An office to work in

For years, the so-called "office" was anything but. Despite our best efforts at organization over many years (see: 2017 closet redo,  2018, and 2020), it was impossible to keep it looking like an office with toys in it. It always resembled a messy toy room with a desk in it. Here's a view two walls, a few weeks after we broke ground on the addition but way before they had to start coming in the house (and therefore also before our crown molding project):

The other side is no better (probably worse). You can see that we are still using the 2017 closet system, but really had trouble containing all the kids things.

In the end, there really wasn't a magical solution except adding more space. By building the addition, we were able to give each kid a bedroom (more on those updates in future posts) and that gave them the space to move the toys to their rooms. Are their bedrooms magically neater and better organized? Of course not! But now at least the mess is their problem. Admittedly their rooms ARE much neater than these office pictures, because they have more storage space and fewer toys (items are divided across two bedrooms and also they are just growing up and keeping fewer toys, *sob*). They also think twice now about accruing stuff--at one point, I almost shed tears of joy when one child said: "I want this, but I have nowhere to put it."

So with the toys out, how did we decorate? I'm so glad you asked! We knew we wanted to create a kind of hallway to divide the desk area from the path into the addition, and found a cute barrister bookcase in an antique shop with two layers. Because of the modular way it is constructed, it was easy to dismantle and bring home. The top needs resurfacing, but otherwise it is in pretty good condition and creates a room divider that doesn't leave either side too cramped, because it's only about chest-high.

With that purchased, we knew that the other piece, that would go on the now-empty wall across from the addition, ought to match and be a medium wood without too much trim. We perused a bunch of mid-century modern shops and set up keywords in various online marketplaces, but it was clear it was going to cost a lot to get something we liked. UNTIL we lucked out and found someone selling a piece on Craiglist for $50. True, it was almost an hour away and, true, it seemed impossible to get home, but D was up to the challenge. It was completely modular and D managed to tetris the whole thing--two bookcases with cabinets, into our SUV in a very impressive way:

The piece, made in Yugoslavia--apparently a popular place for "cheap" MCM furniture in the 1970s and 80s--is absolutely amazing. This might be one of my favorite pieces of furniture now, made especially sweet by the thrill of the hunt (I think that's also why I enjoy perusing antique shops). This is really the view from our bedroom now, so it's important to me that it looks nice, showing off books I enjoy without being overly cluttered.

We also bought a new filing cabinet (and printer stand). Nothing too exciting, but it's nicer than the cheap medal filing cabinet that was so flimsy that it dented if we opened it by pulling on the draw itself and CERTAINLY nicer than the milk crate stack holding the printer.

And that's our office!