Before
We have surfaced from beneath the rock we have been hiding under, finally. Last night we were up until 1:30 AM putting together furniture from that low cost, high style mecca, IKEA. I love their stuff, but there is a reason it is so cheap, you can buy something that is 8 foot by 8 foot and it comes is a 4 inch by 4 foot box. It will have 250 pieces, all including wooden dowels, screws and other insanity producing items. Together UberGeek and I groaned, sighed and extremitied our way to a fresh new office.
We started out by putting on a fresh coat of paint Friday night. I chose Valspar's Garden Path from the signature collection. It's a really springy green color I thought would make us feel energized and add some light to the room. A second coat was applied Saturday morning. We chose IKEA Expedit bookcases and desks that attached. I purchased a used Hon commercial quality lateral file cabinet from Craigslist as well. I wanted black, but the only one I could find at a cheap price was a putty color so I spray painted it, now it's perfect. We wanted to eliminate clutter on the desks as much as possible so I purchased a metal rack from IKEA made for the kitchen area for $1.97 and some coordinating plastic bins that hook over it to hold pens, scissors etc. There is also a hanging basket for sticky notes or mail. Less than $10.00 for the whole system. Above it I hung a cork board that I had covered in some inexpensive fabric, also from IKEA, to add some instant artwork and attractive storage for paper lying about.
Kristie's Spot
The best part is yet to come; my sister is a photographer and she has agreed to shoot pictures of cool green things for the wall, limes up close, etc. I can't wait to see what she comes up with. In the meantime the walls are a little bare, although we are in the process of finding frames for our diplomas. Neither of us have ever framed them, sadly enough. UberGeek also wants to frame and hang his Microsoft Industry Solutions Award which has been wrapped in plastic wrap in the garage for years now. I was happy to smell that the cat had not decided to pee on it. We even went outside and picked a couple daylilies, rosemary and society garlic to put in vases on our desks.
So now we finally have friendly work areas in the office for our work from home days or nights when we decide to put in a few extra hours, which for both of us is quite often. At least we will be able to sit near each other, although we always sit in silence when we are working. Usually our habit is for UberGeek to sit on the couch with his laptop and for me to sit in the office on the desktop. I wonder if we will be in closer proximity now?
We still have a little work to be done. We need to purchase a couple of office chairs, we ran out of time when we were in IKEA last time. Also, there are a few boxes and drawers to be assembled and curtains to be hung. Overall though, we have made a great start in our new space.
UberGeek's Lair
