Home Offices, Lady Style
I’m sorry to say that neither of these home offices is mine. No, my home office is more of a chaotic space than a soothing floral refuge of femininity.
Instead of a simple writing table backed by pretty green and white wallpaper, I have writing desk with a drawer stuffed with tax info and invoices and lip balm. It’s flanked by a big old-fashioned filing cabinet and the whole works is framed by fire engine red paint.
Asked to describe this home office in one word, I’d choose “pretty.” Asked to describe my own home office, I might call it “overwhelming.”
On one hand, it’s partly my fault — I have a lot of papers and magazines and sewing supplies and hatboxes piled everywhere. That said, does anyone have a home office that looks like the spaces shown in magazines? If so, I have to know: Where, exactly, do you hide all of the materials you need for work?
(photos via)
I agree…the home office in the second photo is gorgeous, but I need much more to hand than is visible in that photo. Besides…where is the laptop? The printer? The wireless router? The telephone? I think the closest I’ll ever have to being that neat will be if I get one of those computer armoires where I can literally close the doors on the mess.
I feel almost like a traitor to my sex, but nothing would drive me up a wall faster in a home office than floral wallpaper and a desk where I can’t keep anything but a desktop computer.
What I want is a big old rolltop desk with a gazillion cubby holes to stash things in and a cheerful solid color on the walls. The curtains could be floral, but probably wouldn’t. Oh, and the walls would be largely lined with bookcases. It would look very old-fashioned, and some might consider it too masculine, but that’s what I dream of.
But the one thing I want more than anything in my home office is a damn door I can shut. My home office is in what was built to be a dining room and is in every practical way the most public room of the house. My dream is to be able to shut the door and be alone when I write. I might even put up with floral wallpaper for a while if I could just have a door.
Twistie, can you at least put up drapes? I don’t mean curtains, I mean good solid portieres, heavy on both sides, to cut down on drafts, noise, and provide some privacy.
I had solid hopes of turning my dining room into my sewing room. I thought it was a great plan; I didn’t need the dining room, I DO need the sewing room … but it’s the wrong size and the wrong shape, and I’m bitter and confused and still need a place to set up work.
I could only put up those drapes to shut out the world if nobody ever sits on that end of the couch again. The room simply isn’t big enough nor designed for all the uses we put it to. Sigh.
La Petite Acadienne: Perhaps there is a secret compartment in the floor where the printer and the files and the pens and things all are hidden away when not in use? Very James Bond, that.
Twistie: The door that shuts is indeed a luxury I have grown to appreciate. Once upon a time my workspace and my crafting space was in a room with The Beard’s workspace and music space. I enjoyed the company, but it was rather hard to concentrate on work when he was around.
La BellaDonna: Can you switch a room or two around? If we hadn’t moved into our own home, allowing me to steal a room all my own, I don’t think I would have sewn nearly as much as I do now.