The office that wasn't, really

A couple of weeks ago, right after the kids' school said it would be virtual for at least the first quarter of the school year, Ben and I decided we needed a dedicated office space.

Most of our basement is finished, but we have a large storage room that was filled to the brim with bullshit. And also a fridge, a printer, kitchen appliances too big for upstairs, and my beloved elliptical machine which I have used almost every day of Cooper's entire life.

We decided to make an office in there-- like a real one with drywall and lights and maybe even a cozy little place to watch TV. (Because we only have 4 TVs in the basement; clearly we could use another).

Step 1 was the great garbage clean out. Ben set himself a goal of TODAY to have the space taped off and cleared out because today is large-item trash pick up. Between then and TODAY, we donated SO MANY van loads of stuff to our local St. Vincent DePaul thrift store. SO MANY, you guys. We also put a lot of miscellany on the curb on Monday, and most of it has been salvaged, which is awesome. The true recyclables and trash go out today, and we are down to JUST storing the things we use like fancy dishes and luggage and Christmas decorations, a blow up movie screen and a bounce house LOLOLOL. (But seriously). We maybe could have used a dumpster, but I guess that will be a special treat for SOMEDAY.

But!! Even though we taped off storage and also an 11X12 room and places we wanted outlets and light fixtures, we could not give the go-ahead on the reno project. It was when there were actual OTHER PEOPLE in our house that we started to get cold feet and when it came time to schedule the work that we chickened out.

We do not go inside stores.

We are all sporting home haircuts. (Except me: Duggar hair all the way).

A baby is coming ANY DAY.

So then we thought about what we need from another work space.

1. Lots of light because this part of the basement has no windows.

2. Room for my elliptical machine.

3. A place to set up the printer and scanner (WE ALSO HAVE A FAX, so don't worry we are still cutting edge).

4. Room for a comfy desk chair because the thought of months and months in a kitchen chair is silly especially when we have SPENT months and months on kitchen chairs.

5. A place to shut the damn door and take a Zoom call without BEDROOM FREAKING FURNITURE in the the frame. (Seriously, you guys. pen floor plans were not meant for the pandemic. It is SO HARD to take a call anywhere in this house because both floors are COMPLETELY OPEN CONCEPT. I predict a new architectural trend: lots of small rooms with DOORS).

6. Seating for a worker and maybe a kid or two of they also want to work somewhere quiet that's not their bedroom, the kitchen table, the kitchen counter, or the games table.

Reader, we could make that happen in a matter of HOURS. Seriously, since the clean out was done, the thing that took the longest was waiting for our Target curbside order of power strips, lamps, and a chair.

Ben used that time to also paint a wall for Zooms.

Bam! The fauxffice:

(I WANT to say that my favorite thing is the drop light, but it's hard to pick just one.)

My real favorite thing: the view from the desk. DREAMY.