Office Space Tour
My office space! Finally!
I've been in my new place for around two months now, so it's been the biggest relief to finally get my office area set up the way that I like. It only involved relocating our bedroom to do it... hah.
Basically, the house we live in has 4 stories, the top of which is a loft-style area that Mitch and I were planning on using as our office. On the floor below, there's some other rooms, one of which is our bedroom (with ensuite and walk-through wardrobe). I had originally set up the office in the top loft area but I was just finding it didn't work well for me. The top area has hard wood floors, and the sound bounced around a lot, so pretty much the audio in my videos was going to sound like garbage. This became a problem after I sat down to record 3 videos in one day.
It was bad news for Mitch too, as he plays guitar, and often records videos/audio during jam sessions, so the bouncing audio and warm honey-coloured light (reflected from the hard wood floors) wasn't any good. After much deliberation we decided to swap our bedroom and our office. We dragged our mattress and bed frame upstairs and slowly transported down all the office furniture and music equipment.
The trade off is that we no longer had an ensuite or wardrobe attached to the bedroom, but it's a sacrifice we were both willing to make for a more comfortable working space. The bedroom-come-office has a nice neutral carpet, it catches the sound, and the light is much easier to work with when it comes to videos.
You may have noticed (incase you haven't seen it prior to this in my Instagram posts) that I've swapped up the colour theme/style of my home. This was made easier by the fact that I basically sold everything I had in Brisbane to make the move and light-weight as possible, considering it had to be freighted. In Brisbane the average summer temperature generally ranges from around 29-35C (84-95F), and winter never truly feels like 'winter', so it made sense for my interiors to have lots of white to keep the places feeling very cool and light to be in.
Now that I've shifted interstate down to Melbourne, I am trying to brace myself for what will be my first real 'winter'. I'm glad I moved during the summer months as it's meant lots of days down at the bay, long walks in the sunshine, and a comfortable temperature to transition to. When winter hits the average here the daily average will be around 10C (50F), so instead of opting for my usual cool (even somewhat 'cold') whites and completely neutral interior, I decided to involve a warmer palette this time around to help the space feel a little more cozy.
I opted for honey-coloured woods, more fabrics like linens, and an injection of texture such as rattan and jute to keep the neutrals interesting when you're scanning across them.
I do share the office space with Mitch, so if I was to flip the camera around you'd see his trestle desk, some amps, a bunch of guitars, and speakers.
TRESTLE DESK
I opted for this easy trestle desk because it has the relaxed feel I was going for. I chose the wooden top with the wooden legs, and we grabbed Mitch one too with a white top and wooden legs.
From: Mocka
TALLBOY
I had my eye on this tallboy dresser for such a long time, and I just couldn't commit to the price tag. I looked around for a long time to try and find something else but this one was burnt in my brain. I use it to store photography equipment.
From: Freedom
CHAIR
I opted for a woven rattan chair to add some more texture to the space, and softened it up with a faux fur throw on top.
From: Freedom
FAUX SHEEPSKIN
To make the chair comfier to use as an office chair I threw a faux sheepskin on top.
From: Zanui
While my taller photography equipment, such as stands, tripods, etc live in my cupboard, I like to have all my cameras and lenses easily accessible, and, somehow, organised. I've found that with camera gear, it can get out of control very easily. It's not so much the bodies and lenses that are the issue, but moreso the charging cables, hoardes of batteries, and extra little accessory pieces. The best method I've found for keeping it (somewhat) organised is drawers. I like to put two sheets of pick and pluck foam (eBay) into the drawers (the top layer I will 'pluck' out the shapes of lenses and camera bodies, and the under layer so they're not sitting straight on the drawer).
I also decided to get monitor stands for both my laptop and my iMac, mostly because the books I was shoving under my iMac just weren't cutting it for me visually, and because I am at my desk quite often, I need my monitors to be at the right height or I suffer from intense migraines.
MONITOR STAND
For the monitor stand I thought, "What's the point of upgrading from books if it's just a piece of wood?" So I decided to purchase the Pallo monitor stand, which is also a fast-charging USB hub and contains SD and micro SD card readers. I connected it to my iMac so now I have heaps of extra ports!
From: Hunting For George
LAPTOP STAND
This is just a regular-old macbook (laptop) stand. It doesn't do anything fancy, but I had to hunt it down on eBay because I was struggling to find nice wooden ones! It worked out way cheaper than the plastic ones other online stores were offering too.
From: eBay
LAMP
I've owned this lamp for around 2 years now, so I'm not sure if it'll be back in stock. It's one of my favourites, so I had to bring it with me when I moved!
From: Freedom
FRAME
I picked up a 50x70cm frame to put some artwork in to lean on the desk. I could only find a link for the white frame, I purchased the wooden one!
From: Ikea
SPEAKER
I bought this speaker when I moved into my last apartment, and it's just become such a handy little desk feature to have.
From: Marshall
PLANT BAG
I have a few of these storage bags around the house, so I popped a pothos into the small size one to cover the plant pot.
From: Freedom
MOUTNAIN PRINT
I wanted a nice neutral coloured print for my office, and found this mountain print on Etsy. I got it professionally printed and they said the artist had set up the colour profile incorrectly, which worked out perfectly for me, because the print knocked out all the pink, but kept all the neutrals on the landscape!
From: Etsy
As always, to add a bit of life to the area, I added a couple of plants. On top of the tallboy in the brown bag is a pothos, and on the desk next to the Marshall speaker is a Vipers Bowstring Hemp (also known as a snake plant, or mother in law's tongue). I'm so happy with how this space came together!