We put our energy into the house. And, as soon as it was livable, into the barn. The focus was always what was needed–so details like trim and completion were not addressed.

There’s a funny little L-shaped room at the top of the stairs. It was always intended to be a home office. But it wasn’t essential and so there it sat…collecting odd bits and empty boxes and stacks and stacks of papers that needed filing. Making it a working office was a challenge–the room is small, so regular office desks would make it cramped and unwieldy. Sigh. It had become a junk room.

And then I saw an ad for “office cabinets” on craigslist. I didn’t even know desk-height cabinets were a thing! I tried to buy them, but somebody beat me to it. However…it gave me a new set of search words. And so I searched. I found another set, fewer cabinets (which was okay), and a bit of a drive away…but they would work. Off I went on one of my used/new-to-us excursions.

There’s nothing like a new solution to drive a project forward. This won’t be their final incarnation. We have some maple table-top thingies in storage that will ultimately finish them off, but for now the original desktops will do. I had to clear a bunch of assembled junk, and find proper homes for things to keep. Within a week, Rick had done all the necessary customizing (they were too tall)(he had to ‘fit’ the tops), and we were installed!

A desk for me, and a desk for him. Now, the room still doesn’t have trim, and I still have to sort, organize and file all those boxes of papers, but it’s a working office. A place to work and to write. All our crap is now cleared from the living room and dining room. Mostly, it gives me clear head space–and that gives me room to resume writing. Slowly and surely, we’re settling in, even after years…in fits and starts.