Where We Make: Jordan Rosenfeld
[Funny how, in the writing and arts online community, we can have such warm feelings towards people we've never met in person! Jordan Rosenfeld wrote the loveliest piece about Mary Modern for Writer's Digest back in the summer of 2007, and I have considered her a friend ever since. Here's a peek inside her awesomely colorful workspace.]
“Wow, it’s bright!”
This is the most common opening gambit of the people that step foot into my office. And it is bright: upon renovation, my intent was to take it out of its masculine dark “Mad Men study” feel and shift it into a feminine, creative pale turquoise (my favorite color)—something that conjured the underwater realm of mermaids of my childhood fantasies. As paint colors go, it’s really more aquamarine—a color that bounds up and licks you in the face like an overeager puppy. Compared to the sedate rest of my house in understated beige, crimson and ochre, it’s a room of one’s own for damn sure. Mine.
I am drawn to bright colors like bees to the bright flowers in my garden. Somewhere I read that blues inspire creativity more than any color, and all it takes is a few minutes sitting in its cheery marine tones and I feel ready to produce. Once the second layer of paint had dried, however, I will admit to a slight pang of regret. What had I done? It was almost childishly bright—a room fit for a child, not a functional adult. But once I added colored panels to the built in doors, it changed from “Wow, bright” to cheerful—a room I can’t ever have a bad mood in. Sleek white shelves and floral carpet that felt almost divinely conjured to match my color scheme have since brought together a room that is now my favorite place to be in the house (convenient that it’s my workplace). More so, there was something about taking the step to let my external world match the wild, messy creativity that takes up so much of my internal landscape. My six year old thinks it’s cool, too.
* * *
Jordan Rosenfeld is the author of Forged in Grace, Make a Scene, and Write Free, and she is the Managing Editor of Sweatpants & Coffee. Connect with her on Facebook and on Twitter at @jordanrosenfeld.
* * *
[Where We Make origin story and submission guidelines; all entries here.]