Since the electrical fire in our home, right before Christmas, it’s been a challenging time around here. I have been coping with the aftermath of that (insurance, cleaning, construction…), but also getting rid of a tenant in the little shore house my sister and I inherited — he failed to pay rent for over four months and left the place full of his crap, so I have been the one to deal with all that. My sister lives 800 miles away, so managing the house has been my responsibility for 17 years now, and we’ve mostly been lucky, but this last experience left me completely stressed and overwhelmed. We have since made the decision to sell the property — a tough one especially for me, since I lived there for almost 10 years and our wedding was held in the back yard.

But one thing is done! The renovation of our downstairs is complete. The fire was in the HVAC junction box in the crawl space under my office, so the silver lining of the situation is that we got new hardwood floors, fresh new paint, and I did some redecorating of the guest room as well as a full redesign of my office. My office is as originally used by the previous owner as an IT business workspace, so there were laminated built in counters with work stations all around the perimeter of the room, with a wall of shallow open bookcases. It worked ok for many years but the laminate was peeling off and the layout invited too much visual clutter. This was the opportunity to tear it all out and start fresh.

- I had the same company who did our customized bedroom closet system come in and install a built-in storage unit that functions for me as studio/office storage now but can be easily converted to wardrobe storage by a future homeowner. I’m thrilled with it! Lots of great storage that’s easy to use. It’s in pic 10. Our contractor will install some trim around the top to make it seamless with the ceiling above, and he will also give me a door, which I’ve never had before! I’m considering something like this sliding shoji style in pic 11.

- I decided to go for an adjustable sitting/standing desk. After lots of research, I chose one by Uplift, which is not the cheapest, but it is solid and sturdy, works smoothly, and looks good. So far I’m loving it! Goes from sitting to standing in seconds.

- I kept only my sofa (which was a crazy great deal at Home Goods years ago), and my task chair, which is comfortable and works well.

- I need a large work table from time to time, but I like the idea of not having it always out. At my studio I have a folding table that works well, but it’s clunky to operate, not attractive, and hard to store. So I found a company called Expand based in Canada that makes tables that convert from a small console into large dining tables. Turns out they work well for purposes other than dining! Pic 6 shows the table open, as I was using it for some framing work I was doing.

And just yesterday my new bookcase and new console cabinet arrived, so I spent the afternoon getting the rest of my stuff out of basement storage and putting everything together. The floor protectors arrived too — they are a little slippy and need an anti-skid layer underneath, and I wish the round one were a little bigger, but on the whole I’m really happy with them.

Still to come: some shallow floating walnut shelves for the walls near the sofa - they will hold framed art. I have a variety of pieces (by friends, from travels, etc) and the shelf solution will allow me to change things up without constantly putting in nail holes.

Pics 7-9 are the new guest room. New window blinds are coming soon, for this room and my office.

I’m actually really excited to spend time in here now!