words today: 567
words total: 14,804

I have my own office!

Some of you have heard the ongoing saga. I decided to make my office downstairs in what will also be the library. There’s a built-in secretary desk, and since Afalwen is a sleek little laptop, it fits perfectly. There are built-in bookshelves on either side (the original doors are missing, alas, but we’ll either track some down in antique hardware salvage yards or build new ones), and two drawers, and it’s perfect.

The first problem was that the part that flips down to open the desk needed new hinges and some strengthening. It could have been an easy fix, but instead, it turned out that the wood had cracked beyond repair. Ken has already bought new wood to re-create it.

Now, if he’d managed to fix it, then we were just going to attach it and I was going to move in. We’d worry about stripping the built-in secretary and the picture rail, and painting the room, later. But if he’s making a new desk part, then it will be natural wood, not painted. It will look silly against the painted part, but it would be even sillier to paint it, only to strip it later.

So, I decided that it wasn’t a lot of wood to strip, and we should go ahead and do that, and paint the room (Codman Claret, a period shade of red that will hopefully give the feel of a Victorian study). The bookcases are still on order, so now really is the perfect time.

Except Ken’s still researching the best paint strippers…and it was really starting to feel like it was taking too long. In the meantime, I’ve been working in the living room on the sofa or loveseat, and it really hasn’t been ideal. I toyed with the idea of an antique easy chair and footstool (which could either then go in the living room or maybe stay in the library), but that would take time as well. It would be stupid to buy a temporary desk…

This morning, Ken remembered that, duh, we have two sewing tables/desks in the sewing room (which isn’t yet set up—it’s a Box Collection Facility until the attic is done).

So now I can work in my own office! I trotted up and down stairs today bringing things in, and spent some time organizing, including unearthing some rejection letters and getting the database updated, and updating the (somewhat extensive) list of anthology deadlines.

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Hrmph. I was writing away, but had to break to make dinner and go to Lick-n-Stick and healing circle. We had extra people at circle, so it took longer than expected, and I didn’t get home until 10:30 p.m. Whereupon all I had brain left for was cuddling and TV-watching. So, pah. Not nearly the productivity I expected today. Then again, it was a scene I hadn’t planned, so at least my subconscious is chugging merrily away, doing its job.