The Evolution of a Room

If you’d walked into my room ten years ago, you would have seen a typical home office: a desk, some shelves, and a couch.

Today, you might look around and wonder, “Is this an office, a bedroom, an art studio, or a living room?”

The answer is yes.

I had to turn my office into a bedroom nearly eight years ago, when I injured my back and became permanently disabled. Since then, I’ve been slowly redesigning it around one question: What would make today a little easier?

The biggest change was the bed. We replaced the couch with a metal frame and a twin mattress, which was… fine.

Then came the modifications.

A foam wedge pillow relieved the pressure on my lower back. About five years ago, I upgraded to an adjustable bed frame, which has been immeasurably better. I can raise the head of the bed to almost any angle and lift the foot just enough to make long days more comfortable.

After I broke my ankle four years ago, we installed a stability pole beside the bed so I’d have something solid to grab when standing up. Six months ago, we added risers under the bed frame. Six inches doesn’t sound like much until you’re trying to stand with a damaged back.

I’m in bed about twenty-three hours a day, so creating a comfortable bed wasn’t a luxury. It was the foundation for everything else.

For years after my injury, the office part of my room was mostly decorative. I used the laptop on my desk for telehealth appointments, but I’d retired from writing full-time.

Four years ago, I bought a large tablet for watching movies and mounted it over my bed on a floating arm. A couple of years later, after I started writing again, I realized I could write on the tablet, too.

Then I discovered I could remotely control the laptop on my desk from the tablet. With a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse connected to the tablet, I was suddenly using my desktop computer while lying in bed.

There was one problem. I could only use that setup on my left side. I can’t lie on my back, and the floating arm doesn’t reach the right side of the bed.

This week I bought another tablet and a pillow stand for the right side. It worked even better than I expected, but then I had another idea.

Today I attached a steel sheet to the wall and several neodymium magnets to a tablet case. My original plan was simply to store the tablet on the wall because storage space around my bed is scarce.

Then I snapped the tablet onto the wall, connected the keyboard and mouse, and realized I’d accidentally built myself a second monitor.

Before my injury, I was a fairly serious landscape and wilderness photographer. Losing photography was one of the hardest parts of becoming disabled.

A couple of years later, I took up painting. I set up a small table in the spare room and discovered something unexpected. Once I sat down, I could reach everything I needed. For a little while, I didn’t feel disabled anymore.

The problem wasn’t painting. It was getting there.

The table was small, storage was limited, and I had to walk across the house every time I wanted to paint.

So I moved the studio instead of moving myself.

Now two small IKEA tables, a pair of rolling carts, and an extra chair occupy one corner of my room. My art studio is three steps from my bed.

I usually watch movies on my tablet with noise-canceling earbuds. It’s like having a private movie theater from the comfort of my bed. When I want to watch with my husband or kids, I switch to the large TV mounted on the wall at the end of the bed. I don’t have to make the trip to the living room, and raising the head of my bed is more comfortable than sitting in the recliner.

The TV also comes in handy for video games. I can hook up my Switch for a spirited game of Mario Kart or fire up the Wii to box in Wii Sports and pretend it’s entirely about getting some exercise.

Over the years, my office has become a bedroom. My bedroom has become an office. One corner is an art studio. Another is a movie theater. Sometimes it’s a game room.

It isn’t the room I would have chosen.

But it’s the room that lets me keep writing, painting, laughing with my family, and living the life I still have.