Ever since my ostomy procedure, I’ve begun to work at home more often in order to practice basic ostomy care. It’s really helped ease me into the whole medical thing. So I often ask people, “Do you have an office space in your home?”

We have an L-shaped living room that was originally designed to be a living room and dining room area, But since our family is not keen on sitdown meals we use the space as a living room and office area.  Last year I wanted to rearrange this office space, primarily to make more room to access the patio through the French doors.  We had a rolltop desk, filing cabinets, a computer desk opposite the roll top, left very little room for the walkway. 

My handyman (aka the hubby) and I started unloading every thing in the office room. We then built a new desk that ran 11 ft along one wall only. My husband laid beautiful hardwood flooring on top of half-inch plywood, then trimmed the whole top out with black trim and then he installed it on top of two, 3 foot tall,  filing cabinets. It turned out amazing!

Next I painted the wall on either side of the French doors in a solid black paint. The French doors are Finished oak, which went beautifully against the black wall. It’s one of the favorite things I’ve ever done in my house.

We also moved out the rolltop desk and moved in a beautifully restored antique oak double door cabinet. This cabinet sits opposite the new desk along the one wall. This arrangement made for a nearly doubled walkway with. This solid oak cabinet was restored by my husband and I around 20 years ago. It is an antique cabinet from a library. When we purchased it it was stained in a dark finish that didn’t match anything in our house so my husband stripped the dark stain, sanded the entire cabinet, and re-stained it with a red Oak and poly finish. 

Now we have the perfect accent of baskets and bins for all our office needs. We have double the floor space to hit the patio easily. And we also have twice the desktop space. So don’t be afraid to remodel, rearrange, declutter, and generally box up rarely used office items.  Anytime your office is unorganized you tend to be unorganized in numerous other aspects of your life.  So don’t hesitate any longer, go ahead and tackle that home office before spring gets here!

This just goes to show how convenient an at-home office is, especially if you’re an ostomy care patient like myself!