Good morning and Happy Monday!! I am really excited to be able to start sharing glimpses into our house. It’s a long time in the making as I’ve been wanting to make sure things are just perfect before I share them. Obviously things will come and go to an extent, but when I share these rooms with you they are pretty much settled and no further big changes will be happening to them. I’m not going to be sharing every room as some I would just like to keep private, but I am looking forward to sharing the more open spots in our home. For me, I want our home to warm, cozy, and inviting, without feeling cluttered I try to be very conscious of how a space comes together and how different items can compliment (or contrast) each other.
The first space I am going to share with you is our Home Office and Library. I am going to be a bit of a disappointment and only share part of the room as I’ll be keeping my husbands portion of the room private. Rest assured, all your missing is one desk with his computer and such on it. When I think about what I wanted for my home office, natural light was an absolute must for me and I wanted to have minimal things on my actual desk. A couple bits here and there, but for the most part clear for me to clutter up while working.
I used to have a much much larger desk that would get cluttered up throughout the weeks getting cleared out only once in a while when it became unbearable (about once a month). My previous office was in the basement, wasn’t a spot that I really wanted it, and wasn’t set up the way I really wanted either. The piles made sense to me and I could easily access what I needed at any given time, but it quickly became kind of a source of frustration and it look horrible.
I knew that I wanted something a little bit different here, so when we moved, we split my big desk into two smaller desks and I chose to take the smaller of those two. This forces me to actively clear things away and sort what I have going on on a daily basis, rather than monthly.
Now, I tend to pile books, paperwork, my planner, mugs of tea, and snacks all over my desk while I am actively working, BUT they are cleared out at the end of everyday and the entire look is much more simplistic (which I really love).
On my desk I’ve got my computer, a couple of pictures, a figurine, tea caddy, candle, display mug, and my planner (not pictured). My planner moves around with me throughout the day, but ultimately it makes it’s way back up here.
I do have some low shelves next to my desk to just give a little extra space when I need it, and then I have an overflow tea shelving unit. I also have my memory boxes which contain all of our photos, photo albums, and other memory items. These are the only boxes left in my house and I do plan on finding a different, better way to store all of these items. It’s on my never ending list haha.
The desk is from IKEA, the planner notebook cover is from Chic Sparrow, the figurine is Willow Tree People, Display Mug is Churchill War Rooms, and the rest is various ETSY shops, Amazon or hand me downs. The pictures on my wall are my own photography from our travels.
So, swinging around, you have my little reading nook. This is the comfiest chair of them all and I like to come up here early in the morning, if I have time, or during naptime during Autumn/Winter and reading here. I use the little plushy almost like a pillow and the blanket is so warm and cozy. Colton will come up and read his books as well. I’ve got a little shelving table for the book that I am reading, a couple little books that are mostly for decoration (but I do read them), and my tea.
The chair is a baby glider from Baby’s R Us, the blanket is from Walmart many years ago, Plushy from Amazon, Books on the table from an Antique Store.
Finally, swing around again and you see what I like to call my piece de resistance, my pride, my joy, my wall of books. Haha…but no really, I am obsessed with this.
I’ve always had a lot of books, I’m a big reader and it’s to be expected. I’ve also always wanted a home library. I grew up with one and it’s just something that I believe is a necessity in my own home. In our previous home all of my shelves and books ended up in our basement (which had it’s own wall of books, but no real natural light and no good reading set up) and I was so excited that I didn’t have to do that this time.
I’ve got quite the collection filling 4 bookcases full of books. I’ve got 3 bookcases of books that I’ve read or should be grouped together (such as classics) and one of books that I own and haven’t read. They are semi organized by bookcase and I could probably tell you the exact spot of any book in my collection in a second or two.
On top of the bookshelves I have a couple of décor items, and my Harry Potter collectibles. I decided this time around that I would continue with the “minimalist” look that I did on my desk and I am super pleased about it. I’ve found over the past couple of years that unnecessary clutter really stresses me out (any clutter really stresses me out), so to not have a lot of décor, and just letting the books speak for themselves really looks nice.
I do have a smaller little unit towards the end that has décor, a couple of toys for the kids, and a couple of overflow books (I have a problem) and then next to that is my box of notebooks (another problem I have). I’m hopeful to eliminate the overflow books by the end of this year, although I am probably going to need another bookcase in the very near future (husband is not too pleased about that…).
The bookshelves are from Target from a few years back, little shelving unit is from Amazon, décor is from various spots.
And that’s it for this first room in our home! I hope that you enjoyed this little peak and I look forward to sharing a couple other spots with you soon!
A Cuppa Cosy 