Ten years – My Office then, now and what the future may hold

Of all the “rooms” in this house my office has definitely done the most traveling. Or, I should just say, my computer has landed just about everywhere on the main floor and I’ve managed to make it work over the years. When I first renovated this house I pegged the “new” room I made by enclosing the screened in porch as my future office. Guess what? That’s not my office and will probably never be my office lol. However, the extra (counter top height) outlets I put in the closet have worked out awesome for what is now actually Lodi’s gaming setup complete with a PS4 and TV.

But let’s rewind ten years. That space worked perfectly, just as I designed it, as my office for a few months before my life went for a loop. (Or, I should say: I threw my ex husband out.)

I was then single and broke lol. So, alone living here I simply abandoned that section of the home that was two bedrooms, a hall, back door and a bathroom because I had no reason to heat it and I really needed to get frugal!

So then my office moved into the living room for awhile.

I don’t have any pictures of me, my couch, desk, computer, all crammed into the living room that first winter I was here alone. It was kind of miserable… but it was also completely awesome because I had been with the type of human who would never have “allowed” it before.

So, as you might imagine, I loved that winter.

I spent more time on my computer that winter than I had in many many years lol. I tried every brand of frozen pizza I could find in town. I installed all the old PC games from when I was a kid and fulfilled all of my fourteen year old dreams!

Those few months I healed – I got to just be me.

It was my springboard for so much I was so excited to do for this home!

I started work on the house in earnest that spring. I got rid of the wood stove that had been the star of my misery that winter (hauling wood endlessly.) It had also covered every inch of this place in soot being improperly installed and was becoming VERY dangerous.

So began my repainting, rethinking, redesigning of every room in this house, no compromises and no dictator to stop me.

The wood stove was first, so I tackled the heart of the home along with it. I completed my kitchen and moved on to my entryway and laundry room. All the while my “office” had still been hanging out in my living room when I saw a lovely little opportunity for it to land in the entryway.

I will NEVER go back but I will always love that cute little space I made for my office… Even though the might-as-well-have-been-made-of-concrete antique bankers chair was literally killing me. (I, of course, still adore that chair too… just not for long term sitting.) And the kitchen table I was using as a desk will always have a place in my heart… just never again as my desk!

A lot happened here before my office moved again.

I needed a real workshop upstairs and out of the basement.

So, my extra bedroom became my workshop, my actual office desks went in there as workshop tables and what had been my office became my guest bedroom. Keep fast forwarding through the years (lol) and, eventually, even with all of my stubbornness and with all my love for that kitchen table, bankers chair and adorable little office space I made in the entryway…

I couldn’t handle it anymore.

The writing was on the wall for MONTHS.

I needed a real office space.

There was a reason why I literally designed a room during the renovation for a dedicated office! Half my income comes from this blog, the other half comes from my day job where I am literally an IT tech.

Me and computers have been like peas and carrots since we got our first one when I was ten years old. I held my first Nintendo controller probably before I could walk.

Gadgets, tech, my family was always at the fore front.

A new console came out? We got it and we all played!

It will never be forgotten the legend of my Mom figuring out the puzzle that stumped everyone for days in the very first Zelda on the very first Nintendo. (Pretty sure I was still in diapers when that happened.)

Some of my best memories growing up were my mom, dad, brother and me playing Mario cart and Mario tennis for hours.

I had managed to get away with my miserably uncomfortable office space only because all I was doing there was blog work. I wasn’t gaming on my PC as much anymore because Lodi had wonderfully come into my life so we played together on consoles.

Then the winds changed.

It got to be a constant mantra between my dad, my brother, and my nephews.

I NEEDED TO PLAY WITH THEM ON FORNITE!

I was NEVER an online gamer and never a first (or third) person shooter. My PC gaming had been almost exclusively city building and RPGs (think Zoo Tycoon, Age of Mythology, Pharaoh, Final Fantasy, Arcanum etc.) so I wasn’t exactly keen but I certainly couldn’t say no…

Unfortunately my PC didn’t have the video card to run it but that didn’t stop my family. One day my dad just showed up with a gaming laptop and a headset.

I had no more excuses lol.

With basically no room I had to put the laptop under my monitor in my “office” in the entryway. So, every time I wanted to use it, I had to move the monitor, open and start the laptop, shut the laptop, put the monitor back on it and try to game with just enough room for a keyboard and mouse.

I probably could have managed the tight space but I was just so uncomfortable.

The kitchen table was the wrong height of course and I could have replaced the banker’s chair but in the back of my head I knew I had to go nuclear with the whole situation.

So, while I planned a solution, I just lived with it.

Meanwhile we picked up a PS4 for Lodi so what had first been my office (converted to a guest bedroom) now become his gaming spot. (Future plans include us just ditching the guest room idea and making it his gaming den and putting a bed in the basement for guests.)

So Lodi was all comfy while I was being slowly killed by an antique banker’s chair!

So, I did a down and dirty “renovation” of my workshop (TWICE actually) claiming back my actual desks and squeezing an office in there.

It wasn’t great.

It was a hell of a lot more comfortable though!

But it still drove me crazy because the space needed to be entirely rethought, remade, renovated, remodeled and redesigned for its new purpose.

You guys must have got so sick of me talking about that poor room on the blog. I don’t doubt some of you were like, “You’re working on it again!? What’s wrong with it this time!?”

I needed to start from scratch.

I finally got the time to do it right and now I finally have a real office that I love!

Oh, and a brand new chair that Lodi bought me for Xmas! I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve sat in that banker’s chair since… and may never again.

These ten years posts have been really geared about my also talking about the future but I think this is going to be the one and only space where I say I have absolutely NO future plans.

I worked on this poor room so many times and so hard and just finally finished after years of messing with it.

I can’t imagine ever working on this room again lol.

Meanwhile… wasn’t my first office space just sweet as can be? It is amazing how much we change over the years, it no longer worked for my life but that doesn’t mean I didn’t really love it. I even had my saddle on display with all my books as a little library!

I guess that’s the theme of this post. I loved it – it didn’t work – I’m so glad for what I have now… Even if it took ten years to get here.