A new era and a new office for me!

Today feels like a big day. The house is quiet. There is no chattering or laughter coming from the next room. I am on my own for the first time in over 3 years! I have been swaying between looking forward to this moment and dreading it with equal measure. I was worried about how Youngest would settle in at pre-school. However, to my relief she has settled in really well *touch wood*. There was one incident where she wrestled with a boy at the top of the slide. The boy was trying to explain that dinosaurs were not allowed on the slide. Youngest took offence. Don’t worry, the boy wasn’t calling Youngest a dinosaur he was pointing out that her toy dinosaur wasn’t allowed down the slide with her. Youngest was not amused.

A big part of me hasn’t wanted to accept that Youngest is no longer my baby. I have had the odd moment where I have felt excited at the prospect of calling mornings my own again. These have been quickly replaced with a feeling of anxiety. What if Youngest doesn’t like what she is doing at pre-school? What if she doesn’t eat her lunch? What if someone is mean to her? I have come to the conclusion that settling your child in at pre-school/nursery/school is actually harder for the parents. Youngest has not been fazed by it at all. She has astounded me with her confidence and her ability to jump straight in and get involved. Youngest has approached it in her usual easy-going manner and as result she has flourished. I could learn a lot from her. She really has just rolled with it, that includes rolling down slides with dinosaurs 😉 .

I now need to start rolling with the next chapter of my life. Now is my opportunity to relish having more time to myself. More time for my writing. I am now thinking about how I can change the house. Both children will now be out of the house for at least 5 hours a day. I am hoping that this means that I will be able to reclaim some of the house. I am hoping that I will be able to keep it tidier, even get rid of some of the clutter. I find myself wanting to bleach everything. I find myself wanting to make a more adult space for me.

I want my own space. I want a home office.

I spent most of Saturday afternoon clearing out the girls’ bedroom. Bagging up old clothes, sorting out their wardrobe. All afternoon! By the end I had about six bags of rubbish but the room still looked cluttered. Youngest refuses to be parted with almost everything. Mr Potato Head with the missing ears, legs, arms, can that go? Not according to Youngest. She has now taken to carrying Mr Potato Head around everywhere, she is like his own personal bodyguard; protecting him from a bin bag attack. However, I was allowed to get rid of some things. I wonder if this is me in reverse nesting. Is that such a thing? Now the time seems right to think about creating my own office space. Now is the time to reclaim the spare room. However, Mr C has also has his sights set on the space. At the moment it is a guest room/dumping ground. Our problem is that the room is dominated by a super-king bed. This now seems a waste. The room is only used for when guests come to stay. I was thinking about getting a smaller bed and then using one side of the room as my office. Mr C has other ideas. He wants to lose the bed completely and he wants one side to be a gym. We are in discussions at the moment. One thing we do agree on is that I do need to sort my office space. In preparation I have curated my favourite bits for my home office.

I have also been pinning my ideas away and I am thinking a light grey feature wall, and maybe some brass accents. I can’t wait to get started. We just need to decide whether a gym would be sensible. You can find my ideas below. What do you think? I’m reclaiming my house!