Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Home Office


Its been over a year now that I've started to work from home. In the beginning, I still went in to my previous job as a studio manager at a photo studio a little bit every week but for the past half a year, I've really started to be a self employed person. Its hard to get used to since home has always been the place to not work and so it has been a bit of a bumpy ride trying to get myself going every day. Its great having such a flexible schedule and being your own boss but its also one of the hardest things.

(When you get to stay home all day, every day and the only conversations you have are with your pets -- which basically means that you talk to yourself--, you become really weird. Its hard to explain. You start dressing like a strange person and you mostly feel lethargic and antsy at the same time.)

Former office space, now kind of storage


One of the things that I had done to make home more of a place for work, was to move my whole operation from the tiny office room DH (my husband) and I shared (which was tiny and also dark) into my windowy and light filled living space. This might seem unfair to my other half but my reasoning was that since I work here, I should have a nice place to work which would be better for my business. Plus I had read, at some point, that an artist rented out this beautiful cabin in the woods and took the best room in the house and made it his workspace. This is my reasoning! I also promised that I would make it look cool and keep everything neat so as not to make our living area crappy. This has mostly been successful. A little bit.

Also I fully intend to clean up my old half of the old office so that DH could expand his operations to the rest of the room but life keeps getting in the way (50% of which is Internet). I will get there!


Despite the messes, it has so far been really great. I do feel more productive. I have a wall painted with chalkboard paint with things that I need to take care of right in front of me. I have lots of light. If I need a break, I can always walk a few seconds to my left and sit/read/sip a drink/zone out in our real living room and the space we call "The Golden Area". The golden area makes everything better.

The Golden Area

I love my new workspace. I've been working like this for the past 2 months and its been fantastic. Its really helped me get motivated about my shop and my work. It helps give structure to my day and I think it makes me better about being neater. I would love to one day have a studio space completely separate from my home but for now, this is perfect.

6 comments:

  1. I get all weird if I am just home by myself for a day so I can totally imagine becoming some kind of recluse weirdo if I worked at home all the time! x

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  2. great stuff debbie! i'm really excited for your blog

    i totally know that stay-at-home feel. i'm somewhat in the same boat. though i'm running a shop it's like my home practically. and there are those moments. "lethargic and antsy at the same time" best describes it.

    don't know if you remember me! followed you in lj way back when. and we've chatted before. and told you stuff to do when you were in manila. (:

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  3. Love your blog and love your work! I totally know what you mean about working from home all day. I've been talking to my dog a lot more these days.

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  4. Amadeus - Of course I remember you. We are facebook and tumblr friends! Thats cool, I didn't know you were running a shop. Yes I totally remember your tips on where to go in Manila. They were good tips indeed. Will need more next time I'm there :)

    L.Kim - Thanks! Yes when I talk to my cat or my bunny they talk back at me which is just me responding to myself.

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  5. I'm sure this is old news but one of your posters shows up on closetvisit.com in Allison Miller's photos. Love it - look forward to getting one of your prints soon.

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  6. OH yeah! I did see that a little bit ago. That was a really cool surprise :)

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