office space
Migraine: 5
Steph: 0
(just in case you were keeping score. Note: It didn’t stop me from placing a nice, theraputic order from Staples, due to arrive tomorrow.)
During the construction that we’re having done this summer, I’m getting an even bigger office. Most people would be thrilled about getting a bigger kitchen and family room. Me? I’m going for world domination of the second floor.
Granted, I love my office the way it is. (you all remember I’m not good with change, right?) The previous owner left a wall of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and another random bookshelf, and I’m all set up and cozy in there. My desktop is brand new, very fast, and the room is painted red. It’s the first room we every completely finished in the house, so I’m doubly attached to it. It’s all mine (oh look, the only child in me is coming out) as attested to by the husband when I find him in there. He messes up the keyboard, had the nerve to put his favorites on my computer and moves my papers to the floor to get more desk space.
Did I mention it’s my office?
Anyway, when the architect first heard our ideas, he drew up a lot of different sketches. He was trying to talk us out of expanding the office. One sketch actually took away half the office and made it into an open-hallway reading area, complete with benches. Pretty, but no.
The next split the room, put in two closets and made it an actual bedroom, moving the office to a small space where the treadmill is now. Uh-uh, not going to fly. Because is he not seeing all the books? My desk? I countered by asking if we couldn’t add even more room to the office by smashing through the wall to the small room. He and the husband looked at each other and shook their heads.
Finally, he got the picture and just made the office bigger. With no closets to take up the space better spent on housing books. And when the husband asked, what happens if we sell the house? People are going to want closets. My response was as followed:
1. First, I said something non-RWA approved.
2. followed closely by, if we do this construction, I am never leaving this house
3. followed closely by, if we do ever move, and the potential buyers ask about the closets, I will tell them to build their own.
4. I finished up by repeating response #1.
And when the contractor said, I can have the upstairs completed first, I smiled. Who cares about running water when I can get my computer set-up and my books back in order in my brand-new, bigger than ever office? Who cares about the downstairs?
(For the record, the husband says he does.)
So, the point of the long, drawn out backstory is to ask you the question, is there one room in your house where you get the most writing done?
I tend to write anywhere I can, especially during the day when the three year old and I are hanging out. I’ve got my laptop set up and have gotten used to churning out a few pages in between Elmo and Teletubbies. But my upstairs office it the crank-it-out room. I go up there, mainly on weekends, shut the door and when I walk out I’ve got a ton of pages.
I’ve got a lot of the same distractions in that room, the internet being a big one, and I don’t unplug it. I crank up the music, sit at the old keyboard and old monitor (that are now hooked up to my brand new computer) and think, it’s more comfortable working on the laptop. I like the keys and the screen better and I don’t get carpal tunnel from the laptop the same way I do with the external mouse. Also, there are all the unread books, mocking me, why are you working? Come read me. No one will know. But I ignore all that because something about the office says, work.
I need to spend a lot of time in my office this weekend.
Steph T.
June 23rd, 2005 at 10:54 am
June 23rd, 2005 at 11:06 am
I turned our formal dining room (who uses those, anyway?
) into a den, so I write there. Though when my computer is being hogged by kid or husband, I write on the couch with my laptop.
No distractions, really, since my CABLE IS USELESS.
No, I’m not bitter.
June 23rd, 2005 at 11:09 am
*waves to Bonnie* But is the computer room all yours? (we’re going for selfishness today.)
Oh - I really like bitterlarissa.:grin:
June 23rd, 2005 at 12:57 pm
I have my own office upstairs, complete with purple walls. (For the record, it’s a pretty purple, not a godawful one. :happy:)
I get most of my writing done there. I have a laptop too, but I’m the opposite of you. If I use it too much, my wrists and arms hurt.
