Saturday, September 13, 2014

girlie office: 2.0?

I love my "Girlie Office."


It's the first room I tackled, decorated, wrote about.


It once looked like this


and then like this...


but soon I switched-out paisley for posies and it's pretty much looked like this for a while.

It's light and breezy and filled with tinkered treasures


When I'm working on projects, it looks like this


but when I'm writing, I try to keep it looking like this.

Photo credit: Marisa Bettencourt
It's a sunny, small first-floor bedroom with one closet with a curtain instead of a door. It has a supercomfy yellow couch, an aqua crackle-painted coffee table, a striped and decoupaged vanity, a small yellow chest of three drawers (one of which is being used as a desk hutch), a desk, a small cabinet and a tall bookcase.

Photo credit: Marisa Bettencourt
As much as I adore it, I am feeling the need to streamline and turn it into a better creative workspace.


I've been thinking about making some changes for a while but I love the comfy couch (have I said that already?) and am sentimental about the furniture that I've painted.

Imaging something like this holding a desk top? Source
So, I'm leafing through magazines and poking around Pinterest for ideas. My sister-in-law Meridith suggests removing the couch and building a work table over short shelving units. Sounds great but I'm like, "But I love napping on the couch!"

Love a picnic table indoors! Source
Then I wonder, should there be a large table in the center of the room


or along the wall like a counter? If I were asked to advise on someone else's space, I feel like I would have so many ideas but am finding it difficult to be objective and insightful on the re-thinking of my own studio.

So I'm putting this out there for all of your brilliant minds. Any suggestions for GirlieOffice 2.0?

Thank you and I'm looking forward to reading your comments!

xo
elyse


15 comments:

Claudia said...

Gosh, I don't know what to say. I had a desk in our first house that was supported by two file cabinets and it worked really well in a narrow space. The top was a door that I painted apple green. Work tables in the middle of the room are nice, but I think they only work when you have a fairly large space.

Giving up the sofa would be tough - it's so pretty and it looks very comfy. Maybe go with the file cabinets and a top that you paint or decoupage a la Cath Kidston?

xo
Claudia

Jessica Rodarte said...

Your space is beautiful, Elyse! Your tinkered jars are so pretty! :) A couch for napping sounds like a must have.

Nancy said...

Love your girlie office! I'm all about the couch! Wondering if you can have the best of both worlds? Any way to keep a wall-side work station and have a wall-mount murphy style table that can be pulled down when you need more work area or have larger projects? Wondering if that will make it possible to keep the couch---but depending on floor space may not have room for the coffee table. Would a corner table/work station help with the layout?

Sandi~A Cottage Muse said...

Oh the comfy couch must stay!
Is your desk across the room from your couch? If so, I think a table in the middle would be great, that way everything in the room isn't along a wall. Are you changing the wall color too ~ I love the background color of your blog, very seaside!!

NanaDiana said...

Well, this might sound a little crazy- but I wonder if you could set up a wood top on a hinge BEHIND the sofa with legs that folded up tight to it- It would have to be high enough to clear the sofa so that you could pull it out over top of the sofa and use the legs to balance it when you needed a really large workspace-guess a stool would work to sit at it. Then, when you needed a smaller space to work you could just pop it up and behind the sofa again. Then the bottom of it would be showing above the sofa when it was in the raised position. Could be decoupaged or anything so that it looked like a piece of pretty art.

Just a thought- I love the color and brightness of the space, Elyse. xo Diana

Scrap for Joy said...

Your girlie office is a place of comfort and fun...a creative cocoon. If you need more storage, you can always go vertical...I have loved my Ikea pieces. Keep the couch, you need it for dreaming. Every craft room looks like a hurricane blew through when you're in the creative process...you seem to keep yours tidier than most.
It's always fun to make changes, even tiny ones.
I haven't even started to unpack the boxes for my craft room. It is a fraction of my former space...I'm going to have to be really creative about what I do in there.
Have fun with your planning, or, take a nap!
xoxo
Joyce

my cup of tea said...

Love a couch for napping! I have a large workdesk in the middle of the room, I use it everyday but need to change mine up too. A work desk against the wall may help you.
donna

The Polka Dot Closet said...

It's adorable and a good napping couch is invaluable! I have a good compromise in my craft room. I have one of those fabulous crafting tables from Joannes the two side fold out to make it 5ft long, it has wheels and when I am not in the middle of a project the leaves fold down and it is only about 11" wide and goes up against the wall giving me all of the room I need.

Carol

Angela said...

Hello! I just stumbled across your lovely blog. As a long time crafter and lots of incarnation of my crafting space, it is hard to find the right fit. As of right now (several years actually) my craft room has an island (converted vanity cabinets (2) back to back with a wood top) in the center of the room and I love it, plenty of room to spread out with your project or several projects at once. I love it for my quilting projects too. Then white cabinets with doors (to hide all the (clutter)"tools of the trade" line the rest of the room. Good luck with your make over!

Diane Mars said...

I hear you you it's kind of a struggle I am going through right now... I have a long folding table thats my work space and then in another corner my desk with my computer... And I guess my biggest complaint is the room is just too darn small but now thats something I just cant change! Good luck I do love the couch but it sure does take up a lot of valuable creative space. You see Im really not much help at all! Hugs, Diane

debi said...

elyse, if you are needing more space for tinkering, then I would suggest maybe you could trade out your comfy couch for a comfy chair to allow you the space for a larger desk or a counter space. or take out the couch, have a nice big counter, and nap on the couch in your lovely livingroom.
if you are just feeling like you need a change, maybe what you need is as simple as a new wall color or curtains.

Danielle said...

LOVE your space, Elyse! I think I'd hang onto the couch to rest and contemplate. BUT maybe a comfy chair would give you more room to have a work table. x

Unknown said...

What about a desk top that can hang off the wall w/ chains and then go back up when not in use?

Theresa said...

Nothing I could come up with would be so pretty:) Enjoy your day dear friend, HUGS!

Jen Kershner said...

Change can be fun but your space is also so lovely just as is! If you really use that sofa, I would not give it up if you can afford the space for it.