The Most Gorgeous…Reality Check.
I have been in denial.
I’ve been office working from home since March 9, 2020. I like to denote the “office” part since I’ve always worked at home. If you’re fortunate enough to have a home, you’re probably working on it too from time to time. And if you have kids on top of that, you’re probably half dead living on fumes, I have no idea how you have time to read a fluffy blog. Whew. I digress…
I was one of the first to be sent home to work due to my asthma and my advanced age of 52 - at the time. As you can imagine, I was not happy. I even contacted my doctor to get a note to be allowed BACK in the office. I wanted to be in the trenches with my coworkers. It sounds silly now, but at the time, I had no clue how to do my job from home or how serious this pandemic would be. My day job responsibilities were filled with "herding cats", if I'm at home, those cats will be buck wild!… on the furniture, on the ceiling, in the alley, eating garbage, shredding my favorite blanket...you get the picture. My doctor was fine with me going into the office and just as I was fixin’ to make the case for working inside the office, the entire city was sent home to work. I had no time for a meltdown. Looking back, the shock of it all was slightly numbing and autopilot kicked in.
My man (aka my husband, just clarifying since that may not be the case for others, no judgements...) is in the construction field, he’s not working from home. My dogs have been working from home for years but didn't have any good tips, just pure euphoria that I was home too. Ironically, when we moved here four years ago, we made sure my man had his own office/lounge space. I don’t like the term “man cave” because he’s not primitive and the space has lovely light! His office is located above the garage. It’s an ideal escape space for him, he can do his putting practice, loudly watch sports, read, listen to music, nap... However, I did not create an office space for myself. No need. I never wanted one of those gigs where you had to take office work home. I’ve tried to make my home the cliché sanctuary. I only wanted to bring in calming, fun, interesting energy. I had been fortunate to rarely bring work home, until March 2020. And yeah, I could have used the desk in my man’s office but it’s set away from the rest of the house. I’m sure my Gemini brain would be grumpy after 2 days in isolation. I decided to set up a temp office in the kitchen and I created a standing desk situation using an inexpensive adjustable laptop stand, set on the kitchen island. Not ideal but it was fine. Just fine. Until it wasn’t. The ballet of putting all the work paraphernalia away into a closet every day and setting it back up every morning, was annoying, exhausting and not helping my mental outlook. I was determined to keep the work energy out of my “real” life once the work day was done. But I was just kidding myself. As I approach the 2nd anniversary of my wfh situation, I felt it was time to face reality and set up a dedicated office space. As much as I love interior design, it’s funny to me that I’m embarking on a project that many folks tackled the first month of WFH. While I was busy upping the comfort aspect of our home, others were making sure they could get office work done. Priorities, baby!
The first step was to identify a space. This meant I needed be flexible in how I thought all the rooms should function in our home. It was not easy. I loved the way the house was put together; I was stuck in indecision. I want to admit my indecision, so other folks who feel stuck can know it’s normal, even for people like me who live for home “stuff”. I chose to transform a guest bedroom that had been used for guests exactly once in 2018. One of the most important rules in setting up a house is based in how the home is really going to function. I didn’t know I was breaking that rule when I set up the guest room. In 2018, a guest room made sense - in 2020, the guest room was purely aspirational and unrealistic. My guest room was the equivalent of a very casual family that has a huge formal dining room they only use two times a year. The former guest room is filled with light and makes me happy. It’s important to be happy at work, no? Yes. We still have another space in the basement for guests so this won’t completely cancel out the opportunity for family/friends to visit someday. I’m in the early clearing out stage and giving items to lucky younger relatives who “hell yeah” want a new bed, etc. I ordered a desk and new rug…next I’ll tackle the walls with paint and peel/stick wallpaper. My monthly flowers from Hummingbird Bouquets will have a lovely new spot to shine and bring joy. One advantage of waiting this long has been a wide selection of office type goods, even with the supply issues, I found a desk I love at a decent price – in stock. I’m looking forward to moving all the office items from around the house into the completed office and closing the door on work at the end of the day. I’ll take a pic and add to my next post
Oh, I should add - most importantly, just like “Murphy’s Laws” that “govern” some insurance policies, emergency kits and birth control - if you have it, you may not need it. I hope that in creating this dedicated wfh space, I really won’t have to use it much. Perhaps me finally facing this reality, will make all the virus strains magically ease and we’ll be able to frolic once again in our offices full time – if we choose. If this happens, you’re welcome.
