Meet Our New Office!!

 

I love the room I'm about to show you. Who am I kidding? I love all the rooms! But I really really love this one extra. 

When we first toured the house, which is a three-bedroom, as I'm sure you probably assumed, we didn't hesitate in figuring out which room would be the office and which would be the guest room. We chose the bedroom closest to the extra bathroom to be the guest bedroom. That gives our guests a cozy little corner when they come to stay!

Besides, the office space layout worked better with that massive bookshelf we keep moving from place to place! :) 

There are two things I particularly love about the office. One, it's much bigger than the room we used for our personal office at WillowBridge. That room was so very tiny. Secondly, this room has a beautiful window that lets in all the natural light, and that makes my creative soul SO HAPPY. 

Here was the room from the day we closed on the house:

We were able to visit the house regularly from the very moment our offer was accepted. The builder gave us the codes to enter, and we came over about once a week (if not more) to check on it. We measured all sorts of things, and for some reason, both of us had it in our heads that the bookshelves were going to have to be split between two walls, as they have been in our last two homes. But in fact, they do fit on one shelf, and I love how it looks. It has such presence!!

And here they are, filled with the books that bring me SUCH JOY!

As you can see, we have some room to grow with the books, and that makes my heart happy, too! I also very carefully chose the non-book pieces that go on the shelves. Each one of those items has a story. Every photo, every sign, every little decoration. They all mean something! 

I should add that at this point, Ryan and I still do not know how much work for our jobs we'll be doing from home. (The job story is a whole post for another day. We're still awaiting final decisions and going through much prayer about the next steps we should take.) I mention it simply to say there is a possibility one or both of us will do some, if not all, of our work from this room. It was very important to us that we create a space where we could both work freely and comfortably. All my books sit right behind my work station so I can easily reference them as I create, study, write, and whatever else I may be doing!

Meanwhile, this is my view across the room and what sits behind Ryan at his work station. You might recognize the cherry blossom tree. We bought it when we lived in Kokomo, and it was part of our sun porch collection. We thought it added some nice ambience to this room here, so this is where it's living! I might do some more rearranging of things on that white shelf, but for now, it works. And I love how the little gallery wall came together! 

The two silver pieces are magnet boards. The art with the black frame was my gift from the Financial Aid crew at IWU when I left there. (They all signed the back.) Directly underneath it in the small frame is the art print below, which was a gift from one of the Gateway couples we knew from our very first day of work! (They went through training with us.) The cream-colored print with all the words was my gift from Ryan on my last day at WBCL, and I attached to the back of it all the notes my coworkers there wrote to me. I love it that this wall represents all three of my jobs and what God has taught me as I left to pursue His next plan for me! There's also Ryan's tan message board, which I gifted him for Christmas one year. And the white board, because I have to make notes somewhere! And finally - the picture on the bottom right is the really cool rainbow/bird/waterfall photo Ryan took at Niagara Falls a few years ago when we visited. I love that picture!

(That was the gift from the Gateway couple.)

Here is Ryan's side of the desk looking over to mine, and then underneath that is my side of the desk looking over to his. We did get this desk new to fit this space, and we really love it. The size is perfect. (We will eventually get better chairs. For now, the stools work.) We each decorated our own sides of the work station!

And here is the last part of the office, which we just completed this week! The desk doesn't have any storage drawers, so we needed a stand or shelf of some kind to hang onto the pieces and parts of office supplies. We found this one at IKEA, and it was perfect. 

We also have storage in the closet, which is really helpful. 

We have both already enjoyed working in here and can't wait to see what is next for us with the work God has for us to do in this room!