Paisley Pumpkin - Nothing Difficult is Ever Easy...

Where oh where has the time gone. Why didn't school ever go by this quickly? Good heavens!

First up - I've been talking about it forever, and now it's 99% complete! My home office is done and it is Ahhhhhmazing if I do say so myself.

Kudos to Mr. Paisley for his hand in the layout design, and my mom for helping us paint just because she likes to paint. 

I'd  also like to thank The Container Store for having awesome products like the Elfa shelving system, Ikea - the store where everything has to be assembled - including the cardboard storage boxes, and BJ's Wholesale Club where I always score the most awesome crap on clearance. 

Now remember, the Paisley Cottage was built in the mid 40's. My office is one of the two bedrooms that are original to the house. It's VERY small and it's VERY limited on arrangement due to no solid walls! One wall has the door in the corner - which opens up against the double bi-fold doors of the closet. The wall opposite the closet has a large window - not centered on the wall. The wall opposite the door also has a large window...that isn't centered on the wall. So basically, I have 3 odd corners to work with and not a lot of floor space. Hence the awesome Elfa shelving system. If you can't go out...go up!

Sooo without taking any longer - here are a couple of AWESOME photos of my office "Before" - borderline Hoarder's worthy. Yep - I know. Ok, actually this is my living room - AFTER Mr. Paisley surprised me by completely emptying my office to paint. Thus, there are no before pictures. You just can't teach an old dog new tricks. Imagine my delight when I walked into this after being at work all day. Be thankful that these two bad cell phone photos are the only ones I have. The one on the left is taken from the doorway into the kitchen. The one on the right is from the doorway into the office...

My new office / crafting space!

Upcoming posts will have more detail...and better photos. For now, note that my office is a whopping 9.5' x 10.5' with no uninterrupted walls. The closet below is in the corner - behind the door (you can see a bit of the door frame and a hinge the left).

 

This is my craft desk space to the right of the closet - it goes all the way to the other wall...where it doesn't wrap around the corner because...there's a big ol' window.

 This is the bookshelf and misc. storage corner - to the right of the "big ol' window" next to my craft desk - this shelf does wrap the corner...right up to the what? Trim...of big ol' window #2.

Which leads to this photo where I should have cropped the glaring ceiling light out. This is the computer wall...this desk goes as far as it makes sense without being in the way of the doorway. You can't see it in this shot, but the top shelf goes right up to the door frame. The lower shelves and desktop are roughly a foot off the door frame. Don't want any hip bruises or head lacerations from just walking into the room now... ;-) I am also thrilled to have finally framed and hung up my awesome original artwork from Caribbean Soul. A friend of my mom's got them for me from his friend at CS knowing i'm a huge fan of CS and Jimmy Buffett. These are the two smaller pieces from t-shirt designs. I have two others that are poster size and actually on interfacing type material. Sadly - no wall space for them with this layout.

It was quite the challenge, but well worth it. We're still deciding what to put on the floor. Plus side is there's not much to move to rip up the carpet! Everything is on the walls with the exception of my two awesome vintage furniture pieces, the chairs and a few things i'm still working on.

It's true what they say - when everything has a home, it's easier to keep it neat and tidy. I'm also getting more exercise. Up and down my little step stool to reach my storage boxes to PUT THINGS AWAY...like where they actually go and not in a place that is convenient right at that moment. 

We will be adding a few more Elfa pieces soon - they have pull out shelves and baskets and I've got rails that go nearly to the baseboards. I had planned to put both of my printers on shelves so they were off the desktop, however, my laser is just a wee bit too big, so for now it's on the desk, but when I pick up the additional pieces it will get relocated to a pull out shelf below.