A Tour Around My Home Office
Ok, I warn you now, this is going to be a move away from my normal style of blog post and it's going to be very picture heavy. I've been meaning to do a tour of my home office for a while but just never got round to it. I commandeered the guest bedroom a while back so that I had a space to work in when I was building my digital consultancy service last year. I also wanted to have a desk to leave stuff on so that I could go back to it.
Most of the time, having this space works perfectly. I don't clutter the rest of the house up with my knick-knacks and I have plenty of room to keep all my stationery, my craft stuff and my handbags (don't ask...) and I've now acquired a sewing machine, keeping it up here means that I don't have to drag it onto the kitchen table when I want to use it.
The decor in the office/guest bedroom was kept fairly neutral but I have tried to inject colour into it in various ways. I'm no Anna Ryder-Richardson so nothing really matches but I always try to surround myself with accessories that I'll actually use! You may notice an injection of purple around my desk. I've got some great products from Rexel here at the moment which really brighten the place up.
Shall I take your round the room? It's fairly small (just 9' x 7') and it adjoins our main bedroom. At one point we were going to convert it into an en-suite but bringing the necessary pipework from the back of the house to the front of the house was going to prove too costly.
The first picture is taken from the doorway. Above the bed (in the alcove) are six shelves full of videos that we will probably never watch again. There are box-sets and rare ones and we just can't bring ourselves to clear them out. On the wall is my cork noticeboard. At the moment I have my race numbers on there and some personal keepsakes (cards, notes, postcards). To the left of the picture (out of sight) is the whiteboard I use for day-to-day reminders and for subliminal messages when filming my YouTube videos.
I have the bed across the far wall and this is used as a storage area when no-one is staying over. The bed is covered with the first blanket I ever crocheted and behind the chair is a basket full of my handbags. Also on the bed are two collapsible boxes with a London Underground print on them (two for £8 from The Works). One of these boxes contains all my running accessories (hi-vis vest, The Whistle Of Power, bum bags, hats, gloves, et al) and the other is full of stationery items. On top of these sit another box which contains all my sketching accessories from my Jenny Maizels Sketchbook Club.
I have the bed across the far wall and this is used as a storage area when no-one is staying over. The bed is covered with the first blanket I ever crocheted and behind the chair is a basket full of my handbags. Also on the bed are two collapsible boxes with a London Underground print on them (two for £8 from The Works). One of these boxes contains all my running accessories (hi-vis vest, The Whistle Of Power, bum bags, hats, gloves, et al) and the other is full of stationery items. On top of these sit another box which contains all my sketching accessories from my Jenny Maizels Sketchbook Club.
There are two cushions on my chair. The first one is - coincidently - a Jenny Maizels "rock" cushion which I won in a competition (there's also a 'pop up' card with London landmarks on the noticeboard which was in the same prize package). The second cushion is a pillow but the pillowcase is my own original Wombles pillowcase from when I was a little girl. Yes, really!! It's almost as old as I am!!
Moving round to the desk - it's similar to one you can buy from Office Monster - and it's actually full of useful bits and pieces which are all in handy little pots and holders. My large notebooks are in a file holder from Ikea (I rescued four of these from Mum's house) and then I have a neat little filing tray from WHSmith which currently holds all my pocket notebooks, my BOAT (Book Of All Things), my external hard drive and a few other bits and pieces. Next to this are two little compartmental boxes for stationery bits and pieces such as my mini post-it notes and stickers, the washi swatch book, paperclips, bookmarks, stamps, bulldog clips, etc. I also have space for my laptop and my brand new adult colouring book and pencils from Derwent. You can also see the orange Filofax notebook that I'm reviewing at the moment and my Runners World magazine (ironically, the 'stay injury free' edition).
At the other end of the desk I have my sewing machine and my daylight lamp (which is GREAT for lighting when I'm recording the previously mentioned YouTube videos). You can also see my pots (three of them... all ordered in a specific way) full of pens, pencils and other writing implements, my mason jar full of washi tape and my Sonny Angel - a Yan To exclusive. There's also a USB charging unit tucked away there and my sewing maching (only on the desk for the purpose of the photograph - it's usually covered up and on the floor when not in use).
Just in front of the radiator are two wicker hamper baskets. One holds all my 'spare' yarn which is awaiting new projects and all my cross-stitch bits and pieces and the other houses all my Filofaxes and inserts that aren't currently in use.
My printer is balancing on one of the 'emergency chairs' that only get used when there are more than four people eating at meal times (i.e. Christmas). I should really invest in a little storage unit or have a look for something in a charity shop but I've just not got round to it yet. I've also got my Snowball microphone and my sound cancelling head phones here too.
Just in front of the radiator are two wicker hamper baskets. One holds all my 'spare' yarn which is awaiting new projects and all my cross-stitch bits and pieces and the other houses all my Filofaxes and inserts that aren't currently in use.
My printer is balancing on one of the 'emergency chairs' that only get used when there are more than four people eating at meal times (i.e. Christmas). I should really invest in a little storage unit or have a look for something in a charity shop but I've just not got round to it yet. I've also got my Snowball microphone and my sound cancelling head phones here too.
This wall... well, I know things don't balance to the eye but it's a work in progress. The picture on the right was a present from my daughter. It's a canvas of a photo I took of her and my two granddaughters on St Annes beach. It's my favourite picture of the three of them and also her favourite picture of the three of them; it was a click-and-go picture one afternoon after we'd been for a walk on the beach. In the middle is a picture of a sunrise taken on 29th July 2009. It wasn't taken by me but that date is significant because it was the day this blog was reborn and is a reminder of a date important to me.
You can also see a collection of my medals from various running events. They are currently hanging on a single nail but I have my eye on a proper metal medal-and-race-number rack and I'm undecided whether to treat myself or request that one of my children buy it me for Christmas.
You can also see a collection of my medals from various running events. They are currently hanging on a single nail but I have my eye on a proper metal medal-and-race-number rack and I'm undecided whether to treat myself or request that one of my children buy it me for Christmas.
I have two shelves in this room. You can't seen the top one but it holds A4 files full of my old Open University work, a HUGE purple folder full of receipts and (paid) bills, folders full of my mum's old writing (I keep meaning to blog more about this but here's a taster) and a box full of never-used gadgets and old mobile phones. The shelf you can see fell off a few weeks ago but has now been screwed firmly back into place. It houses files stuffed full of trip memories such as concert tickets, blogger event memoirs and magazines that have my articles printed in them. The books are all my 'business' research and information guides and the picture that you can hardly see is of me riding a quad bike in Tunisia (it's actually a great picture of me - I should have it in a proper frame). The rest of the shelf is a place for all my personal ornaments; presents from the children and grandchildren which have "Mum" or "Nana" on them, a Tatty Teddy 40th birthday photo clip, a couple of snow globes and some holiday souvenirs.
I'm very grateful that I have a place to escape to if I want and somewhere that I can be creative and/or just walk out of and shut the door behind if need be. Do you have a special corner of the house just for you?
