I Love Lamp: Home Office Re-Do

After three weeks of we-just-opened madness I finally had a moment to sneak back into my home office and assess the damage I had inflicted during the chaos of launching. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't pretty:

I mean yeah-- that's a rusty pipe sitting on my desk. Shit had gotten a little CRAZY.

On a certain level I think I was letting the room go to hell because I knew it needed a big reorganizing anyway. And in an effort live a somewhat balanced life, I was also doing my damndest to not let the business physically spill over everywhere in the house. So anything hotel-related that wound up in say, the living room, I started chucking into my office. Like literally throwing then shutting the door.

When we moved in, my home office was the first room I painted. It used to be a dark green which emphasized the low ceiling and made me feel claustrophobic.

When I was done it felt brighter and like it belonged to me so even though it was a bit sparse, I was mostly pleased.

Then I got jealous of the hotel rooms.

And by that I mean, I really wanted one of the beautiful cedar tables that Steven made for our Deluxe Kitchenette rooms for myself.

So he made me one! Which I then carelessly covered in crap as mentioned before. Shame on me.

Til this week that is, when on my very first official day off (hooray for hiring an Assistant Inn Keeper!) I did one of my favorite frivolous things in the world: organized stuff and rearranged furniture. Or as Steven calls it: playing dollhouse with the real house. Ta dah!

I'm in love! I finally like my home office as much as I like the hotel rooms and bar. And I think it was designing those other spaces that helped me solidify what I wanted out of this space: clean lines, good functionality, wild flowers on wild flowers, light.

I hung the NY Times article that Spruceton Inn was featured in behind me. (My parents had it framed and sent to me, how sweet is that??) It serves as a reminder that this whole thing went from being some hairbrained idea of mine to a reality that was covered in the likes of my favorite newspaper before we even opened. It makes me want to keep aiming higher!

I've also got my some of favorite books near at hand--

And an array of useless and useful things that crack me up like a toast rack full of stamps, a swan full of duplicate hotel keys, and a jar full of sentimental objects like my Moroccan host mom's couscous recipe and part of the cork from champagne we popped on opening day.

I'm so pleased, it makes me want to rearrange the rest of the house! Maybe on my next day off...

(What is I Love Lamp? This is I Love Lamp.)