The "New"and Improved Office

Months ago, I mentioned that the office where I work was undergoing some much needed renovations. Previously we had quite a lot of peeling paint. Personnel and positions in the office have changed quite a bit in the years we have been here, and some of the offices needed to be shifted around to reflect these changes in job descriptions. Together, we suffered through months of smelly paint, shifting furniture, and the painful business of sorting piles from our desks, but have been amply rewarded by the much improved appearance of the office! Since I had posted some construction pictures, I thought I would include a few pictures of the end results. Amanda who volunteered to take on this enormous task, took some flack at first for her color choices aimed to hide the orange sand that is ever present here, but even initial doubters have admitted the colors have begun to grow on them. Everyone agrees that the office has a brighter and cleaner feel to it.

Here is the reception area. Goodbye, shredded cushions and faded curtains; hello, orange!The kitchen and mail room were moved to a smaller space allowing the large office they were occupying to be used as an office. Amanda's husband, Chad, built the cabinets himself.
This is my new office. I love the green curtains. Though it is not a color I used to be drawn too, since living in the desert, I have grown to love the color green! I used to have a large office way too big for what I needed. With some rearranging of doors, the director now has the bigger space which allows him to have small meetings in his office, something not possible before.
One of my favorite additions is in our treasurer's office. Perhaps this is to prove once and for all that money does NOT grow on trees? The art teacher at the kids' school was kind enough to paint this gorgeous mural for us!This deep blue definitely adds interest to this corner room! With the big windows and two white walls opposite, there is no chance of it seeming dark and dingy. We are all thankful for the many changes that help our working place be one an enjoyable one. We pray that as coworkers, pastors and leaders from around the country visit our headquarters, they would feel welcomed. We want our attitudes and actions to be even more beautiful than our new office!

Hard Hat Times

This past week the SIM office and those who work there started on a new adventure: remodeling! Mostly this remodeling takes the form of a badly needed paint job. Some offices had large patches of peeling paint and the majority of the paint was not washable, so fingerprints and lizard droppings were all too evident. The ceilings are turning from a mocha color to a nice, bright white. The office reception desk is now framed in a dirt-hiding chocolate color while the rest of the hallways and offices are being painted a tanish color, again aimed at reducing visable dirt which is so prevalent here. This morning, we walked in and were very surprised to see lavendar walls!! We joked that we were trying to attract a purple loving colleague of ours to come and work in the office. Thankfully, it was only the first coat, a bit more yellow and we had a more expected khaki/tan color. Here you can see the chocolate and lavender walls. It looks quite nice, but it will look nicer without the lavender. The color itself is not bad, it is just rather surprising in an office setting!
Since furniture was being moved around to paint, the opportunity was taken to shift around a few of the offices to hopefully serve people better. I have a personnel interest in the shifting as I am being shifted! My office is currently very large. The majority of things in it are not mine, nor are they things needed for my job. I am being moved to a much smaller space where i don't have to house extra files and furniture. I am looking forward to having my own bulletin board and a bit more say in what is in my space. In order to make the space shifting fit our jobs, we had to shift around some doors. Here is the doorway to my new office from the hall. We had quite a lot of banging and falling cement pieces while this hole was being made. This picture is looking from my office into the director and deputy director's offices. The door on the left has always been there, the door on the left is another new addition. Another long intended project that is being completed is that of putting windows in all the hall doors in the office. Some places like the treasury need a bit more security, so their doors will have grates covering the windows. As more of the offices are using air conditioning and keeping their hall doors closed, it is nice to be able to see if people are available for talking or are in appointments. Here is our new treasurer... we locked her in so she couldn't leave. We just push food through the grate now and again. :) Just kidding Ruth! I'll keep taking pictures so you get the full effect. At least one more paint color will go up, couch cushions are being recovered, curtains are being washed and some changed out. It is nice to see all the changes and extra nice not to be in charge of making them!