Planning Nook

When I first spied this nook-like room in our new house I thought, oh, perfect reading nook!
The previous owners used this room as a little home office, with a desk in front of the window, some filing cabinets and an office chair.
While a desk in front of a window is a lovely idea, the windows here are such a size that the desk obscured part of the window, which goes against one of my personal rules of decorating: not allowed obscuring windows.
So we repaired the walls, removed the computer cables and painted this nook-like hallway Farrow & Ball's Green-Blue.
The ottoman and antique sofa were items we've had for years, shoved along a wall in Old Rascal's bedroom in our last house.
The chair is one of a set of antique French oak chairs inherited from my in-law's, I made the cover for the seat and found the Schumacher "Pearl River" linen pillow on Etsy.

 I really like the trick of pairing an old pine window frame, filled with mirrors, opposite the actual window.  It echoes the shape and reflects the outdoors.

 You can see that this nook, which is at the top of the stairs coming up from the kitchen, leads into the main second-floor hallway of the house.
This hallway is painted in a very warm neutral, Farrow & Ball's Dimity, but you can see there is a hallway beyond (you can catch a sliver of it, above) which has also been painted in Farrow & Ball's Green-Blue.  This was MrBP's idea, and a brilliant one I think.

This nook has ended up being a planning nook rather than a reading nook.  This is where I sit and read the news in the morning, do some simple household accounts (that don't require my actual office files) and generally plan my day, my week and even bigger household projects like organizing wardrobes and cupboards.

Pine cupboard.
Great for storing handbags and scarves.

 Organizing my own wardrobe, and MrBP's, is on my agenda for January.  In moving to this house our closet situations are quite different, and I'm getting an idea of what I can store and what I cannot.

I have really needed to do a wardrobe edit for at least a year, but I kept procrastinating this enjoyable task for some reason.  Then, in packing up for the move I decided I was not in the mental space to actually edit out any items... I just had a feeling I would make rash decisions which I could regret.

My storage situation is a bit tricky.  I have an old pine cupboard with shelves that can be used for accessories, and a closet with rods for hanging.  I don't have a dresser of any kind, and no drawers to store things means some creative use of shelves and baskets.

Bit of my closet.
The wallpaper is Anna French for Thibaut.

It is still quite a bit of space, and it suits me as I do like to be able to see everything available when I'm planning outfits (out of sight means out of mind for me).
MrBP's dressing area is a bit more traditional in organization, he has less hanging space but he does have a dresser and a pine chest for storing out-of-season clothes.
I'm really looking forward to this project this next week, stay tuned for before and after closet photos...

Thank you for your kind comments on my last post.  While our Poppa is still in hospital he is slowly making some progress, and today I'm finally well enough to go and visit him.
To be honest I'm not quite 100% yet but I'm getting there.  I'm grateful I've been able to rest quite a bit, getting lots of fruit and vegetables and generally just taking it easy.

I hope you are well and enjoying a happy and healthy start to this New Year.  Nothing seems quite right in the world just now and it does seem a rocky beginning to this new decade.

One thing I am looking forward to this year is writing here on the blog from my little planning nook!
xox,
Dani