Organized Home Office – Spring Cleaning Challenge

So, with that advice, I went to work. Here’s how I tackled each point.

(1) Relocate all the tools.

Done. This was actually the easiest part! I had power tools in the office that I had used on a project and never put away. Now, they are in the shed, where they belong. I did keep my tool box and my drill in the office, at the work table.

I use my drill in the house all the time, and it’s easy to move if I want to use it in the shed. And the tool box holds small tools, like my hammer, screwdrivers, and pliers, all of which I use in the house.

My work table is actually this kitchen island from IKEA. One side of the table has shelves for great storage.

I used plastic bins I already had (originally from Target) to organize all my project parts and pieces. All are labeled so everything is easy to find.

I had bought this organizer (at Home Depot) a while ago for hardware, but had never used it. Now, I love how easy it is to find everything. I may move it down to the shed eventually, but for now, it’s on the file cabinet behind my work table.

Each bin is labeled – so much easier for me to find what I’m looking for!

I keep my magic wand on my work table, just in case. This organizer (from Home Goods) corrals paint brushes, paint pens, pencils, and scissors.

I still have a bin under the work table with project materials…

But it’s better because (a) it’s all contained in one bin; and (b) it’s all stuff that I plan to use on projects in the very near future.

Yes, my Pottery Barn knock-off tripod lamp is back there – Elvis Parsley ran into it and broke it, so I have to fix it. Also on my to-do list for the near future.

(2) Create closed storage areas… Sort through desk items and move non-essential [stuff] to the shelving.

I took Jeni’s advice and moved the barrister’s bookcase that was behind my desk to another part of the house. It wasn’t good storage there.

I moved the bookcase that was on the other side of the room to that corner.

While it’s not closed storage, it is better organized. The stuff that was on the barrister’s bookcase is now either in bins on the work table shelves, or in the bin of project materials. Everything else was either thrown out, recycled, or donated.

For the rest of it, it was really just a case of putting things away. Photos went upstairs to photo albums and boxes, where they belong. Papers got filed into file cabinets…which brings me to…

3. Deal with the paper.

Well, what Jeni actually said was to go digital as much as possible, and put the remaining paperwork into a filing system without buying a bulky file cabinet.

My bottom desk drawer is actually a file cabinet. All I had to do was install the rails that came with it, buy some cute file folders (organizing is more fun that way!), and file everything away!

I also went through the two big filing cabinets (now behind the work table) that hold our family files, and I cleaned that out. There’s a free paper-shredding event this weekend, so I was motivated to tackle that and get all that paper gone!

For the papers that I need to still deal with or have at hand, I bought a metal file organizer for $1 at the thrift store and put those files there, on the corner of my desk:

I always have a spiral notebook – it’s where I keep my to-do lists, project lists, blog ideas, etc.

For my desk, I cleaned out the drawers and put things away, then labeled all the drawers.

I have this little collection from teaching – I used matryoshka dolls as a metaphor for analyzing a legal issue.

Let’s hear it for a clean, organized desk!

4. Mount the dry erase board.

Done! I do actually use it, so it needed to be hung on the wall.

I also finally framed my features from This Old House Magazine and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and hung those on the wall, too. I’m really proud of these features and they provide me with inspiration!

I found the “Do what you love” art at a thrift store for $1.91! And the newspaper page next to it celebrates my favorite college basketball team (insufferable Duke fan that I am). You can tell I’m old because it references Barney Miller re-runs!

By our desks, I re-hung our mail/paper sorter:

The last thing on Jeni’s list of advice was to add shelves on the wall with the dry-erase board. I didn’t do this because we have plaster walls and they are HARD to drill into to mount shelves. Instead, I used the bookcase, as shown above.

Dear Husband and I are so, so happy with the office now! From The Land of Unfinished Projects…

…to an organized, clean, calm room!

And would you believe that this whole makeover cost me about $5?? I had everything already in our home or in the office, except for the pretty new file folders! Sweet! It’s amazing how you can transform a space just by getting an objective view of it.

A BIG, HUGE, AMAZING THANK YOU to GoodHousekeeping.com and Jeni from Clutter Cowgirl for taking on our office and giving great advice!

What do you think?!?