The Twelve Days of New Office: Day One: The Plan

One of the most popular posts I ever did here was on rehabbing my office. Evidently that much squalor cheered people up enormously. Now I am moving into a cottage (so happy) and a new office (so happy) that’s kinda small (less happy but coping). Like 70″ by 88″ small. Or six feet by seven feet. Used to be a pantry, so it’s really the breezeway between the kitchen and the garage. And “breeze” is the right word because it’s not just a narrow passage with an outside wall on each side, it also has an outside wall underneath it: the steps to the back yard go under it. It’s basically a bridge between the house and the garage which means one thing: cold as hell.

So why would I put my office there? Did I mention this cottage is small? I love it because it’s small; Squalor on the River was over 4000 square feet and even with Lani and Alastair and the two kids and four dogs and two cats, there were rooms we never used. Stupid. In this place, I’ll use all the rooms. Twice. And the breezeway is the office because it’s the only place to put one until I get enough money to reclaim the basement and the back porch.

But to tell you the truth, I like a small office. It’s not like I pace. Mostly I sit and type. Sometimes I reach for something and if it’s close by, that’s a plus. I don’t get the whole Big Office thing. How much stuff can you put in an office anyway? It’s all small stuff. Even oversize post-its fit in a drawer. Big tables just give me more room to put stuff on and lose when I put other stuff on top of that. If I want an armchair I can walk six feet to the living room. Really, a small office is good.

And this time, I’m starting from scratch. We gutted the pantry that was there (and by “we” I mean my contractor and his guys) and insulated the walls (which is a help with the heat although not with the cold floor situation) and now I have to put in a desk for two monitors and a keyboard and a laptop and some storage that’ll hold two printers and a scanner. I’d like it to be neutral since everything I’m going to put in there will be colorful which means the walls and the furniture are going to be black or white. Simple. Like me.

It started out looking like this:

(Somewhere Susan Elizabeth Phillips has a heart palpitation at the sight of this photo. You know how she is about offices.) And now it looks like this:

So, progress. I’ll keep posting about it until it’s done, although I don’t see it taking twelve days. Possibly we can talk about Office Theory for the last few days. Discuss binder clips or something. I’m just happy I’m getting an office after living without one for three months.

Actually living in New Jersey is making me very happy already, which is good because I was a real downer for most of last year. Sorry about that, although dear god, that was a bad year. But good things are happening: my new retinologist says that with aggressive treatment I’ll never lose the sight in my right eye to wet AMD. And I only have to go for shots every six weeks. And the shots don’t hurt. I love my new retinologist. I love New Jersey. And with any luck at all, at the end of the week/month/whatever it takes, I’ll love my new climate-uncontrolled office.

Tomorrow: Painting furniture. I have to. It’s the wrong color.