Botanic Bleu: Tree Top Loft ~ Where Botanic Bleu Creates

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Looking out at a spreading oak tree

from the second-floor loft window

allows my mind to wander and

allows my thoughts to drift away

from everyday life.

This is my creative space,

where Botanic Bleu is created.

Join me on a tour of my tree-top loft

as part of

My Desert Cottage's annual

Where Bloggers Create.

Where Bloggers Create

Sitting in my office loft is like

being in a tree house that

looks down into the living room

and looks beyond to other big oaks in the east yard.

The tree top loft is

an office space for working, writing, and

dreaming in my dream house

that we built by doing much of the work ourselves.

And, twenty-seven years later, we are

still updating and maintaining by doing work ourselves.

For years, this is where I

wrote lesson plans, typed tests,

printed six-week assignment sheets, and

graded tens of thousands of mathematics papers.
(No exaggeration; I taught math for 29 years,
then became a school administrator.)

Now,

visions of new ideas,

of rearranging spaces,

of creating vignettes and tablescapes,

of composing blog articles, and

of finishing old projects

take hold here.

The space has transformed from a teacher's at-home office. . .

. . . to a blogger's creative loft.

The little loft is only 8' wide by 14' long,

open to the living room below,

open to the stairs leading up to the top floor bonus space,

and ends with a small closet at the enclosed end.

The tall mauve-colored cabinet is made from
old recycled doors and
holds reams of paper, computer manuals,
and office supplies.
It is on the list for a make-over inside
to transform it into a more creative space.

The small three-shelf wire basket on wheels
stores the paper cutter on its top and
holds left-over teaching materials.
It, too, is on the make-over list to reorganize
the drawers to hold supplies that I now use.

The work space is two pieces,
an old communion table and a folding wooden table,
positioned to form an L-shape.

The wooden folding table is easy to move around,
is large enough to spread out projects, and
is convenient for using the paper cutter
that is stored beneath it.

The old oak communion table came from the
church I attended in Alexandria, Virginia
while I was a young single working in
Washington, D.C.

Years of neglect had left it in sad shape.
The finish was marred and had a big black spot
that looked like an ink stain.
One of its legs had been broken and repaired.
It was in such sad shape that the elders
of the church would not accept any money,
just gave it to me.

After stripping it with a chemical stripper,
sanding it, and refinishing it with a fruitwood stain,
the little table regained most of its former beauty
and became my office desk.

A few years ago we removed the drawer
and installed a slide-out shelf to hold a computer keyboard.