June 23rd, 2005 at 2:32 pm
*waves back to Steph* No it isn’t
But I hog it aplenty if that qualifies as selfish enough hehehehe:LOL:
June 23rd, 2005 at 3:15 pm
A bigger, better office? I’m so jealous! I tend to write wherever I can perch my big ol’ butt with either a pad and pen or Rocky, my laptop. But I’m usually sitting in “my spot” on the sofa. Wish I had a space of my own.
At least Rocky’s ALL MINE! Nobody touches Rocky but me.
June 23rd, 2005 at 3:17 pm
I am so jealous of all your space! Since I’m living with my parents (long, long story) I spend 95% of my time in my bedroom/office which does triple duty as my living room, too. If only I had room for a microwave and a little fridge I’d never leave except for trips to the bathroom.
And I so see your side of the construction. You can NEVER have too many bookcases, IMO.
June 23rd, 2005 at 4:32 pm
A room all my own? Shee-yeah, right! I WISH!
My laptop is my writing area. Most nights it’s perched on my lap while I sit on the couch in the living room - the only quiet place in the house. And I have a burn mark on my thigh to prove it. (Really need a desk.)
June 23rd, 2005 at 6:47 pm
I’m in on the jealousy LOL
I like to crawl in bed with my laptop
and unplug my internet.
June 23rd, 2005 at 7:00 pm
Amy - I think I read somewhere that Suzanne Brockmann writes in a purple room.:biggrin:
Bonnie - hogging definitely works!
Lynn - I spent lots of time on the sofa too. And I love the way you talk about Rocky.
Tori - I’ll be moving in with my parents during the contruction.:LOL: But the funny thing about the space is that we end up spending 90% of the time in the same room.
Elisabeth - somewhere on Alison Kent’s blog she talks about a great cooling fan she bought for her laptop - I think it was $25 and it plugs into any usb port on the laptop and it stops lap burn!! I’ll see if I can dig up the info.
Cece - I like the bed with the laptop too - except - unplug from the internet? That’s crazy talk!!!
June 23rd, 2005 at 7:00 pm
i have my own office on an old converted porch off the family room. 3 walls of windows. Really nice except for when it gets over 90 degrees (now) because it just doesn’t cool down, or when it’s below 20 degrees because it doesn’t heat up well. But it backs up to the woods and it’s all mine. I frequently kick people out of it. Touch my computer and die.
June 23rd, 2005 at 10:02 pm
LOL. Thanks, Steph. I could use that cooling fan. Duh…took me a while to figure out what the strange mark on my leg was. Now that it’s summer and I’m wearing shorts all the time, didn’t take long to get a nice ol’ mark there. I am a bit slow…for a while I was afraid I had some strange new skin cancer thing.
DH looked at the mark today and said, “Ew. That’s disgusting.” He has such a way with words. *sigh*
June 23rd, 2005 at 10:17 pm
Kacey - that’s a great tag/branding line!
Elisabeth: here’s the link from Alison - she and Emma both love it:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000AKA8Y/qid=1119579100/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-4834552-1560035?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846
June 23rd, 2005 at 11:45 pm
You went to my favorite store! I’m jealous.
June 24th, 2005 at 10:17 am
I love having my own office! I, too, am never moving……. :)
June 24th, 2005 at 2:28 pm
I bargained with DH and since he’s the one that actually brings home the bacon he got the real office while I got the “family room” (as it was called in our rental agreement). Really it’s just some extra space in the hallway, but I like it anyway. It’s very Pink!
Oh, and DH and I do NOT touch each others computers.
June 24th, 2005 at 5:15 pm
My dh and I share an office, but we each have our own computers. It works out okay, since I get it while he’s at work.
June 24th, 2005 at 7:18 pm
I used to write in my office, but I can’t keep an eye on the demon toddler in there. So I have a laptop with a wireless adapter. I pretty much write standing up at my kitchen counter. We are remodeling the kitchen this summer and I think I will be even more inclined to make the kitchen my office. When I kick the 2 year old upstairs to sleep with the other rugrats, I will take over her room and make it my office/crap room.