When I moved to the city, I expected I would be spending the next few years of my life as a minimalist. In fact, I expected to find myself confined to a capsule wardrobe, collapsible kitchen table, and multi-purpose kitchen/bed/living/dining room all contained in an apartment roughly the size of my childhood bedroom.

 

Every morning I work on my various photography projects with a glass of Teapigs Licorice & Peppermint Tea. The tea in this shot is real… the amount of organization… not so much.

 

So when a kindly realtor took me to the sixth and final apartment on my pre-move house hunting trip, leading me up the stairs into a spacious, brightly lit, two-story apartment, I knew I had to live there. Not only could I sleep and eat in two different rooms (and keep all of my shoes), I also had a space where I could place all my sewing projects, photography ideas, and various crafting adventures, containing it all in one single room: the office.

 

The dress on the mannequin is a work in progress for my new series Passages. I’ve been working on drafting a pattern for what WILL be a pale green gown, using old shifts purchased from the thrift store (no guilt in cutting $7 sheets up!).

 

(I’m sure my roommates are grateful every day that they can now enjoy Netflix binges without my creations taking up every surface of the TV room…)

(… at least on most days… sometimes the explosion into overflow spaces just can’t be helped.)

 

Normally, I share the products of my time spent in this room, but today I wanted to flip the lens around and show you the sunny world where my imagination is allowed to run wild.

 

 

This room (and indeed, the rest of the house) has come a long way since I first moved in almost two years ago. Apart from a pile of stuff to take to the thrift store and some still-unpacked boxes, my computer desk was the only thing in the room for those first few months.

The first thing to arrive in the room, the desk is my favorite piece in the office (and maybe in the entire house). While still in Arkansas, I spent the last weeks leading up to my move to Boston creating this desk with my grandpa. After drafting our plans, we spent our last few weeks together in his shop as he taught me how to use his vintage tools (seriously, I think they’re from the 30s… or 40s….). In the end, despite the hours we put into it, we cut the deadline a little bit too close and didn’t get a chance to stain and varnish the desk before it was time for me to load everything into my rented U-haul. I ended up varnishing the desk in this room a few days after my move. Sadly, my grandpa has still never seen just how beautiful it turned out. Every time I sit down at my desk, though, I think of my grandpa, and that has brought such a happy spirit to the room.

 

 

The gallery wall is a collection of items I’ve found at thrift stores in all the various places I’ve lived: hats from England, picture frames from Boston, and plaques from coworkers back in my Walmart Home Office days. I also have a few of my own images hung there….

… although I’m thinking it’s about time to put some updated work in their place. Gratefully, a lot has changed in the past two years. Any thoughts on which pieces I should hang? Pretty please leave your thoughts in the comments below! I’d love to know which pieces are your favorite!

 

This chair used to be a heinous orange velvet that maybe had seen better days, but I’m not so sure. With a color that hideous, one can only guess. I’m pretty happy with the beautification using an absolutely lovely royal blue velvet.

 

Something else I love about this space (and the rest of my apartment) is that almost everything is second hand or thrifted in some way. In fact, my desk, photography equipment, and the mannequin in the corner are the only things that are new. Despite their thrifted origins, every piece in this room, from my sewing machine to my velvet tufted chair, create such a wonderful sense of peace and happiness for me… perhaps because most of it IS thrifted. My friends often joke with me that I can’t help but make everything around me beautiful, but I think it’s true. I love transforming and restoring things to their deserved beauty, and I think this room is evidence of that.

 

That frame? Totally found it in the neighbors trash.

 

In an ideal world, I would spend my days alternating between developing new stories at my sewing table and bringing them to life at my computer desk: creating whatever my heart imagined, and enjoying the sun filtering in through the four big windows in the room. With all the love put into this room, it truly has become a magical place for me. A place where I can find joy and allow my imagination to amble aimlessly for hours on end.

 

The baby scale was one of my first thrift store finds here in Boston! It also holds the only three plants I’ve been able to both keep alive and maintain all of their original leaves. Plant lady status is a work in progress.

 

How grateful I am for the simple pleasure of being able to dream in such a bright, sunny place.

 

Now I’m curious, what is your favorite space in your house?