My new office

I have been wanting to share about this change for quite a while.  In February I made a big change, I moved my office HOME.

A total 360 from what I did the previous year when I rented an office. And loved it, thought it was best move ever and it was for 2013. At the time in early 2013, my business was bursting at the seams as was our small cottage and i needed ROOM and a place to get away.  For the next year I LOVED my little office and place to escape and catch up on work.  I loved officing with my dear friend Tami of The K Gallery.  It was a great situation that was working really well.  But then early 2014 I felt the pull to possibly rent an office closer to my children’s school, but I never could find a perfect fit.  I was honestly spending less and less time at my office and using it more and more as a dumping ground for samples and paperwork etc. I slowly realized the Lord was wanting me to move my office back home but it made no sense, our house is small, where would it go, I loved sharing a space with Tami, and how would I have boundaries to work at home again?

Also the business has continued to grow, why go backwards?  But I realized that moving home for a bit, a year or maybe longer wasn’t moving backwards it was just part of the journey.  So in the end even though it didn’t make sense I gave up my cozy little office and schlepped everything back home and up the stairs!   I really felt like it was a God thing and tried to trust His nudging, honestly not an easy thing and I did “argue” and resist a bit along the way.  But I followed through and it has been wonderful.  I feel more organized and productive than ever. Not totally there but something I have struggled with as the business as grown. This move has helped. Full circle! Summer I hope to work less and spend more time with the boys and this is the perfect solution for now.  In the fall or next year I may rent a space near school but for now this is working.

So where did I put this new office?  Yep Upstairs.  My oldest still doesn’t want to sleep up there and so we were using the big space up there for a playroom.  Or rather a toy closet.  Rarely did the kids go upstairs so we pared down the toys and cleaned the space out and voila!

Fresh paint and it happened!

The new headquarters for Holly Mathis Interiors….the larger room is my office and the smaller room (which was once a tiny guest room with the butterfly prints and linen coverlet) yep it is now my sample/resource room. When I worked from home before my “office” was a corner of our master bedroom and that did not work well as the business began to grow.  But now having a home office is different for me because its a designated space outside of our living space and its organized and set apart from our lives.  I also used the move as an opportunity to get some real office furniture with drawers and storage. I am still looking for the perfect desk chair with casters.  The little Ikea stools moved from the other office where they were a coffee table for sofa and here they are stools for the boys when they “visit”;;

 The PB kids bookrack no longer holds Richard Scarry books…its all decorating books now….and kids books all back downstairs where they will be used more. The wire baskets are from Ballard Designs.

The desk and file cabinet I bought as dinged floor samples at Pottery Barn and the parsons desk is from West Elm. Natural rug from Ikea is from my old office and fit this room perfectly.

The drapes were recycled from a client project….it makes me happy to have my signature check in here.

And the reading chair, oh this chair.

I love my IKEA Jennylund chair that was customized by my friend Laura Siebert of LS Slipcovers.  She is amazing and I don’t use that work freely. Laura and I have become good friends sharing about business and juggling motherhood and work, she texted me asking what prayers she could meditate and pray on as she added her handiwork to the edges of this chair.  What a blessing to share this journey with women like Laura that are so creative and understand the pull and tension of being a working mom and trying to maintain balance on the journey. Look at not only the pleats and gathers but the hand stitching around edges!  Follow Laura on Instagram @lsslipcovers and you can see her photos of the chair that highlight the hand stitching even better and you can see her other work, its wonderful! Thank you Laura for all of the love and prayer your poured into this chair for me and my new office.

And below you see my trusty Day Designer, fave linen boxes from The Container Store and my little plate from Aedriel Originals that I use often…all these things make this place a joy to work in . . .

And my Jr Asst hard at work!;;

It’s a working space so i have pinboards leaned here and there but the sunlight and fresh paint are invigorating me and (knock on wood) making me productive and feel lighter. And linen on boxes and chairs and checks on drapes don’t hurt either;

This gallery wall across from my desk makes me happy and includes some of my favorite prints from Rifle Paper Co, Kiki & Polly, and Stephanie Creekmur.

One of my fave old cracked transferware platters serves as a tray.

I even framed a wallpaper sample that a client gave me. And of course a silhouette and a John Derian chair postcard.

Fresh paint really breathed new life into the space.  The light is so good up there.  As much as I loved my other little office in town, it had no windows and I think that was getting to me.  I am learning my reaction to light is very real and needed.

The fabric/resource room is the tiny room just across the small hall from the office..the IKEA Ektorp  shelf I had in my other office barely moved up the stairs but it fits! And it works so well for fabric.

My new local assistant Kassie (some of you know Leslie who works with me virtually from Austin and she is still helping me out as well) but Kassie comes in person and color coordinates and folds fabric and straightens this room after each client visit, its a beautiful thing y’all. Love that folded fabric!  I will say I do keep some of my fave samples like Studio Bon and other special little brands out in their own little stack but for the most part fabric is all color sorted.

And here is the view from the fabric room back into the “big” office..which isn’t very big but it’s all relative;; And my fave Thibaut book and scads of natural rug samples!

So there you go, home again home again jiggity jig.  I think the lesson for me is to listen to that still small voice AND as a working mother to always be flexible and willing to change based on the needs of family and where I am business wise. Sometimes we need more space and to get away, sometimes we need simple.  The bottom line is I was so busy and so “scattered” feeling that an office even down the street had become too much.  Moving home felt simple and pointed me back to the core of our little family as number one priority..I can tell my kids feel like I am choosing them by the simple presence of my work stuff upstairs and near them and not somewhere else.

I am excited to see what the Lord brings next but for now i am enjoying my little attic office. We plan on a large home remodel next year and who knows I may include an office in that plan and never office outside of the house again or maybe I will need both, something at home and a commercial space.  We will see.  How does that song go “I don’t know what will come but I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.” I guess that is my high-tech business plan;;

Thanks for letting me share..and in the next couple of weeks my friend Whitney English and I will be doing a decorating webinar called HOUSEWORK and my part will be broadcast live from right up here in my attic office! So stay tuned for more on that.