Office Space, part 1

The whole point of that desk was to have a space to do homework in my new HOME OFFICE-slash-LIBRARY! Wooooooo!

Only it's... still in progress.

To recap: I live with my sweetie and our two cats in a veeery small one-bedroom apartment. It has a teeny-tiny carpeted bedroom, a wood-floored kitchen/common space, a living room (which we're currently using as our bedroom because the bed fits there), a bathroom with just enough space to turn around, and a surprising amount of closet space.

Until a couple of weeks ago, we shared this space with a housemate, who made her nest in the little bedroom. She's kind of used to traveling and not settling in with a lot of stuff, so that was acceptable to her when we were looking for apartments. (She got a sweet deal of a place of her own with free rent, and I don't blame her for snapping it up!)

Now it is in the process of becoming our 10-1/2' x 8' home office.

Right now it still has a batch of books that will be listed for sale on Amazon before being shelved. When those are all done, I'll set up the desk with my textbooks and other school supplies.

So far we have managed to fit in

• 3 bookcases
• that new-to-me desk
• a lamp
• a wastepaper basket
• the vacuum cleaner (may be moved)
• a folding foam chair (that I slept on for a couple of months before she brought the bed)
• the ottoman to our big comfy chair.

The ottoman serves as the seat to the desk; I don't think there's room to add a rolling chair as well. It can be moved to the window wall if space is needed in the center. In a pinch, we could store it on edge in the corner in front of the closet door (where the vacuum cleaner is now) and unfold the foam chair as a floor pallet for someone to crash overnight.

The big chair is where I do most of my homework, and it's currently in the bedroom still, buried behind too many boxes. Have to clear those out before the chair can be moved... and then I need to figure out where to put the folding foam chair away. Maybe it can be unfolded flat and slipped behind the big chair against the wall.

Arts and crafts supplies can go in the closet behind the desk, along with costumes/holiday attire that isn't needed much of the year. I might also move the stationery and gift wrap boxes in there, with the Xmas decorations.

There's a tall set of cupboards behind the door that might do for office supplies, or become the new linen closet. I'm not sure yet.

There are blinds on the windows, which look out into a narrow alley and into the apartment building next door. Definitely want those, or some semi-sheer curtains. There just isn't enough space for a couch in the... I guess it's more of a study, isn't it? Any socializing we do will have to happen in the kitchen, which calls for seating there. Someday we'll get a small table. (Until then, we eat like savages-- er, students.)

Ideas from Pinterest: some are attainable and some -- like the built-ins -- won't happen in this space.


So that's the study! It will be a cozy place for me to do homework, read while my sweetie's on the computer, or chat with her while she cooks dinner, and for her to practice violin and kick back with a cup of tea and a cat. 

I really like the work of rearranging furniture, emptying boxes, and deciding where things should live to be useful and pleasing. It's kind of comforting to nest like that, and satisfying when it gets done. It's a pity that I have so little TIME for it!