Home Office Design, and Why it Just Doesn't Matter Right Now

I started writing a blog post about creating the perfect home office, about being more efficient with daylight. It was all true. It was thoughtful.

The intent was not to get people to hire me based on my spectacular blog (it never is). Instead, I wanted to share my experience, research, and expertise to help people feel comfortable in a world that is very uncomfortable right now.

But every word I wrote felt wrong.

It felt wrong after spending a wonderful afternoon with my best friend- walking down the beach, six feet away from him and with no gift to show him how much I love him. No hugs with a little extra special squeeze to lift his spirits on a day that should be all about him and not about a disease or adapting.

It felt wrong after hearing that my cousin brought her toddler to visit my 91-year-old grandmother with leukemia, then the toddler developed a fever the next day.

Sometimes I look around me at the house I am in now, with the beautiful board and batten paneled ceilings, the views of the ocean, and the beautiful glass doorknobs original from 1913 original construction. I love everything about these details and I remind myself that I did not choose this career to cater only to the wealthy.

I did not choose to be a “snob” in what I do. I never look down my nose at another person’s home.

I chose what I do because I want people to look at those details and feel the joy that I feel when I see them.

every time the sun makes patterns on the wall in my home, I take a picture of it, because I want to hold onto it forever. I design for these little moments of joy in a space.

I want people to wake in the morning and see the lovely color we chose for the walls and be filled with a peaceful happiness.

So let me tell you right now- it doesn’t matter what your home office looks like. Mine is a leather hand-me-down chair in an otherwise empty room with a side table and a blanket. The chair looks out over the water and it makes me happy to curl up there and type or draw.

As I write this, my home office is between two little warm bodies, snuggled up against me because they sleep best when feeling the safety of their mother’s presence, even if they may be “too old” to fall asleep with mommy.

Maybe I will get to that home office post. But for now, enjoy that chair scooted up to a window where you can curl up and write. Don’t worry about the balance of the art across from you or the colors on your walls. If they make you happy, they are exactly right.

While we are in this isolation, do what you can to revel in the little things and if you need a designer whose passion is creating safe, happy, sustainable spaces… well if it makes you happy, I’m here.