My Happy Place: The Midst Founder's midcentury-inspired colorful office

December 10, 2025

LIKES

My Happy Place: The Midst Founder’s midcentury-inspired colorful office

Welcome to my happy place! I’m Amy Cuevas Schroeder, the founder of The Midst and The Midst Substack, and this is my colorful home office in San Tan Valley, Arizona, a fast-growing suburb of Phoenix. We moved to the Phoenix area by way of Chicago and bought a new-construction model home in 2024.

Someday I’ll get around to writing about the pros and cons of buying a model home, but in general, I love that we got a home with “free upgrades” like shiplap walls, a gas fireplace, and beautiful desert landscaping. The downside is that we didn’t get a home warranty. Even though it’s a new build, we’ve had a fair share of fixits and repairs, like a broken microwave and funky plumbing issues.

I’ve always loved decorating but because I’ve moved so much in my life, I haven’t laid down serious decorating roots. I’m so here for it now. As I’m writing this in December 2025, we’ve lived in this home for one whole year and I’m slowly but surely refreshing each room of the two-story house.

Colorful home office with white shiplap walls, a West Elm Mid-Century Executive Desk, and Ikea Lack shelves. — This desk is my pride and joy and represents being a grown-up. Though I’ve worked from home remotely for a decade, this is my first *really nice desk*, which I bought from West Elm. Throughout various cross-country moves, I’ve used dining tables, card tables, and small vintage desks. I found some similar-ish desks here on Amazon.

Amy Cuevas Schroeder's home office desk with computer monitor — Let’s get real. This is what my desk actually looks like, on a good day. I’m your typical creative with occasional perimenopause brain fog.

My decorating style: I’m constantly debating between white walls with pops of colors and color-drenching, so I did a mix of both in my office. I’m also a fan of high-low decor, meaning I try to invest in a nice piece of furniture when I can (sometimes it’s vintage, sometimes it’s new) paired with propagated plants, framed post cards, calendar art, and other inexpensive finds. I buy almost everything on sale. I’m one of those Midwestern people who likes to tell you about all my deals and steals.

Black and white checkered lamp from Target

I like to move the furniture around every coupla months.

Brain fog hat — Every now and then I’ll throw on this hat I created when I forget what I wanted to say. Sometimes just putting the hat on helps me overcome brain fog. OK, maybe not.

A photo of Amy Cuevas Schroeder's business cards in a tea cup. — Please, take my card. Actually, let’s connect here on Linkedin.

10-year-old girl painting a door Sherwin Williams Bahia green. — My 10-year-old daughter Lydia helped me paint two walls and a new door green. The shade is Sherwin Williams Bahia. When we moved in, this room was door-less, which gets complicated when you’re trying to manage a live Zoom meeting while your kids are roller-skating in the hallway and your dog is barking. Oh, if you’re curious about the Mona Lisa Chewing Bubble Gum print, here’s a similar print.

Bahia Grass paint is a midtone, subdued, toad green with an ivy undertone.

I got this wall art print from Anthropologie Outlet in Gilbert, Arizona, which is my new favorite place on the planet. I scored the little vintage painted table at a thrift store.

Meet my coworker, Luna the Mega Mutt. I bought the furry bean bag a few years ago at Pottery Barn Outlet, and found similar bean bags here on Amazon.

My heart skipped a beat when I found this limited-edition art print of Aretha Franklin. One of these days I’ll get around to un-framing it and looking up the artist’s name on the back.

Mustache man face planter — Looks like I need to clean the leaves of this plant. I bought this mustache face planter from HomeGoods and found similar face planters here.

Black woman wearing pink glasses canvas art print by Kendra Dandy — Do you know the artist Kendra Dandy? This is a print of one of her paintings. I looooove her work. Follow Kendra Dandy on Instagram @theebouffants and shop her work for sale here. Oh, and you might notice the bird feathers and crystals on the shelf. Bird feathers are often seen as symbols of freedom, transcendence, and a connection to the divine. In many traditions, they represent the presence of spiritual beings, offering guidance, protection, or messages from the unseen realms. So, yes, I’m a collector.

I got this marble evil eye coaster from Anthropologie and found similar evil eye coasters here on Amazon.

2026: The year she got everything she wanted planner — Yep, I still (partially) rock it old school with a paper planner. I also use Google Cal, but it’s fun to write stuff down, no?

Model home office beginnings

Pulte model home office with staged decorating in San Tan Valley, Arizona. White shiplap walls, bookshelves, and a wood desk. — Here’s what the office looked like staged as a model home for anyone and everyone to see. The furniture did not come with the house and I never actually got to see our home staged in person. But I did get the shiplap walls and the light fixture. This is a screenshot of a photo I found online.

Here’s what the office looked like when we moved in. I like the model curtains, but they’re just for looks. They don’t actually cover the window, so I took them down to create more wall space.

These heavy metal framed artworks came installed in my office, with the model home. I decided to move the framed art to another room (I’ll share that in an upcoming home tour for y’all).

Back-of-door collage inspiration mood board — I found this throwback photo of my home office in the Chicago area in 2020, when I worked remotely for a design collaboration software company called Abstract. I loved Abstract, but was unfortunately laid off along with a big portion of the company ahead of its Adobe acquisition.

The is the first edition of The Midst decorating series called “My Happy Place,” which features the homes and other happy places of inspiring women 40+. Subscribe to The Midst Substack to get future editions emailed directly to you.