Once upon a time I did all my blogging from the chaise corner of our sectional, all my doodling at the dining table, and pretty much squeezed all my creative pursuits into whatever space was available in our house. Remember how effective that was? (For those who forgot: NOT VERY.)
Well guess what!
I have a work nook!
It is small. It’s not fancy. But it is perfect. It is exactly what I needed: a place for mail to land, a home for my laptop, a space to pay bills and plan menus and edit photos and write to my heart’s content.
The floating shelves give me a place to display some of my quirky favorites without cluttering up my desk. The only things that live there are my planner, my laptop, and my lamp. All other “office” supplies get tucked into the drawers of the console by the window…which is actually a vintage dresser. Since all of it is behind one of the couches, I’m never in the way of any traffic patterns through the room. And it’s nice that it provides the same visual interest that our corner bookshelves did with some added functionality that I so desperately needed.
Do my children leave me alone when I’m in my work nook? Absolutely not. It’s in our living room and open to the dining room. Our house is small; there’s not much leaving anyone alone going on around here. Unless I set them up with an engrossing activity (ahem, “Bob the Builder” on PBS Kids) I’m probably parenting as I work.
Which works fine for us.
If I really need a block of time to myself, I either ship them off to a friend’s house, hire a babysitter, wait till the weekend when David is around, or set aside an evening to get things done after the kids are in bed.
Most of the time, though, I can multitask. Ryan happily plays at my feet as long as I acknowledge him every so often. The girls run in + out, and I check in with them periodically to make sure nobody is injured or otherwise getting into mischief.
Guys, I am so so happy with how it turned out. I knew I needed to carve out some space for myself in our home, but I had NO IDEA it would change my life as much as it has.
Work nook: 10/10, highly recommend, would definitely choose again.
Product Sources (in case you need a little work nook of your own):
desk: All Modern | floating shelves: IKEA | lamp: Land of Nod | gold wall grid: Target | large abstract painting: Beth Allen | kindred spirits print: Brian Andreas | small square art + iceberg print: Annie K Blake | wood artist’s figure: IKEA | large black + white heart print: Caravan Shoppe
Anything not listed is a book (which I’m sure you can find!), I’ve forgotten where it’s from, it’s no longer available, or is vintage/one-of-a-kind.
All photos by Photography Hill
I LOVE it!
It turned out soooo good! I’m in awe of your awesomeness!
I am so jealous of your nook. You’ve styled it perfectly. And that abstract by Beth Allen is gorgeous.
Gasp!! Those shelves! The art! The plants!!! THIS IS GORGEOUS!
Also, that last photo is quite possibly my new favorite photo of you, ever.
xox