As the first crocuses, snowdrops and daffodils start poking their colorful heads up out of the mud, it's easy to get sucked into the promise of spring.
Even when February and March trick us, every time, into 'false spring', we are reminded of the optimism of brighter days - when it eventually stops raining!
It will, surely it will?
I left paid employment just over a week ago. I have properly stepped away from the world of Zoom calls, online team meetings, and helping other people build their businesses. It's stirred up a deep, unexpected instinct - I have felt the urge to purge!
To wipe the slate clean. To clear the decks. To create space for whatever comes next.
I realised my home office still carried the ghosts of my old working life. The white IKEA furniture and stark walls. The corner where I used to perch for hours, headset on, nodding through meetings. It all felt like a satellite office for someone else’s business, not a home for my own.
No dramatic renovations here. It needed to be a budget makeover but to feel different in the little box room at the front of the house.
So I decided to reclaim it.
Now that I have shifted my perspective to focus on Hen's Tooth as my full time job, I find myself wanting to channel that optimistic energy, but it's too soggy and unpredictable to get much done at the allotment.
Softening the Space
The first step was colour. I wanted something atmospheric, something that wrapped the room in warmth rather than bouncing light off every surface. A cosy, cottagey palette - I've gone for an earthy cherry colour that tones in with the existing wallpapered feature wall but takes the noise down an octave or two.
Then came the furniture shuffle. Out went the stark white pieces that screamed “corporate home office”. In came wooden furniture gathered from around the house. Pieces with texture, history, and soul. I liberated a sideboard from the dining room and turned it into a cupboard for all my work bits and bobs. And swapped in the bamboo dressing table from the back bedroom. Having everything tucked away made the room calmer.
Hunting for Treasures
I've spent some happy afternoons wandering vintage shops and the reuse centre at my local recycling centre to find the perfect little cupboard to hide all the cables behind (I'm still looking). I gathered meaningful items from around the house to set the tone, and used the clear out as an excuse to finally declutter the boxes of junk that had accumulated in the corner.
When I visited my dad a couple of weeks ago - with dad, my niece, and my sister, we went through some of my mum's things.
We lost her last summer and although dad asked us back then if there was anything we wanted of mums it wasn't the right time. But now, with the passing of time, it felt felt right. I picked out a couple of trinket boxes she used to keep jewllery in.
Mum loved costume jewellery, even though most of it was charity shop tat, she was always dripping with rings and chunky necklaces.
I've bought these little boxes into the room - small, but meaningful (and useful).
I scouted around the various bookshelves in the house and selected a few titles that inspire me, feel very Hen's Tooth appropriate and look cute stacked up on display.
Books on Sustainable Living, Allotments, Permaculture, Cottagecore, Slow living and Mindful Business.
I treated myself to a print from a holiday in Oxford: a chicken by a local artist. It feels totally on-brand and perfectly joyful.
Creating a Space That Feels Like Mine
Piece by piece, the room transformed. Not into a showroom or a Pinterest-perfect office, but into a space that feels lived-in, loved, and entirely mine.
A calm, atmospheric, inspiring little HQ for Hen’s Tooth.
Bringing in Hen's Tooth Pieces
Of course, this makeover has given me the perfect excuse to browse my own collections for some key pieces:
- Hot Pink Pareo Throw - I love this joyful throw and it's perfect to dress up my boring office chair with a pop of colour. I can also wrap it around my shoulders to get snuggly when I'm working away at my desk.
- Tall Stem Copper Lamp - I need a lamp for my desk for that warm mood and focused spotlighting.
- Scented Candles - I need some stimulating and delicious smells in my new space. The 'Creativity' soy wax candle will give me the right kinds of feels for dreaming and scheming.
- Canvas Laptop Pouch - I treated myself to a new laptop pouch so I can take my tech out with me (when the weather improves) perfect for taking my laptop up to the allotment in the spring where I can work from my shed on a sunny day, in between trending to my crops.
- Pouch packs - my pouch packs are ideal for tidying away pens, craft materials, and stationery.
New Range Coming Soon
I sourced a couple of new suppliers while visiting the Spring Fair last week and I'm currently curating my Spring collection.
Of course, I will need to order some products - for quality purposes, you understand - to test the new suppliers, so it would be rude not to strategically order some pieces I can coopt for my own office.
New Space, New Perspectives
My newly revamped office is a place where I can write, dream, plan, make videos, and photograph products without the lingering reminders of an old job or an old industry.
It’s amazing how much lighter I feel working in here now.
How much more me it feels.
How refreshing it is to sit in a room that reflects the business I’m building, not the one I left behind.
This is my fresh perspective. My new beginning. My reclaimed workspace. And I can’t wait to see what grows here.