The New Office

So our first project for the new year is to complete the new office space. It's not really a high priority itself, but the current office needs to be cleaned out to make room for the kid- and all that stuff needs to go somewhere. Since neither of us work from home, our office doesn't get a lot of use. It has to be a functional space to store files and officey materials, like the printer and paper, as well as all of our books. It will also hold my sewing machine, which is slowly getting more use each year, and its associated stuff.

some of the many books in the current office that need a new home

the closet in the current office is full of stuff that needs a new home

new windows looking out towards the yard

the old window between the master bedroom and sleeping porch

the door between the bedroom and sleeping porch

The Design
The space is small, so mostly it needs to be very well organized, with lots of storage and not a lot of unnecessary items. The new wall that will separate the office from the new master bathroom will be covered with bookcases with cabinets on the bottom for lots and lots of storage. We'll also have a small desk with a drawer, and hopefully a comfy chair for reading. There aren't a lot of walls, but maybe we can find room for some nice piece of real art for the walls.

1. Hardwood floor of a nice, medium tone
2. The same grey/blue wall color as the bedroom
3. Stripey drapes
4. Built-in bookcases with cabinets on the bottom
5. A small desk with a drawer
6. Comfy seating to read


The Plan
So, we're doing this one all ourselves, hopefully over the weekends and not at night through the week. We need to do minor demolition to remove the ugly paneling from the ceiling, before we can frame in the new wall that divides this space from the new master bathroom. Then we can put up new sheetrock on the walls and ceiling, and get everything painted. Next up, we'll put down a hardwood floor that's meant to look seamless with the bedroom, and will need to be leveled with a little insulation from the cold, concrete slab. Then we'll build in the bookcases along the new wall. Finally, we will add the new furniture and curtains to finish off the space. Before we move everything over from the current office space, I plan to do a hard scrub on all the things that are getting stored, to make sure everything really needs to be kept. Some things (like piles of cookbooks) need a better system to be used, other things (like my wedding dress) just need a permanent home elsewhere. My goal is to be done with this space in mid-February, and ready to move on to the next room.