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Ahh the Desk!

This is definitely my favorite part of the office, it’s also where I spend most of my time, so it ought to be my favorite!

I feel like this little corner is the perfect reflection of who I am – a lover of simple, clean design, with a splash of pretty and feminine, and a gentle nod to the past and my heritage.  Although not Indian per-say, I absolutely LOVE the hanging lanterns, they’re totally unexpected, whimsical and remind me of the far east.

As with most of my designs, they were simple to do, just required thinking outside the box a little 😉

According to Feng Shui, a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (qi or chi), we should never have our backs to the door of a room as it blocks the flow of energy, this being the office, you could extrapolate the flow of energy to be represented as business and prosperity.  I tried with the desk in the middle of the room so I could clearly see out the door.  But with the window behind me, the glare on my computer screen was incredibly frustrating!  Even more upsetting was that sitting with my back to the window negated the lovely view of the courtyard.  Which I find so peaceful and inspiring – in fact it was the reason I bought this place!  So my solution: place my desk on an angle, so that I can see out the window without having my back to the door.  Win-win!

This arrangement left an awkward corner space.  I knew I wanted to so some sort of hanging feature, my first thought was a series of hanging light fixtures, which would have been stunning and may still happen – they would just require some electrical work, board approval, aka more time!  So, why not hang lanterns?  Lanterns are so hot right now, they’re EVERYWHERE!  It was just a matter of choosing the ones that worked best in the space.  Now every time I look up and see them hanging, reflecting the natural light or glimmering with glowing candles, I’m inspired!

If you’d like to accomplish something similar in one of your spaces, all you’ll need is ceiling hooks, S hooks and link chain – I had my hardware store cut the chain down to size for me.

I absolutely love my desk.  I love the crisp whiteness and large surface, which allows me to spread out, put looks together and photograph my props and crafts.  My most favorite thing on my desk is the vintage books and replica of an old typewriter.  I LOVE vintage books.  I love books in general, but there is something particularly special about vintage books.  They arouse my curiosity – who’s held these books, who’s opened them and smelt the pages like I have, what stories could these books tell?  And the stories within them!  The language, the nuances of times past, I love it all!  The typewriter is both symbolic and inspirational, as I love to write and am working on creating more time and space for it.  And how truly magical and serendipitous that one of the vintage books I found is called ‘Homes of Old English Writers’ ~ perfection.