We have been in SERIOUS need of some home office organization. It happens to the best of us…we have good intentions, but the papers just keep piling. I considered posting a before picture of our office, but it was really too embarrassing to show, so instead I have a photo of ALL of our office contents strewn across the dining room. Ugh!
We have a decent office space – especially for an older home. The owners before us built out a small office off of the dining room by taking a small section of the garage. The space has a built-in desk and built-in shelves and it could potentially be very useful. It’s just that it became a dumping ground for everything that didn’t have another place in the house and before we knew it we could barely find the computer- much less the water bill. So, we unloaded it. The above picture is what we ended up with- an enormous mess. We figured we would just have to start over.
We began by repainting the room. It was nice to have a fresh color on the walls and to cover up a few Sharpie drawings that a small child may have done. I’m not naming any names! Also, we went through stacks of mail, documents, school papers, etc. All of the things that we had said we could deal with later. I already had binders (with matching craft paper and printed labels on the spines) set up for various kinds of paperwork that needs to be saved and I even already had several organizers (like below)- just none of them were being used efficiently.
We hung a new bamboo shade to replace the bulky curtains that had been hanging. The result is a MUCH cleaner look. And I covered another cork board with burlap to match the other two that were already hanging over one of the desks. Once the room was painted I carefully began filling the bookshelves. I made sure everything I use the most was the most accessible and that nothing was so packed into the shelves that it would cause a disaster when I pulled down a notebook or a box. Once everything was in place (and this time only the things we actually use stayed), I added the lamp, the rug and a few decorative things. And this is how it turned out…
Not a design masterpiece, I know, but SO much more functional and easy to maintain. Everything has a place, so there’s no excuse for messy piles or a missing water bill!
There are so many pictures of great offices out there. Here are a couple to get you inspired…
Happy Organizing!!
