My Home Office and a Little Fake Gold

It all happened out of order.  I knew I wanted to start a blog about fun stuff.  Design, food, travel, wine, you name it.  But I really didn’t know why writing a fun blog was so important to me.  Hey, I can talk the serious issues with the best of them.  But sometimes it’s nice to unwind and go to a happy place.  This blog is one of my happy places. Our oldest daughter, affectionately nicknamed Toodlebug, is…busy.  And when a nurse suggested we read Raising Your Spirited Child:  A Guide for Parents Whose Child is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic, I realized I, too, am a spirited child.  Toodle didn’t stand a chance! The book sure explains a lot about the spirited individual.  It certainly explained a lot about me!  And why having a happy-place blog, which I named before I actually ever read the book, could be so important to me.  And why I like design so much.  And why I love my home office in the morning as much as I do. I love my home office so much I decided to feature it in my first blog post. Enjoy! M

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My office is warm, literally and figuratively, in the morning.  This is where I love to sip my coffee, read emails, and get started on my day.  One of my favorite features is the print on the wall of the woman smelling the roses.  It was a print that hung over my mom’s couch when I was growing up.   Notice the gold frame. My grandmother, known as The Gram, “perused” a dumpster behind a boutique craft store in her hometown one day and scored a bunch of frames that were going to be thrown out.  Had I gone dumpster diving I would have, no doubt, been arrested for trespassing.  But Gram had much better luck. The manager of the store even came out and offered her more frames. Gram hit pay dirt, walking away with at least 10 frames, and then proceeded into a paint-everything-gold phase.  This frame was one of those recoveries.  I enjoy having a little bit of my mother and grandmother in my office.  And I kinda dig the fake spray-paint gold.  Proof that The Gram was a fellow “spirit.” Another thing I really love about the room is the landscaping just outside the window.  It feels like the outdoors have been brought inside.

I’m convinced I’m allergic to clutter so I have very few items on my walls or on the floor.  That, and I have a preschooler who thinks my office is really hers.

I used to have yellow jacquard curtains but changed them to navy taffeta curtains, which I like much better!  Ever the do-it-yourselfers, my husband and I want to switch out the crown moulding around the ceiling.  It used to be stained oak, but when we switched the design, we painted it white. Result?  The moulding lost a little something in translation.  But it makes a great excuse to tackle another project, and it’s further proof that when you love design, your work is never done!