Our New Shared Workspace Makeover… (Our Old House)
There’s been lots of changes in our house recently. Mr E is now working for himself, in fact we are working together, and that means that he is based at home. For years I had my laptop and he had his Mac desktop crammed into a corner of our living room against the sofa on a small white metal garden table as we couldn’t find a desk small enough. Obviously when we found out he was going to be working from home we needed this situation to change, as it was completely impractical for him to work in our living room when the girls and I were at home.
We decided to change Mads old room into our new joint workspace, and therefore turn LL’s old bedroom into a shared bedroom for the girls. (You can check out that room makeover here) This meant that we could create a study from scratch, something which I was really excited about. I am thrilled with the end result- so far I have been so much more productive working in our new room rather than on our dining table. It also has done wonders for me switching off and relaxing in the evening, as I leave the laptop in it’s new place on my desk, rather than have it downstairs with me on the sofa.
The room is a very small space, in fact a single bed would pretty much take up the entire room, but I am so pleased with how we have set it out. If feels quite spacious and also we have lots more storage space than we originally had- after all these years I even have a drawer for all my camera bits, whereas before I used to hide them down the side of the sofa.
Here is our shared workspace in photos…
We needed a space for both our computers, and rather than look at two separate desks which would take up a lot of room we found this amazing double desk in Ikea- which was absolutely perfect. It’s really narrow, but couldn’t be better for what we need it for, plus I love the white gloss.
Our black and white chairs were ridiculously cheap and also from Ikea. I love the prints above our computers, the camera one is by Seventy Tree and I have wanted it for ages so Mr E kindly bought it for my birthday, and the other one Mr E made himself.
I love my little ceramic elephant which I bought from Paperchase, he comes with a pen which he holds in his trunk and you can write important messages on him. (they wipe off) It says on his ear ‘elephants never forget’. Very cute.
I love this tiny little bell jar from Paper Marche Shop over on etsy, they are made to order, and you can write your own message on there. I chose ‘Do What You Love’ cause cheesily that is exactly what I am doing- there’s nothing like a good motivational quote. 😉
I really wanted to get a peg board for memos and things, plus I found this one that exactly matched our colour scheme. I got the inspiration for it from my lovely friend Rachel who also has a few dotted around her house.
Amsterdam holds a special place in our heart’s after one of our favourite trips there, and I got these little postcards as a gift from my gorgeous friend Keri-Anne who surprised me in the post last week. The wooden postcard is also a little note in the post from another blogging friend Lucy, what a lovely kind bunch bloggers are!
In one corner of the room below the pegboard we have a set of storage shelves, again from Ikea. (We heart Ikea!) The box shelves are so great for different types of storage.
I’ve wanted to put my David LaChapelle books on display for ages- Mr E has bought them for me over the years as he is my favourite photographer.
Little knick knacks. These two ceramic houses came from Dunelm Mill and I randomly spotted them when I went in to buy some light bulbs. Glamorous.
Mr E bought me these Sketch Inc nesting dolls for my birthday- I have been admiring them for ages but never told him. He knows me and my nesting doll obsession far too well!
We have a similar storage shelf on the other corner of the room, but this one is an eight shelf one rather than four.
I had to buy this old fashioned egg timer, but Mr E really doesn’t like it for some reason.
This glass jar came from H and M Home, as did the candles inside.
Can’t beat a succulent.
I love this little area the best. I am obsessed with photo walls (every wall in our house is covered with photos) and all these prints mean something to us. You can’t really see the Enjoy the Little Things print as it’s hard to take a photo of it because of the light glare, but it’s gorgeous and from my old friend Ben’s store Old English Prints.
I love the ‘It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice’ quote- so true! It’s from Bonne Nuit which is a little shop I found over on instagram. I can’t remember where I got the ‘Creativity takes Courage’ print but I bought it for Mr E as I think it really rings true for the fact he has given up work to start his creative business. The ‘Blogs & Diet Coke’ print is one Mr E made for me, and the others are just random little ones I have picked up here and there.
The habitat clock is my favourite, I have wanted to get one for years and years but never really had the right space for it, so I treated myself to one with my birthday money. I love it so much. I have had the little black and white lomo camera for years, as I have mentioned previously I collect old cameras.
I love this little globe that Mr E bought me (he’s a pretty good husband actually!) and this print which was given to me ages ago by my friend Katrina when we started our travel site. I love the fact that there are little details in the room that show off our hobbies and passions- like photography, design and travel.
Yay for cacti. Although they are prickly little customers as poor Mads found out the other day!
Overall I am really pleased with our new shared office space, I love to go in there, and it’s helped wonders in motivating me and also helping me switch off in the evening time.
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