Thursday, October 18, 2012

Home Organization Week Four: The Office (Several Weeks Late!)

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office: n :  place where business is transacted.

And, believe me, there is an awful lot of business transacted in this office!  Some fun, some not so much.

We live in a double-wide mobile home in a mobile home park owned by my dear father-in-law.  Since he lives miles and miles away, our family's lot in life is to keep the place running.  And the office/book work is my part to play.

When we moved in this home five years ago, my office was in the room that is now my walk-in pantry, just off the kitchen.

When my youngest son married in 2009, I took over his bedroom as my office.  It was so good to spread out a bit. The room had red walls, and a light cream carpet.  It was down the hall, so it wasn't a great location for the first of the month rent collection.

But I repainted the walls and set up shop anyway.

The idea of adding an exterior door to the room began forming in my head last winter.  It would be sooo convenient if tenants could come into an office to pay rent instead of having to be in my home.  I drew it all out on my trusty plan drawing program and presented it to my dear hubby.  And he made it happen!!

In the following pictures, we had already begun the work.  I'm terrible about taking before pictures.  Bookshelves are emptied, and a metal cabinet is moved out of it's spot where the new door is going.
Note the cream carpet. Not a good color for a high traffic area!







Bookshelves gone and a window and door cut in.




My oldest son, hard at work!




My hubby hard at work!



My youngest son, trying to get the place secure for the night.




This is what my office looked like when I walked in this past Monday morning.  A great space, but look at that desk!  I am terrible about putting off filing.  Why is that so hard??????








I have THREE computers. The one I work with now, replaced an older one which was about to crash, which replaced an older one which was about to crash!!  Neither of which have actually crashed . . .  All the important book work has already been backed up on the old computers, and all that is left are thousands of pictures!  Procrastination again!!

My plan is to have the newest older computer cleaned off and set up for my gran kids to play educational games on.  Another project.

This door was painted white. But, as in most mobile homes, most everything is built cheap.  These doors were a wood look, which means the wood grain was actually just paper glued to the door. After I painted, it started peeling off.  So I finished the peeling and, as you see in this picture, I need to paint the door again.  But if I waited until I had time to do that, this post would be months instead of weeks late!




And note the HUGE computer monitor!  Don't you just love the flat screens we have now?

So, here's my office cleaned up.  Desk cleared, junk put away, etc.  Still lots to do, but that'll have to do for now!!






My hubby got fancy on me and put these on the trim above the doors.



We used the "lick & stick" vinyl tile for the floor since it is such a high traffic area.  It's holding up great so far.



And here's a picture of  the "kitty" as two of my youngest grand daughters call it!  My mother-in-law painted all three of the paintings I have hanging in here.



So, as you can see, we've done a lot of work on the office, but there's still a lot to do.  Hopefully, life will slow down a bit after the beginning of the year and I'll get all my projects finished!

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