Making order

I’ve been thinking about how my surroundings affect me. In particular, my office. I moved into it 12 years ago, and devices and objects and debris have been accreting ever since. The disorder has been bothering me for years. But you get busy, and you don’t see stuff after awhile.

I believe that our home environment is an expression of our internal state. I did not like the reflection I was seeing. I want more order in my mind, so perhaps the best place to start was to make order of my surroundings. I’ve just finished a big job on the computer, and it was a perfect moment to start.

Once upon a time I had merely a computer and a printer. In the last decade they’ve bred and reproduced. With the lights off it’s a constellation of green LED’s. Now I have three computers, three scanners, four monitors, four printers, and a gaggle of other things that plug in. Each new addition had been shoehorned into some available surface.

In two days I’ve made a major improvement in structure, cleanliness and functionality. Before, most of the gear sat on a desk I first built 25 years ago. Friends were moving a piano, and built a heavy duty ramp out of 2x4’s and a sheet of plywood. I harvested the ramp and made it into my desk. Now it’s in pieces in the garage, to finish its journey to the landfill. The gear now is organized on Industrial Post modular racks from Storables. The books are on shelves, the labels and paper stocks are in stationary racks. Even my bird's nests of spare cables and wires are stored and organized in clear plastic bins instead of comingled in a desk drawer.

The main goal, though, was to open up some wall space and create a print viewing area. The tall bookcases are gone. Now I have blank wall. I will mount a wall covering of some sort that will accept push pins, I’ll rig some color-corrected Solux lights, and it will be the place I can work on my work in progress.

My mind feels clearer already.

before (click for larger image)

after

Comments

[Joe]

Re: SoLux lighting project,

I came across this article last week - http://www.ppmag.com/reviews/200605_rodneycm.pdf

[Michael Poster]

Doug, I've been following your blog for some time, but this post prompted me to write. I've created a print editing wall based on reject steel passage doors and small magnets available at any craft store. I buy the doors (usually dented one side) for about 25 bucks each from a salvage materials guy. I have 5 doors screwed to the wall vertically giving me a surface area of about 80 square feet. I can post 30-40 11 x 17 sheets for editing and the magnets makes moving the prints around for sequencing a snap. Obviously, just about any steel surface material will do, but the doors were just about a turn-key solution.

[Shaun O'Boyle]

I would be interested in hearing what your solution is for a wall covering, I have a similar space that I want to use for print reviewing. At my old apt I liquid nailed ceiling tiles to the wall, worked great until I had to remove them before moving; trust me, you don't want to use liquid nails if it ever needs to be removed. The up side is that I now have a nice belt sander.