Home Study Preview

As I referenced in my last post, I've made some progress on organizing and decorating our home office. It's not done, but I wanted to share a few of the areas that are decent enough to photograph. The wall color is Benjamin Moore's Normandy. Above you can see a corner of the room that is next to the entry to the study. In the corner is an antique table with a dark gray/black marble top. The marble isn't actually attached to the table, and it's most likely not original to the table. But the marble has been on that table top for as long as my family can remember, and it seemed silly to separate them after so many years. The chair next to the table is one of my most recent vintage finds. I got an amazing deal on it - $10. We've needed a second seat in the study, and this chair seemed like it would fit the bill. There is a doctor's name written on the bottom, which I found utterly charming. Here is a closer view of the items on the table. A happy plant, sewing machine drawers, and a hurricane vase with several lightbulbs of varying vintage. Another apothecary jar with strips of bark from a tree in our yard (shed naturally), a bowl I made in pottery class, a weather radio, and a small electric fan. The lightswitch plate was recently installed. It was a Christmas gift from my brother, a blacksmith/metalworker/robotics engineer. (You can check out more of his work in his new Etsy shop, SelmerIronWorks. You can buy your own shield switchplate, or browse his businesscard holders or leaf sculptures.) Below you can see the stained glass lamp next to the wall-mounted table. The table is one of my very best vintage finds. I never would have guessed you could buy this much character for $9. Below you can see a detail of the vignette on the table: a few wooden boxes, an oldworld globe, and an iron ladder. One of my recent accomplishments was implementing a plan I've had for quite some time: installing curtains with two pieces of my grandfather's bamboo fishing pole as rods. This fishing pole is 3 segments long, attachable and detachable through brass fittings. I've started getting some things up on the walls as well. Below is a bulletin board next to the desk. Adjacent to the bulletin board are my grandfather's diploma from seminary and his class photo. Yes, same grandfather who fished. The washcloth is for wiping drooly mastiff jowls (see here for further explanation on that), and probably is only there temporarily.

There is a small nook in the study where someday we may install some built-in shelves. But until then, a bookshelf my father-in-law made fits perfectly. You can see that I did hang the 1936 Fortune magazine cover. Below that are a lamp, a vase with more bark, a framed watercolor of the chapel of Notre Dame acquired on my trip to Paris, a wooden gavel of my grandfather's, and a greenhouse from Ikea.

Right now the greenhouse is filled with oldworld globes. Something about that just cracked me up.

There is a lot more to show you, like the desk and the large bookshelves and all their contents. But those areas aren't quite ready. We also have to finish putting up all the wall decor, which involves finally getting my diploma replaced and framed (they issued it to me with the WRONG NAME), and framing all the antique maps I've planned to hang. It's taking some time, but I do love it when a plan starts to come together.