office

For those of us who work full time outside the home, we spend more waking hours there than in the homes we love with the family we love.

OK, now that I’ve depressed you, let me at least encourage you to do something to spruce up your cubicle space.

Nothing as extravagant as you’ll find here…

Maybe something a little more subtle…

One of the ways to soften the harsh edges of a cubicle and give your workspace some life is with a plant. Here’s a plant that I’ve had at my desk…

Just your basic succulent. (I can’t handle plants that need any more care than very infrequent watering, hence the succulent.)

Then one day we were cleaning out our supply of old versions of dictionaries and style manuals. I work as an editor, so we need to work with the most up-to-date versions. The books were going to be tossed in the recycle bin, so I decided to give them new life and add some height to my plant…

Use what you have decorating at its finest! Now it’s just a little thing, but it’s really spruced up my plant and my desk! You can add a little design just about anywhere with a stack of books. And no need to pay lots of cash for this one…check out the dumpster, the recycle bin, your bookshelf, or the library book sale.

Here are a couple of other tchotchkes that I use to personalize my cubicle space…

Because I love me some letters and numbers, I *had* to own this lamp when I saw it on clearance at Kohl’s a couple years back.

And this sweet thing from my monkey collection…

Just a couple of things to make my cubicle to seem less sterile and more fun!

Have you done anything fun to brighten up your workplace? Share your pics on the Homage Style Facebook page.

And don’t forget to enter the Spring Cleaning Giveaway for a chance to win this adorable sterling silver charm bracelet!

Click here for contest entry details.

Showing off at…

One of my house goals is to clean up my office. While I haven’t quite finished that project yet, I can show you some of that room, which is upstairs in a loft that overlooks our family room. I call it the eagle’s nest, because I can sit up there and hear just about everything that’s going on in the house. Perfect for spying on the kids.

Here’s a sneak peek of the cleaner parts of my office/art studio space.

My desk and the shelves above it…

Let’s start at the top…the top shelf, that is.

The middle shelf…

And the bottom shelf…

Globes and one of my favorite lamps on the desk.

Here’s a close up of the piece of wood…it’s a piece of wood that my son broke in tae kwon do. I wrote some of the things that are important to me on it, and it sits on my desk as a daily reminder to keep it real in my life.

Moving on in the room…my pink piano. Oh yes I do have a pink kiddie piano!

A gorgeous black velvet covered chair where my American Girl Bitty Baby doll sits. My cat sits there a lot too. Had to do a lot of lint rollering before this pic.

Some day I hope to have a dining room full of these fabulous chairs.

There is a couch that is not pictured here due to the aforementioned mess problem. I use this trunk as a coffee table for the trunk and for extra storage.

And because it would be quickly lost if I didn’t, I keep the key to the trunk on a hot pink velvet ribbon. Functional, plus it adds a great pop of color.

And let’s not forget my pink table.

This table, which we got from Ikea a million years ago, used to be ugly mustard yellow. And it lived that way until finally I spray painted it pink. Quite the improvement.

At the edge of the room is the pink phone and the writing on the wall…

That’s all for now. Still missing from the pics are the couch, front desk (the one shown is the back desk, sort of like a credenza), and the art table. Maybe I’ll clean up and add those pics. Or who knows, I could let it cure for another couple of months or years, like I do with many of my projects!

Showing off my office/art studio at Whisperwood Cottage…

little things :: work cubicle edition

my office studio space