Office « Elle Houston

August 10, 2020

11. Continuing the “Write” Space

I had claimed the “catchall” room for my writing space and two years later while continuing to work at a folding table, I had finally saved up enough to start building out my office space. As part of the agreement for using the spare bedroom, I had to incorporate a rather large(r than expected) wine fridge into a small usable space, so I was already starting out with a pretty big challenge.

My friend had given me a bright and happy birthday card and I wanted to use the colors as inspiration. I also knew I wanted to have inspirational art and quotes that would make my office a welcoming place to work. Creativity needed to happen in this environment, so I needed it to feel bright, cheerful and happy (just like the card!). After figuring out a way to hide the wine fridge in a cupboard, the only way to balance out the available wall space (most of the room had closets or doors on each wall), was to build a matching cupboard on the other side. We decided that this additional space would be storage and hold things like the printer.

Based on the set up with two cupboards on either side of the walls, the only place my desk could go, was between them. I was afraid it was going to be a bit of a tunnel for me, but as it was built out, I realized there was enough space between them where I didn’t feel trapped between two objects. The ceiling is really high, so we decided to take the shelves all the way up instead of creating a false stopping point at a normal ceiling height. We also decided a bright white paint would really make it pop.

Everything came together beautifully. My space is filled with colorful art and inspiration, that is always bright and cheerful. I sit with enough room for two monitors, which is a huge help in giving me more space to have documents open when writing and I have the occasional hum of the wine fridge to keep me company.

Outlining the Shelves

We put up tape to outline where the shelves would go on the wall.

The Card that Inspired My Office

I just loved the colors in this card, they are so bright and cheerful.

Printer Cabinet

This is the side where my printer and files will go.

Where My Desk will Go

The actual top part of my desk isn't in place yet, but the set up is now built for it.

My Completed Office

Here it is freshly painted! (The wine fridge is on the left)

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January 10, 2020

4. Creating the “Write” Space

When I first downloaded The Novel Factory (TNF), I was using an old computer that I had bought on sale at Best Buy for $300 as part of a bundle. It was so slow, it took forever to power up and open any application. I used to have to sit patiently waiting for The Novel Factory to open and then for updates to save. We had a bedroom in our house that we nicknamed the “catchall” room because anything we didn’t know what to do with, we stashed in this room. You could barely move in it because there were piles everywhere (but it made the rest of the house look nice!). When I realized I wanted to start writing more and that I needed a place where I could shut the door (instead of the dining room table), I moved a few piles around in the catchall room and brought in a folding table from outside and a chair from the kitchen. I created my own little space.

When I found myself starting to consistently write in the evenings and on weekends, I decided it was time to upgrade my computer to something that ran a little faster. I also wanted to have two monitors so I could have notes open in one program while I also had TNF open. With the help of a friend, I purchased a new computer and two monitors and suddenly it felt so much easier! I felt like I had “space” with more monitor real estate, and all the programs running so much faster felt like a luxury. I kept on writing.

After about a year of writing like this, I thought, this room isn’t used for much, I wonder if I cleaned it up and started saving, if I could make this an inspirational space that encouraged creativity. I asked my husband if he would mind if I took over the catchall room, and he said if I could find an area for a wine fridge in my new office, then I could have the room. A wine fridge didn’t seem like such a big deal, as I was picturing one of the smaller mini fridges that could be concealed in some cabinetry. I decided to order the wine fridge he wanted first, so we could make sure we physically had it when we were ready to start building out the space. I didn’t want any wrong measurements.

Well, when the fridge was finally delivered, it came up to my chest! It was huge! I couldn’t believe what it looked like in person! Clearly, I did not pay close enough attention to the measurements. In my defense, I saw the tall fridges online and understood we were ordering a shorter one, but I didn’t realize the short was still tall! Ugh. I should add that the way the bedroom was laid out, there was only one usable wall because the others had a door, a sliding glass door and a closet. Adding my husband’s wine fridge looked like it would take up a third of the usable space! Also, it occurred to me we would need to actually design around the fridge because it was so large. Sigh.

Well, I had to keep saving anyway, so in the meantime, the fridge went in the guest bedroom where we had the space for it and at least I had a better computer and a room to write that was officially mine. This helped keep my motivation up.