Office Makeover: Reveal with Organization Tips

It's time to show you my office, friends! I had a lot of fun working on it over winter break and even though I'm still waiting on one more piece of art to arrive, it's pretty much finished! I'm a little embarrassed to show you the before, but here it goes...

So there are lots of things going on in my before shot. There's furniture from college that was moved so many times it was falling apart and held together quite creatively. Let's face it, it was worn out and ugly well loved. There also isn't a lot of storage here, with just two drawers in my desk and the book shelf that holds my beloved penguins.

Let's take a look at how much better the after is. Ahhh... I feel so much more creative and productive here!

This has several improvements. First, it all actually matches and is a set (yay!). I didn't break the bank on it either because it was from IKEA and two of the four pieces were clearance. I shopped stores like TJ Maxx, Home Goods, and Target for accessories.

First up, the desk itself. I bought the desk and the extra add-on for lots of storage and decor. I like to have my little treasures around me when I work. They make it feel more like home and less like an office. BUT, the desk also provides me with lots of storage. 

There are three shelves and two closed drawers on both sides of my add-on. I'm able to store all of my office supplies in the drawers and all of my business and teacher receipts in little blue boxes on the shelf. I made the two middle shelves letter sized to hold in-process papers. I still have lots of room to grow in it too. In the desk itself, I have two large drawers on one side and a bunch of hidden shelves on the other. I'm using the left one closest to the printer for storing all of my 'teacher paper' and supplies. You can never have enough beautiful paper.

 

On the left of my desk is a low two-drawer chest to hold my lamp and printer with my ipod dock hidden behind the printer. Getting the printer off my desk gives me more room to work. The chest itself is all-new storage space that I didn't have before. The little drawer within a drawer is so clever too! It pulls out to give me access to my paperclips, post-it notes, etc. and still has storage underneath it too.

Finally, to the right is a new bookshelf with six shelves instead of five. This was a hard part for me, but I went through and really weeded out my old bookshelf. Most of my larger penguins went into storage (just can't get rid of them) and most of my books went to Goodwill. I know, I know. I love books too, but did I really need to keep all of them? Most of them I'll never read again and I am loving my Kindle anyway. I boxed up the children's picture books I'm saving for our kids and a few other favorite books to store in the garage, leaving only my favorites out on the shelves. There's still lots of room to grow on the new bookshelf too.

On the opposite wall, I organized all of my fabric onto another bookshelf I already had. I didn't get a before shot, but this one was full of books and clutter treasures too. I weeded it out big time, storing what was needed out of site and donating the rest. I don't know how many of you sew, but here's a tip for storing fabric. I wrapped all of my fabric on these comic boards to make little bolts before sorting it into bins. Most of this fabric is for my baby blankets, so I sorted them by both gender and fabric type. It makes finding what I need so easy! The pink and polka dot bins were all from Target and the teal ones were clearance at Lowe's.

Other than recovering the chair and painting my filing cabinet, I didn't do much with my second desk. I did move the filing cabinet under the desk instead of having them side by side. This saves some floor space. As you can see, I also have two printers. One has "nice" ink for printing posters and things while the other has cheap ink for printing worksheets and things that are black and white. This is great for saving money on ink! In case you're wondering why I have two desks, I use the second one for cutting fabric and running my second sewing machine when I'm working on both of them at the same time. I really love the look of the glass top too.

Finally my office is all about work, but it also needed to feel inviting. I think I nailed it because I catch myself opening the door just to look in sometimes. Here are a few of my favorite accessories.

Home Goods lamp- cheap!

Inspiring print from Marshall's

Chaise- love!

In case you're wondering, I totally work on that chaise! I pull my laptop cord over and work while relaxing. It feels less like work that way. Plus there's room for my pups. The ocean blues and beach theme also help. =)

I hope that gave you some inspiration to clean up the clutter and get organized in 2013. In case you missed it, here are my other office posts:

• Desk Chair Tutorial
• Chalkboard Tutorial
• Filing Cabinet Tutorial