Monday, May 4, 2009

The Perfect Writing Desk

I blogged before about how the husband made me a new desk, just for my writing. And it's been great--perfect size, perfect location. But the thing is, it wasn't quite done.

Enter in this weekend's project: finish the desk!

Here it is in it's raw stage: the bookshelves built into the wall came with the house; the husband added on the desk part.





















First things first: we separated the new desk part from the bookshelves in the wall and got it ready for painting!
















After layers of primer, I painted the shelves and the desk glossy black. I mean, black-black. Like a ninja's soul.





















One thing I've always wanted to do was to wallpaper a room with maps. I love maps. But it's never really been practical to line a whole room with one. What I could do, though, is line the shelves with maps. For this project, I chose England (top shelf, along with Ireland) because I've always loved it and studied abroad in London, and Italy (bottom shelf) because the first place I traveled abroad to was Malta, off the coast of Italy, and I love Florence--and my favorite movie (Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn) took place there. Oh, and pizza.





















Next step, add the writing instruments! On the top shelf, I've got a brand-new file sorter thing. I desperately need to keep better track of paper. So: red folder on left = rejections folder. Legal pad beside it = notes (I love legal pads!) On the far right is my pad folio that I take to conferences, and notes from my last conference. And on the shelves in the middle is work for my book: ms. pages, research, and blank note pads.
















On the Italy shelf, I intend to put a new Mac computer...once I save enough money to buy a new Mac computer (which will be months--maybe even a year or more--from now). So, while I'm waiting on the new computer, I've put a wine-bottle lamp in it's place. This wine-bottle lamp was custom made for me, right after I wrote my first ms. I've also got a full bottle of win (that wasn't drunk in preparation of the lights) that I intend to break out after I (finally) get a publishing deal.





















Some writers keep old manuscripts under the bed. I keep them in my hidden compartment under the desk!





















It's fairly hard to get to (you have to crawl under to get to this bottom shelf), but it's the perfect place to store those old manuscripts that I can't throw away, but can't work on, either.















And here it is--the end result! All I need now is a shiny new Mac computer to go on the Italy shelf, and I'm gold! For now, I guess the laptop will do. *sigh* I suffer so much for my art! :)

25 comments:

Kate said...

I love all the detail that went in to it. I would have given up long ago :)

Jess (The Cozy Reader) said...

VERY COOL!

C.R. Evers said...

oh wow! This is so awesome! And even extra awesome that your hubby is so handy w/ this kind of thing. That makes it more special. The map is a NICE touch!

Kelly H-Y said...

PERFECT!!!!!

Sage Ravenwood said...

I love it. I'm delighted to know I'm not the only one who has a desk specifically for writing. I went and brought an antique style desk, that folds down. My reasoning was I would spend so many hours a day writing. When I'm done fold up the desk and put everything away. Otherwise I would lose myself and sink into oblivion in a messy house. (Hugs)Indigo

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Looks beautiful and organized. I'm jealous. :)

Bowman said...

You poor soul. How dare anyone make you work at your personal desk, which happens to be attached to an awesome bookshelf! I hate to say it, but I think litigation is necessary.

Casey Something said...

Cute!!!!!

PJ Hoover said...

It all looks amazing!

Keri Mikulski said...

Wow!! Love it!! :)

lotusgirl said...

very cool. I bet you're loving being able to work there.

Trisha Pearson said...

Wow! It turned out beautiful. I'd love to have a writing space like that! Enjoy!

Vivian Mahoney said...

Wishing you many productive hours! Looks absolutely fantastic!

Vanessa said...

Very nice! It's beautiful

Tabitha said...

I love it!! I love maps, too, so I think that is the perfect detail in the background. :) And now you won't fall asleep on your notebook during poker night. :)

Elana Johnson said...

I am Kermit. Green. Cool desk!

Danyelle L. said...

That is gorgeous! Now I know what to ask Santa for Christmas. ;-)

Joyce Wolfley said...

I'm quite impressed. Love the black- so chic!

Heather Zundel said...

Oh, it's beautiful. I love it!

Anonymous said...

That is one faaaab desk, Beth! Awesome!

Robyn Campbell said...

Hey, I want one, too! C should be proud that his awesome wife has such a TOTALLY awesome work station. And the wine thing? Me too. Gonna break that bad boy out as soon as I get the call. Hubby will come home to find wife, SMASHED! :)

Davin Malasarn said...

I'm so happy for you. That's beautiful! I really like that hard-to-get-to bottom shelf. I need me one of those.

Sheri Perl-Oshins said...

Cool! And congrats! What a talented hubby you have!

Christina Farley said...

Impressive. I love it! You're husband is so sweet. And I like how you were able to design it too.

Ethridgejvbk said...

Job.com Jobs - Start your job search and find employment today!. Search jobs, post your resume, find employment, and find your next career here!