My Desk Area | A Touch of Teal

In a mere matter of weeks, I will have been working from home for two years. I can’t believe it—if you would have told me that in March 2020, I probably wouldn’t have believed you, and I would have also immediately gone into a panic spiral. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss, and I am glad I didn’t know how long this pandemic would last at the onset. It would have been too much for me to wrap my head around, and although these past couple of years have been some of the hardest and most stressful of my life, there have been a lot of joyful, fun, and good moments, too.

Last year, I shared that after working on my couch for the first eight months or so of the pandemic, I bought a desk! And now that I’ve worked from said desk every Monday through Friday for the better part of the last 52 weeks, I wanted to give you a look at what my desk area looks like now that it’s more finished than the last time I shared photos of this very used and loved corner of my apartment.

Since I last showed photos of my desk, I’ve created a little gallery wall above it. Since I sit here most days from at least 9am to 5pm, I wanted to be surrounded by art that inspired me—and brought a little color to this space. As such, I hung a Britt Bass Navy Geo Art—that has now come with me to several different homes!—and Josh Young’s Emma & Josh Young’s Eugene, both in blush, framed in Framebridge’s Marquette Frame. The latter are very polarizing—people either love them or hate them, but I think they are so fun and since Josh Young is based here in DC now, I love having a local artist on display in my home.

On the wall perpendicular to my desk, I hung the vintage Vietnamese art prints that used to hang in my grandparents’ house—I always try to hang them in a place in my apartment where they are super visible. I wrote more about them in this post if you’re curious—these are some of my most prized possessions and definitely something I would try to save in a fire.

In terms of my actual desk, as I’ve mentioned before, I went with Ballard Designs Margaret Desk on my friend Jackie’s recommendation and I absolutely love it. It’s spacious enough that I can spread out when I need to, but at the same time, it’s not too big or bulky. Since it’s in my main living area, I also love that it looks chic and has drawers so I can easily hide things at the end of the day when I am ready to transition out of work mode or if I have people coming over. I have it set up next to my couch, so it also doubles as an end table after hours.

I paired my desk with a Home Threads Velvet Green Chair—I got a ton of questions about this chair when I first shared it, and the number one question I received was, “is it comfortable?” After using it for a year+ now, I can honestly say that it is! I can sit in this chair for hours, only being reminded to stand by my Apple Watch. I don’t have any back pain or shoulder pain from using it. This would also be a great chair option for a kitchen or dining room table.

To finish up this area, I, of course, have my laptop, a notebook for work calls, my favorite note pad for my to-do-lists, and my favorite lamp stacked on several books. I also have a coaster for drinks as I try to drink water all day long and never have a Tervis tumbler too far out of reach.