a space of my own

so just to give you a little backstory….we’ve lived in this house for almost nine years.  and upstairs, there is this little awkward space on the backside of our house that adjoins our guest bedroom.

like i said, it’s really awkward.  long and narrow.  no closet.  so you couldn’t really use it as a bedroom.  so we made it into our home office.  and for past nine years or so it’s served as the place to pay bills or file important papers. but even worse, it’s been sort of our catch-all.  a place to put things when we weren’t really sure what do with things – suitcases, dead computers, boxes of bills. you name it, it was probably in there.   a total disaster area.

since we weren’t actually using our office to pay bills anymore (thank you online banking), i decided to bring some of my project life supplies up and work on my photo album in here.  i have an old cedar chest that belonged to my grandmother in here so i ‘temporarily’ set up my scrapbooking station here.

which wasn’t really functional at all. but at least it was off the kitchen table.  and so this is where i’ve spent the better part of the past year working on my photo album and practicing my calligraphy.

but to be perfectly honest, i’ve pretty much hated this room for the past almost nine years.  cramped, clutter, disorganized, ugly, hodgepodge. 

well so a couple of months ago, i happened to be on pinterest – please…don’t say it…i know – and someone i followed was pinning gorgeous images of creative spaces.  and all i could think about was having a space like that for myself.  light,bright,inspirational.

but where? 

i didn’t want to take over the guest room because we have company from time to time and nothing says hospitality like computer wires and overflowing boxes of shit.  and the basement was out of the question because it’s dark – very little natural light at all.  and i don’t know – i can’t see outside…i guess i’m a little claustrophobic or something. 

so i just put it on the back burner.  every now and then pinning images of creative spaces that really spoke to me.

well so springtime was busy with gardening and yard work.  but once we finished up with the main cleanup and the new flowerbed, the itch to have a creative space started up again.  and i knew that the ‘office’ was the only natural choice for a creative space.  and i loved the windows and the abundant natural light.  but i knew it would take some creativity to make it work.  well that and a whole lot of backbone and elbow grease. and so i did the only naturally thing for help like that….i called my mom.

now the thing you need to need to know about me is this – i almost never rearrange my furniture (knick knacks are a different story that we’ll skip for now).  but truly, once i get things to the way i like them, it can stay like that for years.  my mom is the complete opposite. she rearranges furniture almost as often as i paint my nails.  for her it’s a creative outlet.  a way to make old things feel new again.  so i knew she would the perfect person to help me re-see my upstairs office.

so the first thing i did for my office re-do was to take everything out except the three main pieces of furniture – the desk, the file chest, and the hutch.  then i did as my mom suggested…i moved the desk in front of the window, moved the hutch to the back wall, and the file chest to the front wall.

just clearing out the junk helped tremendously.  i found a place in the basement to put the boxes of bills.  tripp got rid of the old computers.  and finally i was left with a light and bright space to call my own.

one of the things i did once i got the main furniture in place was to go through and clean out the boxes and drawers of old computer stuff that we no longer needed.  then i brought the rest of my scrapbook supplies upstairs and loaded it into the hutch.

next i brought in my grandmother’s old singer sewing machine and set up my project life album there. 

i haven’t done it yet, but i think these little drawers and cubbies will be perfect for scrapbook supplies.

once my mom helped me get the hutch and the desk basically organized, then i turned my attention to the blank wall with the filing cabinet.   because the one thing i knew i really wanted in my new creative space was a gallery wall.

i wanted something that was fun, and artsy, and eclectic.  whimsical and free.  and so i began process of arranging stuff on the wall until finally, twelve. years. later.…

i’m just going to tell you right now that, for me, creating a gallery wall was much harder than it looked.  and especially so because i wanted to use things i already had like these old pictures that belonged to my grandmother.  sentimental stuff, favorite flea market finds….it just all had to work together.

if you’re thinking of doing a gallery wall like this somewhere in your own house, i might offer a few suggestions.

1) start with your three ‘heaviest’, main focal points first.  then arrange them in sort of a visual triangle.

as you can see in the photo above, the main visual triangle consisted of the shelf, the top of the CREATE, and the framed print on the lower right.  once i got those three items place,  then it became sort of like a puzzle adding in different pieces to fill in and expand the basic composition.

2) don’t think you have to do it all at once….give your wall some space and time.  once i got the main pieces on the wall i went and started cleaning the kitchen.  just walked away.  then i’d come back and look at my stuff.  it’s a process.  rome wasn’t built in a day.

3) use a variety of shapes and textures.

as i was hanging all of my framed pictures and prints, i felt like the wall needed something different.   but i didn’t really have anything, so i made these super, ghetto-fabulous pinwheels out of some old, patterned scrapbook paper.  and i really love the contrast in shape and color and the element of whimsy that they add.

3)  don’t be afraid to move things around.  because at the end of the day, the one with the most holes in the wall wins.

or something like that.

4)  if you happen to be a methodical, right-brained, linear thinker such as myself, i will tell you that wine helps with creative mojo.  alot.  preferably a delightful summer rose.  and at least two glasses.

i love this space so much you guys…even with all the hodgepodge of stuff.  and the really awesome part of the this whole ‘renovation’ is that, with the exception of the CREATE letters, i didn’t spend any money on this.

this is tripp’s kind of renovation i might add.

but honestly it’s the first time in almost nine years that i can say that i love this room.  i love walking down the hall and seeing the light. a room full of some of my favorite creative projects.  it just makes me so happy. 

i think what i love most about this room though is what this room represents to me.  and that is this creative aspect to my life now.  which is something that, looking back, has always been a part of me. but now having a room dedicated to a creative life…i don’t know…it feels sort of like i’m claiming it.  like i’m declaring it to my family.  or perhaps more importantly to myself. 

this is who i am.  this is important to me.

and finally, i could not wrap up this post without sending out some love to my delightful daughter….

thank you kelsey for being brave.  thank you for chasing your dreams.  thank you for going away to college.  thank you for leaving home.  because even though, at the time, it felt like the end of the world, look at what i have now… a new space of my own, yes.  but more importantly, a creative life and new dreams to chase for myself.

love, kelly