Blog

I had a blog back in 2010 which I worked on until 2013.  Unfortunately, it was hosted by blogspot and I guess Picasa got absorbed by Google, and I lost all of my associated photos.  That was really disheartening, so I just never restarted it.  Fast forward 5 years.  I posted pics of my house a closed FB site for Physician Moms.  Within a few hours, I had received hundreds of comments and appeals for help with organization and styling.  Of course, I’m not giving up my day job as a surgeon, but I figured I might just restart my blog.  I love mixing high-low, in both my fashion and my home.  I think that’s what resonated with so many people.  When is it worth it to spend money and when can you get away with something from Ross?  And, beyond just making something look pretty, I need it to function too.  So, I’m actually going to open up my cabinets and show you how I organize it all.

So, I thought I’d start with my home office.  Yes, this is MY home office.  All mine.  No sharing with my husband.  Just for me.  My husband and I share an office at work too and I really wanted a space that was my own.  Originally, the intention was to share, but I like to keep things really neat and since this room is open to the rest of the house, I knew that might become a battle for my hubby.  So, I graciously offered to decrease my closet space to carve out an office for him upstairs which he can keep as messy as he wants. Win, win.

PC: Olivier Koenig (just this first beautiful shot), though I’d love to have him photograph my whole house!

This is my dream office.  This used to be our nursery and the room actually used to end right where the bookshelves end.  We pumped the house out about 5 feet and wow, what a difference.  I do a lot of administrative work for our practice from home, so I needed a “work” side to the office. And, I do a lot of crafty things, like sewing and jewelry making, so I needed a “fun” side.  It’s good to keep it all separate.

I saw these planters on the Domino website and just had to have them.  They are from a cute little store called Light and Ladder and I think they make this space.

And, then on to the shelves.  I may, perhaps, have a shelfie problem.  Organizing my bookshelves just makes me so happy and settled and is the first thing I do when I move into a new place.

I worked with the fantastic Brent Potter of Inspired Closets Hawaii to design the desk and shelves.  I painted the wall behind them BM Tranquil Sea (my husband thought was going to look bad) and I’m thrilled with the way it turned out.  It plays off well with the painting and the color palette of the rest of the house.

And, then, yes, my inner crazy took over and I color coded my books.  First of all, I love those beautiful, styled, bare shelves with like 2 books turned the wrong way so you don’t see the spines and like one vase and an object d’art.

However, I LOVE books.  And, I love seeing my books and reaching for my books and turning them around like the pic above would drive me nuts.  Come on, people, do you actually use your bookshelves when they look like that?  And, this is also my office, so it’s supposed to have books.  My living room bookshelves are much more edited.

But, I still wanted it look pretty, so I unpacked all my books onto the floor of my office and stayed up way too late, color coding.  Once again, my husband thought I was cuckoo bananas, but he kind of always thinks that when I’m on a creative roll.  Then, I just mixed in tons of stuff I had scattered all around the house that I never used.  A planter, my kids ceramic boat, an elephant bookend from Home Goods.  I did try to vary the heights and make sure to create some negative space for the eye to rest.

I also had to work really hard to not arrange the books with respect to size.  I always go from biggest to smallest, but I really like the slightly haphazard way the books look.  OK, it’s not haphazard, I know.  But, it’s about as haphazard as I can get.

These plants must be rotated often, since I kill everything.

But, my favorite part of my office is the hanging chair from Serena & Lily.  I have always wanted a hanging chair and I love this thing so much now that I have it.  It’s hard to find stuff that ships to Hawaii, but this actually did.  It’s not cheap, but I think the quality is excellent and I chose to splurge on it and the accompanying pillow from SoMace Design.  The kids love to sit here while I’m working and it makes my office a space which includes my kiddos which was super important to me.

My other favorite part of my office?  The doors.  Again, another splurge.  Certainly would have been cheaper to have a regular sliding door, but the office can be seen from the living/dining/kitchen, so I thought it was important for it to flow with the rest of the house.  And, of course, when I need privacy to talk to a patient or the accountant I can simply shut out the noise of 3 kids under the age of 8.  Yeah, right.

 

Thanks for joining me!