At Long Last....A Space Of My Own
When we first moved into this house, we had a deal. I could do whatever I wanted with the upstairs, but the basement belonged to my husband. I thought it was fair. After all, he's the one that did the finish work - drywall, trim and floor - and he deserved to do with it as he pleased. Perhaps not surprisingly, as we both love color, he picked a beautiful red for the walls with a matching apple green trim - both of which look fantastic against his floor.
The problem came years later when we had the Pixie, and I lost my office. You've heard about that many times here...
The most obvious solution was for me to take over this corner of the basement. I resisted for a long time, though, because it wasn't an enclosed room, I really don't like the action movie/action figure decor of the rest of the basement, the red (even though it's a nice shade) bugs me, and I didn't think we could make it work in terms of how much stuff we would need to rearrange.
I'm happy I was wrong. I still am not comfortable with the red, and I wish I had a wall and a door....but this will do quite nicely.
You can see the Princess's knees on the right. She's sitting on the couch facing the tv. Our basement is in the shape of a backwards L, and I took over the the bottom corner of that.
For now, my space has my grandpa's rolltop desk, this bookshelf - filled with all of the books that are the most important to me, my spinning supplies and my husband's grandmother's rocker.
By turning the desk to block off the corner, I get just enough privacy to make this work. It also helps that there is an independent light in this corner. I added the corkboard as an inspiration board - making it only natural that I would put up the print of the Brian Froud fairy that has become one of my great inspirations. On top of the bookcase is my vase of drop spindles - as well as a bowl with the current spindle spinning project.
The other bookshelf holds all of my young adult and children's books - basically anything I would be comfortable with the Princess reading. I'm quite fond of good children's authors, so it's quite full. The little bench is actually a toy chest that my grandfather (same one who owned the laptop..best man I have ever known) made me when I was about the same age as the Princess is now. Most of my fiber stash now lives in it. You can see my old Ashford Scholar - no longer in use - tucked behind the chest. All other spinning supplies are on top of the bookcase. I'm debating hanging up a few more prints on the wall above the toy chest, but we shall see.
You can get a sense in this picture of how separate from the rest of the basement this space really is, thanks to some architectural details. At some point I hope to find a folding screen to put across the opening for additional privacy. We have debated a large curtain....but that's not the feel I want.
Once again, thanks to our walk-out basement, I do have a window with a nice view. That's very important to me. I could never make this work if there wasn't SOME natural light.
When I finished setting up, I realized I needed one last touch...a bit of green to make it feel like home. A quick trip to town yielded new plants for the planters the girls made me for Mother's Day - both low-light varieties that should work well.
I also got a new ivy. I love ivy. It might be my favorite type of plant!
And that, my friends, is the grand tour!
The problem came years later when we had the Pixie, and I lost my office. You've heard about that many times here...
The most obvious solution was for me to take over this corner of the basement. I resisted for a long time, though, because it wasn't an enclosed room, I really don't like the action movie/action figure decor of the rest of the basement, the red (even though it's a nice shade) bugs me, and I didn't think we could make it work in terms of how much stuff we would need to rearrange.
I'm happy I was wrong. I still am not comfortable with the red, and I wish I had a wall and a door....but this will do quite nicely.
You can see the Princess's knees on the right. She's sitting on the couch facing the tv. Our basement is in the shape of a backwards L, and I took over the the bottom corner of that. 
For now, my space has my grandpa's rolltop desk, this bookshelf - filled with all of the books that are the most important to me, my spinning supplies and my husband's grandmother's rocker. 
By turning the desk to block off the corner, I get just enough privacy to make this work. It also helps that there is an independent light in this corner. I added the corkboard as an inspiration board - making it only natural that I would put up the print of the Brian Froud fairy that has become one of my great inspirations. On top of the bookcase is my vase of drop spindles - as well as a bowl with the current spindle spinning project. 
The other bookshelf holds all of my young adult and children's books - basically anything I would be comfortable with the Princess reading. I'm quite fond of good children's authors, so it's quite full. The little bench is actually a toy chest that my grandfather (same one who owned the laptop..best man I have ever known) made me when I was about the same age as the Princess is now. Most of my fiber stash now lives in it. You can see my old Ashford Scholar - no longer in use - tucked behind the chest. All other spinning supplies are on top of the bookcase. I'm debating hanging up a few more prints on the wall above the toy chest, but we shall see.
You can get a sense in this picture of how separate from the rest of the basement this space really is, thanks to some architectural details. At some point I hope to find a folding screen to put across the opening for additional privacy. We have debated a large curtain....but that's not the feel I want. 
Once again, thanks to our walk-out basement, I do have a window with a nice view. That's very important to me. I could never make this work if there wasn't SOME natural light.
When I finished setting up, I realized I needed one last touch...a bit of green to make it feel like home. A quick trip to town yielded new plants for the planters the girls made me for Mother's Day - both low-light varieties that should work well.
I also got a new ivy. I love ivy. It might be my favorite type of plant! And that, my friends, is the grand tour!
Comments
Surprisingly, my office is absolutely delightful. A huge key is that I hung quilts, that I stole from our Connecting Threads division, on every bit of wall except for my inspiration board.
So, I recommend more large art on your walls. I think you will be amazed at how it serves to define and "cozy" up your space. And, I also have a coupld of "daylight" desk lamps.
Enjoy you new space! It looks wonderful!
Kelley Petkun