WISH Wednesday #29

Isn't this the sweetest, most inspiring place to paint - I just had to show you for WISH Wednesday (Weekly Inspiration for a Seasonal Home). 

Going Home to Roost

The owner of the home - Bonnie from Going Home to Roost - set this area up in her living room as a little painting area.  I love the bright light coming in through the window, and the paints all lined up on the trays, and the driftwood mobile hanging in the window, and the shelf with plants overhead, and most of all, I adore the little desk with barley-twist legs.  I would be inspired to paint here, if I had this in my home - oh and I would paint like Monet, I'm sure of it!  You can see more photos of the home here - light and bright rule the day!  Anyone else inspired to paint.

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Just a reminder to sign up for the Sharpie Fabric Pen giveaway - you can find details here.  The last day is Friday, May 4th.

A Cleaner Tidier Version of my Office

If you recall, my office was mentioned on Centsational Girl's wrap-up post about where we blog.  You can see the photo she used below with my desk (on the left) next to the pretty little office from I Heart Organizing (on the right).

I wrote in this post, that I was a tad embarrassed that my desk, although organized, looked so messy, especially in contrast to my fellow office-in-a-closet blogger.   Well that was just the motivation I needed to tackle my desk and take it to the next level.   I've been working away since then, tidying and prettifying my desk and I thought I'd give you an up-date.

In the photo below, you can see the before (on the left) and how it looks now (on the right).

The first thing I did was buy some magazine boxes from IKEA.  I got the inspiration from seeing the white boxes in Angie's fantastic office (which you can read about here).  The papers were already sorted into files before, but they looked messy.  I organized the files together into groups and put them in the magazine boxes.  It's not quite as easy to access, but it sure looks better.

Yep I even included a box marked 'fun'? 

My friend Kim, gave me a wicker drawer tower that she didn't need anymore, to use in place of the plastic one that was to the left of where I sit.  Since the new one is smaller, I had to do some re-organizing and culling of things that were to be stored near my desk.  

I also added an IKEA file box under my desk so I can quickly put in the bank statements.  They arrive so frequently in the mail that they have a tendency to pile up when I don't get around to filing them (and I'm just being realistic that it's going to happen again, so I bought a box to keep the pile out of sight).  Juno often sleeps under my desk on a pillow while I work - doesn't the new box look great beside her!

I recently found this lamp at a thrift store for $5 and thought I would give it a home on my desk since my other one was constantly turning on and off.

I also sorted through the things that were on my desk and tried to find other places to put them - namely in the baskets, the drawers, or on shelves nearby.  It's now about as paired down as it can get and still be functional.  I do recognize that the magnet board makes it look a bit cluttered, but I love looking at the pictures and the calendar that I made.

And a before and after of the desktop - 

Several people suggested I either find another place for the games that are stored on the top shelf or try and hide them in some way.  I pondered and considered and considered and pondered and have decided to leave them as they are.  I use the games for work so need frequent access to them and I want it to be an easy task to find a game when we want to play one as a family.  Storing them on the upper shelf means they stay organized and it is easy to see what we have.

There you have it - an office update!  So now when you read my blog you can think of me sitting here - with a dog at my feet and a cup of tea nearby and maybe slightly less tidy.  I'm just saying....

Linked to My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
and My Favourite Cozy Spot at Bright Bold and Beautiful 
Best of 2010 Blog Party - Organizing at House of Grace

Agendas and Hard-drives and Desks, Oh My!

I know you are all very excited to know that I bought my agenda yesterday.  So let me introduce my new 2010-2011 agenda in a lovely shade of blue.  Exciting, I know!  I've done well for the last 4 years - before that it was mostly black, or navy, or other somber colours.  Having a pretty agenda makes me smile all year so it is certainly worth finding a nice one.  Anyone else obsess over their agendas?  There now I've accomplished one of my favourite fall things.

I also bought myself an external hard-drive as I have been concerned about losing my photos.  I was told that I should be able to store about 40,000 photos on this one, so I think I'm good for awhile anyway.

Since I'm going to be getting my photos in ship-shape orderliness, it has also come to my attention that my desk looks - well - less than stellar.  As some of you know a photo of my desk was recently posted on Centsational Girl's blog in her article about where we blog. 

Now don't get me wrong - I'm flattered and all, but did you notice how purty my fellow blogger's desk-in-a-closet looked as opposed to mine? Here's a closer look:

Although my desk papers are sorted, my organizational style is to leave files out so I can find them again.  While this may be handy, the overall look leaves something to be desired.   

Sooo, I've made it my goal to make my desk look both cute and functional.  I'm open to suggestions.  I'll let you know how it goes as I progress.

The Secret Room

It's a lesser known fact that we have a secret room in our house (I guess it's a good thing it is a lesser known fact, or it wouldn't be a secret room, now would it).  I think every house needs some hidden passages or secret rooms, even suburban houses that are only 12 years old.
 

