Hello, Workspace. Nice to Meet You.

Yesterday, I ended the previous post with the intention of considering rehabbing my office.  Know one thing about me, when there is something I'm working through, I tend to clean, organize, and dive into large projects.

So, of course, now the office has been reworked.  Kevin walked in, raised an eyebrow, said something along of the lines of "Good luck with that, don't kill yourself moving that monstrosity" and went back outside. Wise man.

The desk didn't used to sit flush to the wall and neither of us could remember why.  I think it had to do with power cords and a giant, old cpu.  As a result, the printer was angled between the wall and desk. Because I hate looking at printers, cords, and electronical junk so this worked for me.  But the OCD needs the desk flush to the wall more.  

I pulled all of that junk out first. It occurs to me that a few years ago when we put in the new carpet that why did I not fix this then?  We'll never know. I'm going with our entire house was outside during Fall in the beautiful PNW and I chose my battles.

I took away all the pillows. I'm resigned to the fact that Lucy will stand on the desk if she wants to and any obstacles I may place would be considered adorable.

There is also a heavy oak file cabinet that Kevin's mom gave us.  I really like it and right now it is helping me keep family photos and history organized.  But it's a small house, by design.  There is no place to put it without thinking "Oh hai, file cabinet" when you walk in the room.  Thus the awkward placement by the window.  And it became a catch-all and I hate that.

With not as much effort as I assumed would take (hello, working through issues), I shoved the desk flush with the wall.  The OCD was pleased.  Right up until I remembered that I had to reroute printer cables and such.  And that the kickplate for the desk goes nearly flush to the floor.  "I will totally drill a hole in that desk" says Kevin.  No, sir, back away slowly.

This is one of those tasks where it is good and bad that I'm short.  Good that I can get under the desk with ease, bad that I can't reach behind to the floor.  (the trick for that: use a hanger. Now you know)
But I prevailed.  Minimal cursing.

I moved Lucy's crate as flush to the desk and bookcase as I could.  She can't see down the hall from her crate now and I think that will be good.  She's never not hunting so a random bark in the middle of the night is not unusual.  Now she's a little more sheltered and I can naively think she will stand down during the night.

I kept resentfully pushing the chair out of the way.  Finally I realized that the only fix to this is if I actually get rid of the chair. I am an all-or-nothing girl, no in between for me. I texted my niece and hooray, she would love to have the chair.  But wait, I need a chair.  Enter: a rocking chair my dad made when I was eighteen.  It's short but it will do for right now.  "Right now" meaning until the perfect chair falls from the sky and lands in the yard.

I cleaned off the junk from my desk.  Lots of it was just knick-knack stuff that accumulated over time.  I'd like to say that I thoughtfully sifted through it but that would be a lie.  I put it into Monica's closet for "later."

Now it feels more like a workable space.  The printer is still hidden, if not a little inconveniently.  The pillows are all gone and the file cabinet....well.  Now it's out of the frame of the photo and sits by Monica's closet.  Sure it partially blocks the door.  Why wouldn't it?

Pillows, clutter, oh Hai file cabinet

Serenity now.