The stressful quest for a home office refresh

It’s been over 6.5 years since I started at Automattic and it wasn’t long after that when I had my home office (or, tiny box bedroom, as it was meant to be) decorated and generally set up how I wanted it. Over the years I’ve made a few minor tweaks but nothing too radical.

Now, it’s time to give it a refresh. Unfortunately, it didn’t always go well.

THAT back wall

Green is a nice wall colour in an office. It’s supposed to bring “serenity and balance”, but that may all be bunkum. Anyway, I regretted it after my first Zoom call, realising that I’d basically given myself a green screen background for anyone that play with! Oddly, nobody ever did.

Anyway, a one-colour room soon feels a little boring, so I decided that adding a “feature wall” would be nice. I’d do the one directly behind me and have a contrasting colour. A nice slate grey goes well with a light green, and ended up buying a Dulux one-coat solution, which is sold specifically for feature walls.

The wall in question is actually quite small, as it’s broken up by cupboards, the door, and other things. Although the original, professional, decorator had done it was a roller, the confined space meant that I was going to use a brush.

The paint went on well but the dimpling effect of the roller made it difficult for me to cover all of the green, so some showed through in places. The grey dried well otherwise and the wall looks great. I just needed to sort out the patchy areas, so gave it a second coat. Not all of it, just covering over the areas of occasional green. When that dried… HORROR 😱

The wall was now showing streaks, where it seems the second had gone.

I spoke to Dulux using their online chat and they recommended a third coat, but all over. I did that but it was no better. I spoke to them again, and they sent me a voucher in the post to buy another tin, but this time for one of their normal non-one-coat paints. I got a similar colour (but not the same) and added 2 coats and… perfect this time.

The Bookcase

Next to me, I have a large Ikea bookcase, mainly containing my collection of comic books. On top is my router as well as various other things. Like a lot of the room this had become cluttered on top, so moving and clearing was part of what I did. The router is the main one for the house but was far too close to the front of the house, so I took the opportunity to tidy the wires, allowing me to move it further along, nearer the back of the office.

However, trying to get the wiring out from behind the bookcase revealed a problem – the back, which Ikea uses to provide most of the stability to their bookcases, had come away. I took everything off it and pulled it out, to find that a part of the bottom, where the back is nailed to, had broken (for reasons I don’t know), causing the back to drop down and come out of the slots at the side and top.

It took my wife and I quite a lot of effort to get it back, as the frame and the back board had changed shape as a result. Once back, I made sure the board was nailed more firmly in (adding in more nails too) and very carefully put it back. I hope it lasts.

Otherwise…

Everything else went well and the office is looking a lot fresher.

I had a rejig of everything else – positioning, content, etc. I’ve also reviewed all the power in the office, as I had most being turned off when I wasn’t in the office, but that meant a lot of things that I couldn’t use ad-hoc. So, I’ve now got just 3 plugs that I turn off and all the others are on permanently.

I’ve also bought a few new products too.

All of this will be shared early 2024, as I’m due to write one of my regular “what’s on my desk” posts.