Secretary Revealed

Remember how I've been going on and on about how I needed wanted a secretary and how that was my original plan for my home office until I got the wild hair and bought a desk for the guest room and then my sister elected to come and live with us for the summer and I decided to vacate that room so she could have it all to herself and bought a secretary on craisglist that same day and made Corey drive me an hour to get it? Whew. Otherwise known as this post and this post.

Yeah, so I finished it. It took me the equivalent of three entire weekends. There were times when I had to crawl inside it to paint it. The only time I really ever intended to work this hard on something is when I give birth one day (to a little curl with black hair who comes out already wearing a bow and singing "I'm the Greatest Star.") 

We started with this, fresh off the truck from its trip home from Metairie.

And after priming the whole thing and putting three coats of BM's Snowfall White on the outside and two coats of BM's Grassy Fields on the inside, she looks like this:

Corey had to remove part of the shelving to fit our TV, but I kept it to bracket back on one day should I decide to sell it or use it somewhere else. He also put holes for cords in all three sections of the secretary, for power, printer and TV cables. When we moved it in Tuesday night and I mentioned selling it one day, he told me that it had to stay right here because he was never moving it again. This secretary is by far the heaviest thing we own and I thank Baby Jesus that we have furniture moving feet that Corey bought because I am famous for making him rearrange furniture with me.

Once we got it inside, I filled it up with Items That Will Likely Rotate Out to fit my fancy. When you look at these pictures, you are not allowed to comment on the wingback chairs or their current state of being stacked high with crap.

Once we put it in here, I sat on the bed and stared at it for ten minutes. What this has really done is create a list of additional tweaks that need to be made to the bedroom in order for the "secretary area" to be cohesive in design and inspiration with the "bed area."

1. It does not make any sense for this piece of furniture to be flanked by wingback chairs. It worked when there was a bookcase there, but now it just looks odd. I am thinking one chair can scoot over into the corner (with a small seagrass table like the headboard) and the mate can go into storage. These were gifted to me and are quality furniture, so I want to retain ownership of the pair.


2. The khaki/green color of the wingbacks looks dull next to the bold green of the interior. The most cost-efficient solution to that, since I cannot sew my own, is to buy a slipcover. For this, I'd like to contrast the green with an orangey-coral, which is a prominent color in our bedding and drapes.


3. I shall bring pattern to the silhouettes hanging on either side by covering the mats with fabric that I have leftover from making the new drapes.


4. I need a chair to sit in. This chair was my grandmother's. It's usually in the sunroom and the chair the boys use to play on the computer. I need something with arms, and something that can stay in this room. I also want to stay away from upholstery, because there is a LOT of fabric in this room. I may brave the heat to schlep down Antiques Street this weekend.

This bamboo armchair is from Home Decorators, and is on sale.

Or I could browse flea markets and antique stores for something I could make over, a la Eddie Ross.



Or this French armchair with a padded seat that Centsational Girl upgraded.

I am crazy happy with my new desk, and find that my work life is just as productive downstairs as it was upstairs. Working downstairs makes it easier for me to throw clothes in the laundry or take a break to do some food prep for supper later. If I get a work call, I'm footsteps from my command center. I am bummed that it creates more work and more expense while I finish tweaking the room, but I got this for a steal and sold the other desk, so the overall project has been relatively low-budget, considering a major furniture purchase was involved.

However, I cannot be convinced that this thing did not try to kill me. Do not ever again let me think I should take on a furniture project that is taller than I am.