Room for Improvement
A no-cost/low-cost office makeover. (Plus, a list of all the things I saw, wanted, and then told myself I didn’t need in the past week.)
I’m supposed to be starting a small home improvement project this morning, but Amazon has decided to thwart my plans. The items I ordered specifically to arrive in time for today’s project… haven’t. Argh.
The short of it is, I’m converting a closet into an office nook. While my rental has plenty of bedrooms, they are too small to contain both a king/queen bed and a workspace. I had the choice of making myself a proper office and storing my nice mattresses for the duration, or forgoing an office so A) I have space for guests, and B) said nice mattresses don’t get infested with whatever flora/fauna may dwell long-term in a storage unit. I chose the option without parasitic life forms. (Full disclosure, I do have my old desk set up in the basement, but it’s perpetually 58 degrees down there and there’s no bathroom. Not ideal.)
Anyway, I recently saw a design video where the host mentioned doing a home makeover without spending any money. One of her suggestions was to take off the closet doors and make an office nook.
Wait, what??
Honest to God, I felt like I was watching the end of The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable. The solution for a home office was there in front of me the whole time, and I was too blind to see it.
The idea of a low/no-cost improvement project very much appeals, as nothing gets the endorphins pumping more than swapping it all up. (I am having such fun watching Karyn remake her place in her own taste.)
Remember the charge you’d feel as a kid when you rearranged your room and then did the big reveal for family and friends? I’ve never lost that thrill. The “virtually no money” is the best part, as I finally realized that every time I purchase something cute for the rental house, that cash comes directly out of the downpayment fund for the new house. I have made quality-of-life upgrades to toilets/fixtures/appliances, all of which will also make life better for the next resident, and none of which gets me into a new mortgage sooner. I’ve since stopped myself from hiring an electrician to hang all the terrible chandeliers I decided to replace. (They are now boxed and in storage, waiting for our next place.)
To reach my goals, I’ve started to actively tell myself, “You don’t need it,” and I can’t believe how effective it is. It’s like having “some self-discipline” is better than having “fuck-all self-discipline.”
I actually made a list of all the things I saw, wanted, and then told myself I didn’t need in the past week:
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