Is Your Dream Home Office more of a Nightmare?

It's lovely isn't it? Airy, bright, clean, organized....
It's just so darn Island Girl! Can't you just hear the birds chirping? The Ipod playing? 
Creativity, Productivity, your Muse, and you, all laughing and having a great time together there, writing the Great American Novel.

Yeah, right... 
Bet it's more like --

THIS!--

...and I cleaned it up for this picture! EEK!

My Hero built this desk for me when I decided to sell the old dining room table and chairs and take all my writing mess out of the bedroom and into the front room. Since then I've learned:

• that black is as bad as white for showing dirt... 
• and all the wires show!

• and I'd need drawers to hide my stuff... Where's the drawers to hide my stuff?
• and a writer can't have too many bookcases, so where are they??... 
• and I've been resourceful in repurposing furniture for different uses, but you can say it...

It's full of  'C L U T T E R'

I won't say more than that. Except --

No wonder my muse doesn't come to stay for very long!

Dear Readers (aka Writers),

Is your lovely dining room table not so lovely anymore? Covered in piles of papers, writing books, novels, little muse props, and your computer?

Are you working on your opus in the spare room? The one in the back, that you try to keep clean for guests and some coveted 'Mommy Alone Privacy' time...?
And now Aunt Winnie's quilt is covered with piles of research, and you're sitting at your daughter's cast off French provincial student desk, where your knees hit the lap drawer. Your desk monitor is too tall to fit under the hutch, and it fights for space with your notebooks and papers and junk mail.

Your inspiration board that you worked on all night one night is now propped up behind the door, and Jimmy's inspirational biceps are all covered up by a pair of pants that need to be hemmed.

Or have you surrendered and just work in bed on your laptop all the time?

Whether you're a writer, reader, crafter, stamper, quilter, musician, or internet surfer,
we have to OWN our space!

You can't cook a five course meal that's good enough to make the angels weep on a hot plate in the laundry room! Why do we stuff our creative outlets into the least used, least liked room in the house?




How do we expect to find full expression of ourselves and our endeavors that way?

We're Worth It!

Whether you're a mommy, mom, or empty nester....
If your surface isn't covered in pink plastic beads or Legos or your husbands' StarWars toys, then it's your bills, old notebooks, and that Fly Pen that was kewl ten years ago.
Let's RECLAIM it! Take it back! Give yourself permission to buy a comfortable chair, to repurpose the dining room that only sees action five holidays a year, and to paint the walls a color that makes you happy and invites your muse in for a long stay.  

DesignWrite is coming!

The fabulous and generous Erika Ward of Blue Label Bungalow is preparing some tips, and organizational tools to whip our offices into shape! Erika works to "...to extinguish the myth that style and budget are not be mutually exclusive." With a degree in Finance from the University of Georgia and experience with multi million dollar construction budgets, Erika knows more than most how to spend those hard earned dollars on quality pieces that serve for years and years.

• Are your eyes tired from eyestrain in the middle of the afternoon?

• Are your back, knees, shoulders, wrists fatigued after a few minutes of typing?

• Can you find your notes from your editor? Your receipts for your last conference? Your Ipod?

• Is your floor marred and scarred from the wheels on that chair you bought at the office supply store?

 As
    Marcy Massura tweeted: Writing or Interiors, it's all 'story telling.'
Our homes and the colors we paint on the walls... our furnishing style, and the accents we choose to live with....
They're all expressions of you and your story. How you choose to tell it, express it, share it with the world--
Makes all the difference in whether or not you'll continue to do so, comfortably and with great style.

You've probably got everything you already need for organizing, storage, and filing. Use a designer's eye for form, function, and you can repurpose that plant stand to hold a printer or books, and add charm to your space without spending a dime!

READY? Good!

Gather up your ideas, questions, and smart solutions... and get ready to join us Friday for DesignWriterMason

and--

Next Week on Twitter, at #designwrite chat.  

Schedule and deets coming soon, so be watching, and please retweet and share with your friends, whether they're involved in the book world or the crafting world, or both.

Leave questions on your home office problems in the comments. Space concerns? Lighting problems? Storage Ideas? How color affects your mood? Do you like to look out the window to ponder, or is that another distraction...?
Just ask...

A bientot!