How do you divide a room so that there are private spaces but nobody feels locked out?
My office is a tiny alcove off of the kitchen in our home. No windows, but that's okay. Some argue that windows can be too distracting for a writer hard at work on books, blogs and articles. At the same time, I had a problem that I'm sure that many Nest readers share -- without a wall, my office became a dumping ground for everyone's stuff. People would walk in the door and throw their shoes, bags, you name it on the floor of my office. "Hey!" I wanted to say, "that's not a closet. That's my office. It's where I get creative. It's a sacred space for me."
I toyed with the idea of putting up a screen. I've seen beautifully painted ones in my travels, but it seemed awkward to have to move a heavy screen back and forth to get in and out. Then one day when I was procrastinating online -- I mean doing research for this blog -- I found these beautiful cloth room dividers, silk-screened with nature images. The company is called Inhabit and they make all manner of beautiful things: including bedding, pillows, and custom designed lamps.
For me, the room slats are really the thing. I love the way they bring the great outdoors to my window-less office, reminding me that while I am not a gardener, in my tiny alcove, I tend to words and try to make them grow. I love that I can peek through the slats and see my husband in the kitchen and my daughter playing with her blocks in the living room. I love that my bambina has taken to crawling over to the office and lifting the cloth room divider ever so slightly to peek in and see what Mama is doing.
Virgina Woolf famously said that every woman needs a room of her own with a key and a lock. My room has neither key nor lock, but with these Inhabit room dividers, I feel as close and as far away from my family as I need to be.
How about you? Do you have a room of your own where you create, contemplate, and recharge your batteries?
