A Guided Tour of My Girl Cave

When we moved into this house 2ish years ago, our lifestyle changed a *lot*. This house is newer, better built and well maintained, unlike the old house. It even has a spacious, well-landscaped country yard.

But best of all, it has THREE bedrooms! This meant, to my utter glee, that for the first time in my life, I could have an office of my very own. Even during my working career, I had never had an office, not even once. I always worked from cubicles, computer rooms, warehouses, and open plan desk rows. But now I have my very own Girl Cave. Want a little tour?

I’m trying. 🙂 This wall plaque is a good inspiration.

It’s 8:00 am on a beautiful day here in CowTown. Time for my morning commute! First, I exit that closed door (the bedroom) and then carefully navigate the three-foot crossing through the Girl Cave door (the open one). Whew. Thank goodness, traffic was light today, as the cat was still asleep. Now that we’ve arrived, we’ll look at the room in a proper clockwise manner. First is my filing cabinet. It looks so neat from the outside, but I do need to do heaps of organizing on the inside. It’s on my to-do list, and I’ll get to it eventually. Perhaps.

Here’s the full north wall. That dark wood mirror is a favorite antique. I bought it for $20 in the mid-70s at an antique shop in Seattle. It’s a shaving mirror, with a small shelf for grooming needfuls. It’s hand carved; every detail is a little lopsided, as the curves and spires don’t quite line up. I like it better because it was made with more love than talent.

I love snooping at other peoples bookshelves, so I’ll give you that same chance! Here’s the top. Real butterflies on a display under glass, decades old. My cold drip coffee maker, and yes, it really works. I had to put it up here because A) it’s out of reach of the cat and B) it’s rather steampunky and I like it in here. Lastly, a cross stitched picture done by a good friend.

Top three shelves of the bookcase. Most of the paperback steampunk and fantasy books are here, and many of them were bought directly from the authors and signed. I love my Kindle library, but it’s nice to have paper, too. Best of all worlds. Also, there’s a 1940s rubber-stamp holder that I use for my earring collection, my Bluetooth speaker, a huge Godiva cup filled with all sorts of loose tiny objects, and a resin antler candle holder.

Continuing down to carpet level. There’s a metal heat sink from a 1997 Pentium II computer, which makes a nifty business card holder now. And on the bottom shelf, Eomer sits atop Minas Tirith, doing battle with Van Helsing, who is taking aim with his crossbow from the geology and nature book section. Er, and his crossbow is backwards. It keeps falling off otherwise.

A wind chime. There’s plenty of chimes outdoors and elsewhere, and this one looks so elvish and elegant that I hung it from the light fixture. A convenient floor length mirror is next.

Going round the corner to the east wall. A stuffed pair of blue jeans makes a cozy cat bed for Chives, and his wheatgrass is nearby. It’s straggly, and needs to be replaced soon. He loves chewing grass. I crocheted that teddy bear in the corner. 🙂Built-in shelving holds all sorts of supplies, book stock, whatnots and whatevers.

More of the built in shelving. It leads right up to the edge of the corner built in desk. Filling that wall with artwork is a future project we’ll get to soon.

The view from the doorway over to the southeast corner. The windows are above a built in small desk, which is perfect for gazing out over the farmlands beyond the back yard, or watching Burgess, the neighbor’s cat, make his rounds. And there’s a divan for reading, napping, or just having an occasional flop. I fold two fleece blankets at the foot of it for chilly days, or for Chives to hop up and sleep on. He loves doing that.

Closer view of the desk nook, where I like to use my 7 year-old laptop that Ken refurbished for me. It’s so cozy here! On the far right is my oil diffuser, which often mists lemon grass or patchouli oil into the air.

The view south is of the back yard, up to a barb wire-topped fence, and the fields beyond. The crops rotate between soybeans, corn and wheat.

I do like the care that went into texturing the walls in here.

Three plain pine boards on metal brackets had been left by the previous occupants. I had fun heaping them with the family heirloom doilies and various objects meaningful to me.

The west wall holds a desk for my gramma-box computer, which, like my laptop, is also 7 years old and refurbished. There’s a Himalayan salt lamp on the left side. It’s nice on cold mornings to rest my hands on to warm them. The left door is a small private bathroom and the right door is one of two sliding doors leading into a very spacious closet filled with costume supplies and clothing, mostly used at steampunk gatherings and cons.

The bulletin board over the desk is my own creation. Wine corks, cut in half, were hot-glued onto an old, faded, stained basic corkboard. I love how it turned out.

Thanks for visiting! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to be writing. Or… napping. Time will tell.

Written by Lori Alden Holuta

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