thought you had found those pictures elsewhere and were saying you wanted it.
But one of the things I love most in life is finding out people HAVE what they've always WANTED!
:)
Congratulations!
(PS I came here by way of Miss Snark's blog.)
My god. It's gorgeous. You know, I had to go back and read that this was a room above a garage about 3 times before it sunk in. Wow. I want an office like that!
I wish I'd taken pictures of the original room, when it looked like your typical over-the-garage bonus room. It was quite an amazing before and after effect!
Oh that would be cool - to have an idea of how others set up their rooms. A step by step based on personal preferences.
To me - all that matters:
Good ergonomics - comfortable chairs. Stocked refrigerator, good lighting or mood capable lighting - something to look out (window)... and the essential office equipment.
But ergonomics are a must - I get lost in time when I write. Finding myself hunched over the laptop after 12 hours is a migraine waiting to happen.
Lovely - again - Beautiful room!
Amazing room Jenna! I too thought it was a room that you "wanted" someday. I love the faux effect. Is the floor actually wood, and is it painted too? Just wonderful. And inspiring.
Vicky
In answer to Vicki--
The floor is some kind of composite material, like particle board, painted to look like wood. The first thing she did was paint whole floor neon orange. That's what gives it its warm color. She then layered the browns on the top. When the floor was orange like that, it looked like some kind of kindergarden playroom!
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