Blank Slate

A little more than a week ago, I finally succeeded in clearing off my desk, arguably one of the most important tasks on my sticky note to-do list. This weekend, I noted with satisfaction that I've kept it in its pristine state for over a week.

Pristine is, admittedly, in the eye of the beholder. While I've recovered a vast expanse of clear space (a.k.a. work space), my desk will never be completely clear. Not only do I need to see things to remember to do them, I like to see things that make me smile. A desk devoid of photos and mementos would be, well, not my desk. I've never been a Zen desk kind of girl.

Consequently, I'm at a crossroads. Part of the desk-clearing task included getting rid of the monitor, keyboard and CPU from the desk-top computer that's been non-functional for some time now. In doing so, I revealed an expanse of white wall space above my desk, one that I'm not sure what to do with.

My desk faces this wall, and so its empty whiteness is unavoidable. When I get to the end of a sentence, stop and look up, this wall is what greets me. While it could be argued that it's a clean slate, a visual respite of sorts, its white emptiness bothers me. It calls out to be filled. Instead of moving on to the next sentence, I brainstorm things that can fill that space.

To its left and right, this wall's counterparts are inspirational and functional, respectively, and both are visually busy. Consequently, whatever graces this central wall needs to be sleek, with clean lines and few distractions. Less distracting, anyway, than the screaming blankness of the white wall.

Should it be simple? Inspirational? Functional? If I were taller, I'd put a removable white board there and use it to brainstorm and keep track of projects, but at five feet zero inches, I'm not tall enough to make that work.

Maybe a single, simple print. Perhaps an inspirational saying, flanked by framed photos of family and friends. Or perhaps I should break out the paint and simply cover over the whiteness with something warm and bright -- red, maybe.

I don't know. And I suspect I won't know for a while yet. Since I'll be looking at this wall every day, and since it's a part of my creative space, I feel a need to find the perfect match.

Meanwhile, I'm open to suggestions. What would you do with a blank, white wall?