Home Office for women

A lot of women are working from home and sometimes it’s not as easy as we will like it. That is the reason why home office for women is a very good topic to discuss. Are you a woman who works from home and needs a space to call your own? I know how hard it can be trying to find the right space just for you but at the same time being mindful of the rest of your family? As women we sometimes put everything first and ourselves last, that’s just in our nature. We have to take care of our family right? Sure we do, but there are some things we can do to put ourselves first without taking our family for granted, like decorating a room just for us.  So the question is, how do we make our space just for us? Here are a few home offices for women from around the web that speaks to me and I'm sure most women who are looking for that special home office or craft room, these will speak to you also.

This is a beautiful craft room for any special lady who loves crafts. Couldn't you see yourself working in this beautiful room? Everything is so organize and neat. I love it

Love the Craft table just lovely

This a space that is carved out for a lady who just need a space of her own. How cute and simple. Look at the table that's being used as a desk how clever is that and she can lay a lot on that table with out the clutter. So ladies you don't need a normal desk.

This is a space being used for a makeup table but can easily be used for a place to do work w/ a laptop and a phone your ready to work.

A space in the middle of the room just for her how cute

How about this home office with all the pops of red isn't it gorgeous? I love it

This room is so cool with all the white back round and all the pops of red throughout how cool is that?

Plans

The past couple of weeks have been a blur of projects and house guests, which I have so loved doing and having, but now I'm in the clear a little more and am able to get focused back on work. I'm so excited about a big change I have in the works!

As we were organizing the house in anticipation for these house guests we've been hosting this month, Michael and I have been talking a lot about the way we use our house and about how to best use the spaces we have.

The big room above the garage that we've been calling the play room has been largely unused by the kids (these photos are from before we moved into the house). The space is sort of far away and removed from the rest of the house, so it makes sense they wouldn't really want to be up there all alone. Over time, the toys started migrating over to the bedrooms and the play room was beginning to feel like a big waste of space.

And you guys all know that I've been really thinking a lot about work and this blog and sort of trying to figure out what I want my future to look like. One of my New Years resolutions is to work smarter not harder. I don't even pretend to have a balanced life - some week's are allllllll work with family squished in there. Other weeks (like this one) have been all about friends and loved ones. I'm finally getting used to the fact that this is just how it's going to be and that there's power in embracing the imbalance of the balancing act. :)

(Sidebar: speaking of family, my friends over at Small Fry blog interviewed me about some of my thoughts on motherhood and Evie's crazy birth story. Hop on over if you're in for a read and a little TMI from me.)

It's been so nice to get to work from home for all these years, especially while my girls were so young. But I think it's time. I think I'll always share my personal home projects with you guys here on LGN, but I also want to focus on creating more editorial content and shoot the projects and ideas in a separate space. Also I've been trying to get the ball rolling on a book for about three years now, but we just keep moving and things get pushed back. I would love to finally start (and finish) my book this year.

So I thought for about two seconds about renting a commercial office space, and then I realized the play room makes the perfect studio. It was a total 'duh' moment. Why hadn't we thought of this before? The space is removed from the rest of the house, though easily accessible, so maybe I could get the best of both worlds with privacy and convenience?
My beautiful sister, Heather, who used to live with us in Brooklyn, moved back in about a week ago so she could go back to school to get her teaching certificate (so excited for her!). She'll be living in the the guest bedroom, which is right next to the new studio space. In her off-hours, she'll be pitching in with projects and I'm so excited to have her around again. She makes even the most grueling, labor-intensive projects hilariously fun. And there will always be music and dancing.

I've also hired someone to help with coordinating and shooting mostly the book. Her name is Kate and she deserves a whole post dedicated to her awesomeness. She's really great and I'm so excited to have her around starting the beginning of March. More on the amazing Kate later!

We've been working like crazy to transform the studio since deciding to turn my old office (the space with the dry erase boards) into the playroom. The new playroom space is pretty much in full swing now and the kids and their friends use the room so much more! Success.

Pulling up the carpet in the studio was, surprisingly, the easiest part of the mini reno we're doing. I had lots of practice in the brownstone, but this carpet was a breeze compared to that nasty old stuff! You just sort of pick at a corner until the carpet pulls away from the tack strip and then just pull and roll while you go. The only tricky part is getting up the tack strips, but it's not too bad with a hammer and crow bar. We got down to subfloor in just a couple hours. (Special thanks to my sister, Ali, who is a carpet-removing machine!!)

We're almost done with the new floors and I'm so excited to share the tutorial. I just need to finish baseboards and I'll take some photos. I wanted a bright white space. Here were some of my inspiration photos.

