I hope your week is off to a great start! Today I want to share some pictures from my small, work from home, improvement project. There is still a lot to do in terms of organization and decoration, I’m excited to show you the progress so far!

Even before COVID-19, I never really imagined myself working from home. My mom and dad both had to commute to their jobs, and I grew up glamorizing the idea of “going into the office.” I thought it seemed so cool and grown up.

While that fantasy has since been debunked, I still really enjoyed having the physical separation of my work life and my home life. My morning routine helped provide schedule and structure, and my commute both to and from school also allowed me to mentally shift into and out of word mode.

Enter COVID-19. It was my first time working from home and I found myself rather unprepared to make that transition for a variety of reasons. One of them being that I did not really have a desk. For the first few weeks, I would alternate between the kitchen table, a chair in the living room, and sitting on the floor, trying to figure out what worked best for me.

When schools officially closed for the rest of the year, I begrudgingly accepted that COVID-19 was here to stay. I realized that I needed to seriously rethink my work from home area. I ended up rearranging my room so that my small desk/vanity was closer to the door and more out in the open, instead of tucked away in a far corner.

This kept me happy for a little while, but it became clear that the other small furniture in my room (I had a round table and a small bedside table) did not really make sense with the new room configuration. Furthermore, I found the lack of proper desk space annoying. After one early morning meeting where my coffee almost spilled all over my keyboard, I knew it was time to buy a new desk.

I spent hours looking at Pinterest trying to find one that was functional, stylish, and most importantly, fit the dimensions of my room. After my initial search yielded little results, I remembered that my roommate had a really cool corner desk from IKEA. She graciously let me take some measurements, and I was excited to discover that it would fit in my room too!

Delivery was a little bit delayed due to COVID-19, but the timing ended up being kind of serendipitous as it arrived only a few days after I found out that my Fall semester classes had officially moved online.

Three hours and only a few mistakes later, my new desk was built (fun fact: I actually really enjoy building furniture). I love the way it fits in this corner, and I am glad to finally have a more official work space.

While there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of decorating and organizing (especially underneath the desk), I have already been enjoying the new space so much more.

I have been wanting to add some more art by BIPOC artists, so let me know if you have any recommendations. I have a few examples of pieces I’ve come across that I really enjoy, and will likely try and purchase here, but I am always seeking to expand my search.

That’s all for now! Do you like working from home? How do you have your work from home space set up?

*In case you were wondering (probably not), I have a new chair arriving late July.

If you have feedback on anything I said, or the way I said it, please let me know. I am still learning and growing and know that even if I had no intention of being hurtful or harmful in my writing, the impact might be different.