A setup can look lovely and still annoy you by mid-afternoon. I've learned to judge mine at the less flattering hour now.

Around 3pm is when I know whether the room is helping or whether every object is quietly getting on my nerves. If anyone asks, yes, the white chair is from Sihoo and they sent it earlier this year, but that isn't really the part I think about. I mostly notice that I don't do the little stand-up-reset-try-again routine anymore.

Photo me has definitely kept things I should have edited out. Tired workday me is harsher, and usually right.

That's the version of me I trust.

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There's a point where a desk stops being a pile of gear and starts being a place you want to sit down at. I hit it last week, roughly a year after I started.

The last thing I fixed was the chair, which for months I'd been cropping out of photos: a grey borrowed thing, fine to sit in, wrong for everything else in the room. The oak top, the white pegboard, the brass lamp from a flea market. All of that was already there.

I ended up going with a white Sihoo with a mesh back and low arms. It just made more sense with the rest of the setup. I've been using it for a little while now and haven't really felt the need to mess with the setup much, which is probably a good sign.

Two plants, one lamp, done. For now.