Office Makeover

I am so so so beyond excited to finally show off pictures of my office makeover. My goal was to make this a space where I would be proud to bring clients for image presentation appointments but also a space for homework, reading, and general home office-y type of stuff. Our previous office set-up? Um, not exactly meeting those needs ...

Yeah, it was a disaster. I would do my best to clean up the desk space before meeting with clients, but the space really wasn't one I was proud to show off. I also had a major book problem. This "before" picture may not make you think so ...

... but that's because it was taken right after we moved into this house. 50 or so books later and the shelves were overflowing and books stacked every which way.

And so my number one Christmas wish was to redo the entire space. I'm not a designer. I just went with paint and furniture and decoration that I loved. That said "ME". But I am so happy with the end product. And now every time I walk into this room I get a little thrill now. Seriously, my heart skips a beat. The evening after all the furniture was in, I just stood there, mesmerized, for several minutes ... so excited with the changes. Want to take a peek? Here you go:

Things I love about my new space:

* New paint on the walls

* New blinds. Quite grateful the old ones broke while coming down during the painting process ...

* Chocolate brown velvet curtains

* My blue parsons chairs and felt pillows

* Lots and lots of storage space

* Tall bookshelves. Plenty of room to store all my books with space to spare! Thank you, Ikea! Can also thank them for the cute orange media boxes and the wires that my photos are hanging from now. Love that place.

* A reminder every day to "dream until my dreams come true"

* My "Keep Calm and Snap On" sign. You can buy them at photojojo, but I made this one myself to match my color scheme.

* Cameras on display ~ one is my very first SLR from when I was about 15, two belonged to my grandpa, and one is a folding camera just bought off of eBay. I have a vintage Brownie on the way, but I just couldn't wait a second longer to take these pictures!

* Corner desk and long work table from Ballard Designs! LOVE them.

* B&W photo of the colosseum. Took it when I was 17. Still love it. A reminder that I have been dreamin' this dream for a long time ...

96 favorites.

It was an incredible 2010 as far as my photography goals. I met so many fabulous clients, went to some amazing workshops, learned a ton, experimented, stretched and challenged myself ... I still feel like there is so much more to be learned and I am excited for all that 2011 might bring!

Have you visited my website lately? I've updated it with some of these favorites and changed a couple of other things around. Feel free to take a look! Click {here} or go to www.wishfulthinkingphotography.com.

Mine on Monday: Peek a boo!

... I see you!

And I love you.

To the moon.

And back.

I Heart {Smilin'}

This kid is the king of smiling. Soooo happy with life. Giggles and laughs his way through the day. It was definitely hard to pick a "favorite smile" for this week's I Heart Faces entry, but I just kept coming back to this one. Not only do I love his sweet little grin, I love the memory of taking his picture this day ... trying out some new techniques with a little off camera flash ... a beautiful sunny day (hard to come by in Seattle!) ... just feeling a sense of pure happiness. And that thought ... makes me smile too :)

Nielson Family

My last clients of 2010. And we had a lot of fun together. And when I'm having fun, I somehow let time just slip right away. It was actually hard for me to stop shooting ... and even harder for me to decide which pictures to share on the blog. Mostly being around these cute sisters just made me miss mine. I definitely wish I lived closer to them!

























Wow, you made it to the end of all those pictures?! I know ... it was a lot ... but I just loved too many of them too much!

Before 'n After. 5.

I'm posting my favorites from this session on the blog tomorrow ... so check back ... but I thought it was time for another before 'n after. I just love how simple little things in Photoshop can make such a difference!

Here's the before ...

and here's the after ...

Ansje

I've been holding on to these photos for months ~ couldn't share them until they were given away as a Christmas gift. Isn't our babysitter cute? I'm just lucky she always has time for us, even with how busy a senior year in high school can be!

Mine on Monday: December Favorites

Wow, the holidays sure flew by. And they were so much fun. Lots of relaxing, playing games, eating food, creating memories ... but of course all good things must come to an end, so it's back to school and work and life in general today! My goal? Get everything put back together so I can show off my home office makeover that was my Christmas gift. Oh yeah, and get back to blogging ... and maybe even pick up my camera every now and then. I have actually gone 6 straight days without even taking it out of the case. That might be a new record. But I did take over 1,137 personal pictures during the month of December, so I think a few days off were in order! I narrowed those down to a few favorites to show off:

A tripod. Three tries. And everyone looked at the camera and even tried to smile. Now THAT is a true Christmas miracle :)