1.10.2011

"Home" Work

Much of our current days have been spent cleaning and decorating our new home, which, if you're just joining us, was recently acquired a few weeks ago after about four months of waiting and shacking up with friends in town. All of this, of course, was after our one-year adventure living in Scotland!

But that's neither here nor there at this point, because we're happily settling into a routine, home life and normalcy. It's quite nice, to be honest. I run my business (Amber Bell Creative Freelance) from home and am out and about during much of the week for interviews, meetings, photo shoots and any thing else I might have going on. And I'm getting used to having a home office, a real home office, with professional furniture and inspirational materials around me and space to concentrate and build my work.

Speaking of that, much of our weekend focused on the office. We bought the perfect furniture I'd been looking for! It was almost too good to be true. I've found lots of our home furniture on Craig's List, believe it or not, and we've been so happy with everything we've brought home. Craig's List can be hit or miss - the key is to check it often, only entertain posts by owners (not dealers) who include pictures and be sure you request additional pictures of the item before agreeing to purchase. Oh, and haggling. You can always knock the price down, even if it's just $10.

If the post has a bad, grainy, unclear photo then it's probably not a quality piece worth my time. So I move on and continue browsing for days or weeks until I find something that's just what I'm looking for. We have a lot of Texas rustic furniture in our home and it's usually only available through specialty shops, which generally requires a bit of a drive for us. So it's nice to be able to locate the stuff through Craig's List and it's only 15 minutes away and much cheaper!

Back to my original point, I was thrilled to pieces to find the exact office furniture I'd been wanting at a killer price and from the nicest people! They responded Saturday afternoon that they still had the furniture and were available for pick-up, so at the last minute we hopped into my Avalanche and drove to League City (about an hour from Katy) to load it up! It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed our drive, had a nice chat with the sellers and stopped at Sonic for mid-day slushes and snacks. It doesn't take much to keep us happy. ;)

When we got back home, we cleared out the office, finally tossed the last of our "college furniture" (laminate bookshelves, dinged up filing cabinets, etc.) and moved in the new stuff. So exciting! It was a close fit, Mike had to take the door off the office to get my desk in but we managed.


Here's a sneak peek at what's in store! The room isn't quite finished yet but well on its way and I hope to have photos next weekend, plus step-by-step instructions on how my mom and I painted those stripes.


It's my first day to work from my office, now that it's somewhat cleared out and I can actually get in here and sit in a chair. And I love my giant office mates who have taken up residence near by:





In other home-related news, I'm still obsessed with Rust-Oleum's hammered bronze metal spray paint. It's like a miracle in a bottle and I just want to coat everything in it! You might remember I did my first project with the color on this lamp, and I recently repeated the process for a silver lamp that just didn't have a home anywhere.



After some hammered bronze...


...it's now pretty and perfect for our living room!


My husband is still baffled at how the paint can achieve that metallic, dimpled effect out of a can. I am just happy it's less than $5 a pop. There's more creativity going on this week - with both food and home - so stick around for a couple new recipe posts, "mastering" the master bedroom and our favorite travel moments of 2010!

3 comments:

  1. So happy y'all are getting settled in! I'm in League City...we so could have gotten together...we need to do that soon!

    I love the lamp paint...I may have to try that out...

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  2. Oh!!! I can NOT wait for further posts on this room! It will look fabulous, I KNOW! I am so happy for yo...I can see you in my mind's eye...in your comfy home working in your office. Your home is truly a reflection of you and Mike! I love it!!

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  3. I want to try that kind of paint. I have a lot of boring lamps to paint. Thanks for the idea.

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