Golden Hour #032: Places of Work

small spaces + hiding places

Since moving to Somerset in 2021, three quite different parts of our cottage have served as my place of work.

For starters: our spare room is where I saw out the tail-end of the pandemic, often spending my days in back-to-back zoom calls. As a room set apart from the rest of the house, it was a pretty good spot, it was quiet and I managed to get lots of work done. From Facebook marketplace I bought a very heavy wooden desk that my legs wouldn’t fit under, but it looked the part so I didn’t care. I was happy enough sitting on my legs.

But alas, this was not to last.

When my daughter was born my husband (still working full time) needed an office so I took myself off to the living room, where I simply pushed my lumpen desk up against a window. Sat there I could see into our back garden, and I enjoyed watching the different plants that would appear from the bed below. I didn’t enjoy working in what is essentially a communal space, a place which I would then continue to occupy in the evenings after I’d finished my working day. There was no separation between my working hours and my free time, which made me feel unsettled and on edge.

I have always liked small spaces. As a child I lived in a large manse with high ceilings. On the landing of this house there was a cupboard which I was small enough to crawl into, taking with my books and other special things with me. During the month of September I could often be found decorating my ‘cupboard’ for Christmas. (Yes, I had delusions of grandeur …) Since then, I’ve lived in three houses, none of which could accurately be described as spacious. But I prefer it this way, I like utilising every inch of a home and figuring out the best ways to inhabit it effectively. I do not enjoy ‘dead space’, or rooms which lie untouched for weeks on end. A convenient disposition in the current climate.

Given our predicament I had an idea to turn the end of our extension into a small office/studio space. It was something we had discussed when we first bought our house, but now space was at a premium, so there was a bigger incentive for us to get it done. At the time it had been the spot where we hung our coats, so we knew it would not be a big room, but I insisted that was fine. My husband works for an architecture practice as an engineer and has a keen eye for design, so we worked together on creating a room which would be a peaceful place to work.

As ever, what seemed like a relatively modest project was ultimately a big undertaking. We had to move our boiler and sort out our underfloor heating. But now that I have this room I feel like I have my equilibrium back. It is warm and modest and starting to accumulate the clutter which befits a place of work. It is a container for my writing and my thinking, and a room that I can return to at the end of the day—an invaluable resource for a working mother.

Rest assured it is no longer this minimal

A degree of aloneness, however small, is an essential component of my working life. Both for myself, and the clients I am working for. Writing is sensitive and delicate business, which is easier to do in a quiet place than a busy kitchen (for me, anyway).

It is a gift to have this place of work.

I hope you have a peaceful Sunday.

Grace

P.S Here are a couple of other working places that have caught my eye recently.

The writer Olivia Laing’s desk (via Instagram)

`The Eames Office via eameshouse250.org

A South Korean studio (via Instagram)