When I first got to claim a room of my own, I couldn’t wait to make it bright after working in a dark basement living room in our old townhouse. I painted the walls lime soufflé, and my coworkers called my office the Key Lime Studio.

When I moved to a different job, I thought I should change my space, too. I was still using the same office, since I was still working from home. It felt odd to be doing a completely different job from the exact same space. I painted the walls, but that’s about as far as I got. I didn’t redecorate; I didn’t really “move in”.

After rejoining Automattic, I wanted to make my office my home again. The monitor, desk, and chair I got from when I was hired in 2014 are still my sturdy constants, and I freshened the rest of the space by making some small changes. I paid our daughter to paint my bookshelf white, my husband made a chairmat out of plywood and vinyl tiles, and I bought a fluffy runner rug to soften up the place. Most exciting, with my new office color I can finally display the orange glass globe from my grandfather that I’ve carted around with me for 20 years but never had a good place to display it.

I love my office space now. I come down here and write before I work, and it’s a pleasant place to spend my days at home at work.