A New Direction for the Solarium
We move around this house like a bouncy ball. Up and down, here and there, in and out. It's like we have decorating A.D.D. I'm not complaining, simply stating facts. To be honest, this process works for me and my brain. I need to execute one concept at a time, let it soak in and then go from there. If I try to bite off the whole thing at once, I often rush things and end up regretting decisions or purchases. So, a human bouncy ball it is.
One space we have really been taking our time with is the solarium. We have definitely rolled in and out of this room a few times. Since moving in we have painted the ceiling and stenciled the flooring, leaving us with this:
With the space looking better and better with each completed project the question continued to arise - what was the end game? When I initially thought about the future of this room I envisioned a proper sunroom - flowy drapes, a sisal rug and some wicker furniture, you know the usual. But the longer we lived in this house, the harder it was for me to picture a room filled with pretty furnishings that no one would ever use. Of course people would walk through the pretty room to and from the deck, but no one would ever actually hang out in there. Some might argue that we would read, have tea or just sit with friends and chat, but when your house is right under 2000 square feet, allotting that much space to an "every now and then" used room seemed wasteful.
When we let ourselves stop and think about the out-of-the-box possibilities we realized we had one big glaring need this room could easily fill - Organization. We have important papers, computers, chargers, notepads, bills, pens and other work related paraphernalia EVERYWHERE! It took us 30 minutes to locate our marriage license when I went to change my last name. We are constantly chasing our tails trying to remember where we put stamps, our passports, the checks... It's insane! Our "to shred" stack is huge and there are three of them. You get the point, our lives would be SO much....well... more organized if we had one central location to house the above items AKA an OFFICE!
So, we broke out the sketch pad and began dreaming about our perfect space. We wanted a place to store the printer and shredder, a drawer for files in addition to a separate knee space for each of us. After a few tweaks we landed on this:
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| CAD drawings by my favorite CAD wizard - Wanda. |
Once the idea slipped from our brains, into conversation and onto paper, the more and more we knew this was the perfect use of this space. The room is bright with tons of natural light - making it a great design work space. Plus there is an entrance from the outside. So, if I ever needed to work from home clients would have a straight path to my work zone that doesn't include coming through the front door. Because this room is the bridge between the house and the back deck, it sees a lot of traffic when we entertain. This was the only negative for placing the office here, UNTIL we realized the desk will easily double as a buffet (with a table cloth over it of course) when we have parties. We also plan to keep some of the bar ware in the far right cabinet right next to the deck for easy access. We are all about Multi-functional spaces!
Once we ironed out all of the details, things really started coming together; we had the electrician out a few weeks ago to install outlets on the wall and the cabinetry should be ordered this week. Plus, we happened upon the world's cutest office chairs last weekend at Scott's Antique.
We've been on the lookout for chairs for some time, but everything we found fell short in one way or another. When we found these chairs WITH WHEELS, arms and cushions, it was love at first sight. The existing upholstery is pretty worn and will have to be replaced. I love the fact we have the opportunity to customize them to add another layer of cool to the space. I have no idea what upholstery treatment they will get but I'm excited to explore the options. I smell a whole blog dedicated to these chairs coming up, wink - wink :)
A room with a plan - I love it! I'm confident this is the right direction for this room and I can't wait to see it all come together. Stay tuned - cabinetry should be installed in June and it's full steam ahead from there!