Where I blog, plus a $3 stool makeover

Well, I guess it's time to fess up. I don't really do most of my blogging in my home office. Not exactly earth-shattering news, I know, but I wanted to come clean since I've shown photos of my home office so often. Though I do spend time in my home office, I do most of my writing on a desk in the kitchen.

There is really nothing special about this kitchen desk. It just makes more sense for me to squeeze in a little bit of blog writing and reading right in the middle of all our family's swirl of activity. Yes, I know it's a little indulgent to have two desks but I feel it's justified since I've always made a living as a writer.

Having spent so many years in newsrooms, I was used to having an ergonomically correct working space. Or rather, my body was. Soon after I began blogging, my elbows and hands ached without the proper equipment on my humble kitchen desk. So hubby obliged and installed a custom keyboard tray. A couple weeks ago, I added to the ergonomics by updating a vintage stool I found at a thrift store for $3. Now, I have a super comfy footstool that also brightens my writing area.

This is what the stool looked like before, complete with a $25 price tag still attached. My guess is that someone tried to sell it at an antique store. But honestly, I would have never bought it for that price. Three dollars was just right. Take a look:

Eeek! Not a pretty sight. I mean, just take a look at that awful little rag rug covering it and all those staples, which took me forever to remove before I sanded down the legs.

Then came time to choose a new cover. These fabrics, pictured below, were the initial contenders: a flowered scrap of fabric, a tea towel from Anthropologie and a burlap-like fabric I thought I would embellish with some sort of drawing in black ink.

But none of those looked right once I decided on bright yellow for the stool legs, so I began hunting around my home for something else. Yes, even a needlepoint horse was a contender at one point.

And a Mexican tapestry placemat that my mom bought in Oaxaca. As lovely as it might have looked, I couldn't bear to cut it up.

Finally, a winner emerged. I chose a lovely mushroom needlepoint that I found at a thrift store for five dollars.

I initially wasn't so sure the olive needlepoint matched the bright yellow legs, but now I think the pairing was meant to be. I just love the bright pop of color it adds to my workspace, where red and dark brown dominate.

I now feel like my workspace is complete. I love sitting down to write, surrounded by so many favorite items: a tiny matryoshka pillow made by a lovely woman from El Salvador living in Australia with whom I swapped magazines and other small gifts last year ( a reminder of just how much the blog world brings like-minded people together); two framed postcards that I bought on my first trip to Paris; a simple but lovely tissue flower given to me by my four-year-old son for Mother's Day this year; and now, my newly remade footstool.

By the way, I don't think I mentioned why I even need a footstool. Well, I'm fairly short and my legs usually dangle in the air whenever I sit in most chairs.



I hope you've enjoyed a peek into my workspace.