I found our secret room one day when I was looking at the area above my office and behind the back of my son's closet and I realized it was an empty pocket of space.  When I told my husband about it, he immediately got out the tools and made a hole in the back wall of the closet.  Sure enough there was a cavity about 3 x 4 x 4.  So hubby, with some help from the younguns, drywalled the space and put some plywood down as a floor.  He built a little door to cover a cubby-hole at the back for the kids to hide things in when they were playing.  I found a butterfly carpet that almost exactly fit the space.  We strung up some blue Christmas lights since there was no electricity in there and it needed a light source, but it was also going to be filled with kids so it needed to be safe.  

Our kids loved it.  You should have seen how surprised children visiting our house were, when we asked them if they wanted to play in the secret room.

Over the years though, the kids have grown older and no longer play in there (actually no longer even fit in there very well), so our oldest son, Malcolm has been using the space to store some of his things now that he is away at university.

Yikes - sorry about that - what a mess.

Recently my hubby has undertaken some new writing tasks and needed a quiet computer space, so I decided to take back the secret room and the desk area in front of it, and turned it another office-in-a-closet.  After all, the room sits vacant for a lot of the time while Malcolm is away.  When he is home visiting, then hubby will use one of the other computers in the house.

Once I had emptied out the secret room, Kate and I took a walk down memory lane and set up a cute little tea party scene. 

Meet her American Girl doll, Kit.

 

Meet Coconut her little dog, sitting on her 1930s style garden furniture.

Did you notice the tablecloth that we used.   I'm going off on a tangent here - but it is a worthwhile one, so stick with me.  That is a runner that my Grandmother made in the 1930s from a flour sack.  You can just faintly make out the words "Five Roses" in the photo below which was the brand name of the type of flour.

It also faintly says "graham flour".

My Grandmother sewed the flowered fabric along the ends to make the runner pretty. 

I let my daughter, Kate, use this cloth for her doll's table because Kit, her American Girl doll, is supposed to have lived in the 1930s and some of her dresses (like the one below) are supposed to have been made from  chicken-feed sacks.

You can see that the American Girl Company actually did their research as the flowers really do resemble the style of the ones on my Grandmother's runner.  How cool is that, eh?

And one more peek at Kit and Coconut having tea in the secret room -

and now back to the present, to the mini-office with the computer on the desk and Malcolm's boxes neatly stacked in the secret room.  Much more practical (and neat) but not as cute as Kit and Coconut.

Now don't forget it's a secret room, okay.  Mum's the word!

My Office-in-a-Closet

Our house is not very big, so when it came time to look around and find a spot for a home office, the only place I could think of was a closet on the stair landing.   So this is where I log my blogging hours - in a closet!

It has worked out well, although it is really small.   I put some little wooden animals along the door frame, that my Grandmother brought back from Zambia when she lived there in the 1970s (I had a very cool Grandmother).

 
I painted the walls cream and wallpapered the backwall with blue toile.  I happened to have an old office table that was a pefect fit for the closet.  I actually had to take the legs off to get it in, but it works beautifully.

Let's take a tour:

You can see part of my little house tin collection along the back of the desk.  I use some of them for storing cords and things.

This is one of my favourite little house tins that Kate brought back from France. Do you recognize the house - it is Giverny, Monet's house.

Now we move on to the messier side of my desk on the left.  Lets just say I'm a piler not a filer and leave it at that, okay? Okay.

Yep, not too pretty.  Sorry about that.  When I'm sitting down I can't actually see the mess, as the piles are mostly above eye level, which is a relief.  I get to gaze at some of my lovelies on my magnet board instead.

My daughter, Kate, bought me this print from a brocante in France when she visited last summer.  I have yet to get it framed because it is an unusual size, but I'm enjoying it on my magnet board anyway.  Aren't those mademoiselles just so french and so divine.

I also have my calendar that I made using Smilebox (I wrote a post about it here back before anyone was reading my blog).  I look forward to each new month, but at the same time am sad when I turn the page  - very conflicting.

Then on the upper shelf I have some games - what do you think - too many games???  Yeah, I probably do need to get rid of some, but we are a game-loving family and I use games at work to make speech therapy fun.

 

My younger son, William, made this pencil holder cup for me at nursery school, when he was about 3 years old.

The fish print at the top is a batik card from Indonsia that a friend gave me years ago.  The owl on the bottom was a sketch my older son, Malcolm, did when he was in Grade 9 or 10.

So there you go - my little office.  Now when I blog, you can picture where I am.

I'll let you in on a little secret, though, it usually doesn't look like this.  I tidied and sorted so I could invite you over to visit my little office-in-a-closet.  Just keeping it real!

Linked to the Parade of Homes Linky Party at Poppies at Play
and Where Do You Blog? Party at Centsational Girl