Forgive the radio silence around here – I’ve been trapped in a time warp where the only hours I’m conscious are between 8AM-5PM. And before I know it, I’m waking up to get ready for work again. I blame the 800% humidity and 37*C temperatures and my debilitating cramps and two relatively stressful weeks at work. So in all honesty, blogging got lost in the cray. Hoo-ray. Continue reading “Catchup.com – January”
Someone I live with might have mentioned to me that the time between my posts is getting longer and longer, and they’re sounding a bit down lately. And that’s totes true. Mostly because when I’m busy in real life, my consistency goes out the window. BUT NOT SO ANYMORE! Behold, a post within 2 days of my last post. AND on a cheerier subject – our new office space. YAY!
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a nerd for all things workspaces, home offices, and stationery. The only downside about moving this years was that I finally got my workspace just so, and I had a whole separate room with two desks and lots of space to play around with. Now we both share one desk and one corner of our combined kitchen/living/dining rectangle. I’ve been plotting and planning how to get our this space working at its optimal form, taking into consideration the following:
1. We can’t hang anything on the walls – including command hooks
2. We have limited wall space thanks to some awesome windows
3. We’re sharing the space – a challenge unto itself.
I knew a shelving unit was the answer – something to corral all our stuff without looking too bulky, blocking the windows, and not costing an arm and a leg. And after weeks of looking, researching, planning, and convincing Joel that yes, this is absolutely essential to my our wellbeing, and with a little help from my pals at Ikea and a 5 day weekend, I finally got to finish step one of our remodel. Nothing dramatic, but it’s much better than what we had before. Take a gander!
The open shelves make the space feel bigger, and they aren’t as clunky or bulky as the ones we had before. Plus matching (+10). And the adjustable, stackable shelves mean we can add and change it up depending on how much space we need. Even if it did take about 2 hours of assembling and reassembling to get the shelves measured juuuust right. And walking in and seeing stuff put away because there is room to put is totes amaze.
I sat in the new workspace and wrote tonight, and it felt good. It’s a new place to help me get stay back on track. Yes, that’s me. Totally inspired by Ikea shelves and a few cute stationery bits.
Here’s to new starts and renewed productivity!
xo
I love work spaces. It’s a serious business thing for me. Seriously serious.
A) If I’m not happy with my work space, especially how I feel when I’m in it, I’ll get nothing done. It will become my #1 excuse for getting zero shit done. And I’ve always been most productive when I’m really loving my set up.
B) I have basically an unhealthy obsession with office supplies, work spaces, stationery, organising tools, etc. I’ve spent an embarrasingly large amount of time day dreaming, planning, Googling elements of my most perfect workspace. And I love creeping in on other people’s work processes and office spaces. It’s especially cool to me. I am a nerd.
C) I’m super fickle and I can never predict when I’ll change my mind. I can’t even count how many times I’ve rearranged or re-ordered my desk area at home. And at work. And have wanted to do with other people’s work spaces.
I’ve been at a battle with my desk since I was like… 8 and got my first desk. But my latest work space battle has been with my part of Joel’s and my study. I’m pretty sure I only used the study about 20 times in 2015, and that’s being kind. And probably half of those times I was in there, rearranging it to make it more what I want. Even though I took borrowed Joel’s additional monitor so I’d have a dual set up, I spend most of the time working out in the lounge, working from the table or the couch (always in sweat pants, apparently).
This year, I’ve decided to use our study for working, and the lounge for lounging. And that meant making my work place an area that I want to go into. And not just a catch-all for things we haven’t put away yet or boxes from Christmas presents (hooray!) that we haven’t taken down to recycling. This room always ends up on the bottom of our priority list. So I made it a mission to get the study into fighting shape while I was on break from work.
I started with this:
By the end of day 1, I got this far:
And day 3 was all rearranging. Then I scored a $15 dollar shelf and a $10 calendar in Boxing day sales, and a free metal cart with drawers from the recycling area, and the room magically came together.
Day 4 ended with this.
Who knew all it would take is, switching the wall, a calendar, a cheap shelf and a piece of trash to make this a room I waaaaant to work in, that I want to hang out in.
I love having everything in its own space and at my finger tips, whereas before it was all stored in the closet or in and behind everything else and I’d lose track of it and it’d slip my mind. I’ve been in there almost every day working while I’ve been on break.
It’s fantastic. And I only spent $25.
Here’s to a productive 2016!
Audpodge and Blither Blather 