Things ended up evolving a little though and what we ended up with is a good blend of the above photos and the two below. Cryptic, I know. These all look pretty different. :) 

Anyway, I am just SO excited about how everything is turning out. I'm not really talking about the floors even, though they are spectacular! But, I'm feeling like I have a plan and a the foundation is laid for a really great 2014. Thanks for all your continued support, friends. I have felt you cheering me on and it has meant the world to me. xoxo

(all inspiration photos via Houzz here)

DIY White Board Wall

I've always heard that it's really important to have your goals written in a place where you'll see them often. I thought it would be great to have a big wall in my office dedicated to ideas and goals and to-do's. I thought of a chalkboard wall first, but I liked the idea of a big and bright white board. White boards are a little easier to write on and clean up anyway.

You can make any flat surface (including walls) a white board, but I wanted a magnetic surface and I wanted to be able to customize the size of the board. I brought a magnet with me to the sheet metal section of my hardware store and figured out it's important to get galvanized sheet metal or zinc. Aluminum is not magnetic.

I decided on these 12x18" sheets for my project. I think they were about $5 or $6 each.

It helps the dry erase/white board paint to stick if you use a good primer on the sheet metal first. I love this spray primer from Rustoleum that's formulated especially for metal (Kilz has an all-purpose spray primer that's great for metal too, but it goes on a little thicker).

I let the spray primer dry over night and the next day I gave everything a really light sanding and a good wipe down.

The Dry Erase paint comes in a little box with two parts to mix together.

You'll want a new foam roller to apply the paint too, so everything's as smooth as possible.

I did two or maybe even three coats of the paint to make sure everything was really covered and smooth. There might be little air bubbles at first, but just leave them alone and they'll smooth out.

It takes a little work to get a nail through sheet metal, and it's much easier to do that while the sheet metal is laying flat on the ground. So after the little white boards were dry, I made holes in the corners of the sheet metal pieces using the sharpest nails I had on hand and a scrap piece of wood.

Having the holes done beforehand made all the difference and it was so easy to just hold up the sheets in the right place with one hand while tapping in my brass upholstery nails with the other. 

The boards are super smooth and are easy to write on and erase, just like any white board you'd buy at the store. I will say that colorful dry erase markers usually need a cleaning solution to completely erase, but I think that's the case with store-bought white boards too. Those markers are just a bit stubborn.

I keep all of my markers in this pretty little gilded soup tureen I got at a flea market in Brussels.

It was so worth it to go the extra mile to make my white boards magnetic. I have my Sticky Gram collection on the boards (which I think helps break up the sea of white) as well as a few other rogue magnets. The girls love to come in and hang up their latest masterpieces for me. Sweet kids.

So I think we spent about $80 for this project, between the six sheets of zinc, primer, dry erase paint, new roller and upholstery tacks. More than a typical 16x20 board from Target or whatever, but I love how much visual space the series of boards takes up in my big office. It fits the scale of the room much beeter this way. And of course functionally, I really love having a place to keep ideas that won't get buried on my computer or accidentally thrown away on a sheet of paper. Having big plans written up here helps me at least feel a lot more organized, which I'm learning is half the battle. :)

DIY Concrete-Topped Office Credenza

For months, I've been keeping an eye out for a mid-size vintage console table or credenza that wasn't too bulky and that had a functional, easily accessible storage area for a printer.

I've seen a few here and there, but nothing jumped out at me as the perfect fit. I saw this vintage credenza a week or so ago at a used furniture store for only $39 and while it didn't jump out at me at first glance, it sort of grew on me over time.

And I actually took a few quick photos and then I decided to pass on it.

But as soon as I had the idea to cover the bad formica top in concrete, I knew it could be something super-functional and beautiful, so I hustled back to the store to buy it a day or so later.
I repeated the same steps on the credenza's top that I used in our laundry room redo. The basic idea is to rough up the formica, trowel on the Feather Finish concrete in several thin coats, with drying time and sanding sessions in between.

A good sealer is a must here. Ardex makes one, but I just used a brand called Silkagard in a really thick coat. I don't know if this sealer would be heavy-duty enough for a kitchen application, but it's served me well in our laundry room and now on this credenza. (PS - in case you were curious about the laundry room counters, they're holding up really well! No regrets!)

While the two or three coats of sealer were drying, I brushed on an oil-based coat of Benjamin Moore's Galapagos Turquoise using this same approach of placing the paint, sort of in the way you paint your nails.

If you're careful to not put too thick of a coat on, you won't get any drips. But if you do, just let it dry and then sand and light touch up the mistake areas. The result should be a glossy, glass-like surface.

Isn't that side detail pretty? I love the simple line.

I'm so happy with how the matte concrete pairs with the glossy lacquered look. I left the concrete a little more raw-looking this time and I really love the contrast of pretty things with the industrial material.

Also, how great is that giant yellow lamp I picked up at Goodwill for $5?

It needed a new shade in the worst way, so I put one of my old black ones on it and the proportions are much better now.

I love seeing the gold tortoise shell pattern peeking out from under the shade while I'm working a few feet away at my desk.

Also, can I just say that a can of white paint does wonders for any room?! My office felt like a beige cave just a few days ago and now it looks bright and cheery with the new white walls and the new furniture. :)

Three cheers for progress toward a happy and functional office space!