Small Office Organization Part 2

I have a very small office which resides in the guest bedroom, I really don’t need a very big space since I pretty much just use it to write my blog and store some paperwork.  Even though I don’t need much space it still has to be attractive and efficient so I can prepare for guests at a moments notice, without having to scoop up pile of papers and shove them into any available space.  My biggest problem is all the misc pieces of paper, receipts and statements and all the rest waiting to be dealt with then filed away, they tend to pile up fast. I do not have room for a filing cabinet or in and out boxes so I improvised, here is what I did.

I purchased some blue plastic wall mount envelopes from the Martha Stewart Home Office Collection; I thought they might work on the side of the bookcase next to my printer.  They were kind of plain looking, but the right color for the room, so I purchased some Scotch Expressions Tape I thought would look good as an embellishment on the envelopes.  I placed the tape horizontally in several spots along the width of each of them then added some labels to identify what would be in each one. They fit perfectly within easy reach right down the side of the bookcase, great for holding all the bits of paper I seem to collect. They are so cute with their blue polka dots and they pick up the colors in the room too! There you have it, a quick little project for organizing all those pieces of paper just waiting for attention.

Thanks for letting me share my quick and easy organization project with you, there are still a few more to show you as I go along.  Now that I am done with the big party I hosted for my Husband’s birthday last weekend I can get back to working on my office clean up.

See you soon.

Laurette

Small Office Organization - Part 1

Finally I have my first project ready to share with all of you, I was inspired by Jen over at her IHeart Organizing Blog, this month the theme is Home Office  Organizing.  This was a much needed project in my own little office, which is part of the guest room so it has to stay neat and confined. Lately, I find my office expanding onto the bed behind my desk and surrounding surfaces due to a lack of good organization for my small space, not a good thing if company suddenly arrives, time to get to work. When I saw Jen’s desk drawer makeover it motivated me to do something for my less then stellar little drawer. Take a look at what I did to clean it up and make it easier to find all my little goodies.

Here it is my dirty little secret, my junk desk drawer the only one in a very small desk.  I had this desk as a kid; it belonged to my Dad who used it to study at while in law school.  My daughter had it to study on all through school then it was left behind to sit in my attic for years and years. When we moved into our newest home I rescued it from storage and gave it a complete face lift then placed the desk in my guestroom/office.  (You can see the complete makeover on my blog Buttons, Bows & Bling in the archives.) As you can see the drawer was a jumbled mess which got that way every time I opened and closed the drawer, things would always slide around no matter how many times I straightened it up.

The first thing I did was to empty the drawer, give it good wipe down then add some pretty scrapbook paper to the bottom to line it. Once the drawer was ready I created piles out of all the contents: keep, trash and file elsewhere.

Since it is a small space I did not want to spend much money to organize it so I pulled items from my office supplies and some other things hanging around the office shelves and put them to good use. I had some purple pencil boxes I kept paint brushes in and opened one up to help divide the drawer into different size spaces.  The only thing I purchased was a shorter pencil size box from the Martha Stewart Home Office collection at Staples; it was on clearance, lucky me. Those two items helped to give the drawer division and keep everything from moving around every time it was opened.

Last but not least and very important were the clear binder pockets I chose to corral all my address labels, stamps, stickers and notepads.  I love those binder pockets I use them for things like sewing pattern prototypes, kit pieces and a whole host of other projects I need to see while they are in progress. They seemed like the perfect solution to all the clutter and I was right, it worked.

There you have it my small desk drawer re-organization, thanks for letting me share it with you today; I hope it inspires you to clean up your office desk drawer soon. Next up are more of my small office clean ups and cleaver ways to create attractive storage.

See you soon.

Laurette

Welcome To My New Blog

This blog is about sharing my authentic life through creativity; years ago I decided I wanted a home which reflected who I am by creating an environment which fosters comfort and relaxation.  Since I am forever changing and evolving as time moves on so must my home, resulting in constant creative improvements through upcycling, decorating and organizing.  With the world in such turmoil I know many of us are looking to home for comfort and refuge, we are spending our time and money to make it a warm safe place to be.  I wanted to write this blog so I could share how you can create your own inviting place to retreat to at the end of each hectic day.  This is the blog to help you get there so tune in often and find your authentic life right in your own home.

buttonsbowsbling.blogspot.com

For those of you who like to quilt, sew garments or make interior décor items I am still blogging over at buttonsbowsbling.blogspot.com I decided to break apart my projects so those of you who have no interest in sewing can still see all of my other projects and vice versa. If you are not familiar with Buttons, Bows & Bling, it is a creative blog site where I shared ALL of my creative projects, not just my sewing projects, there are over a hundred great posts which show a variety of room makeovers, landscaping projects, curb appeal, recycled furniture makeovers, upcycling garments, quilts, sewing projects of all kinds, organization tips, party planning and adding that special bling to just about any project….that being said it was time to return Buttons, Bows & Bling back to its original intention, a sewing blog, all the rest will be seen here.  If you love to decorate, organize, upcycle and create all kinds of crafts be sure you sign up for both blogs so you can see all the past projects in my archives and also see any projects I sew up for my interior design projects, you will get notified by email about anything I am working on.

***Please note: I will probably only be posting on one site at a time so do not worry about getting a lot of email notices all at once, that would be too crazy for me to maintain, I have not gone completely nuts, yet!

I look forward to sharing all of my projects with you over the next few months, I have so many things planned I can not wait to get started.  Please hang in there with me for a bit longer as we work the bugs out of our new blog, there should be a project post up sometime late next week, maybe sooner with a little luck.

See you soon.

Laurette

You might also like:

buttonsbowsbling.blogspot.com

Under Construction

Good day,

We have just begun this blog, so please give us a few days to get all the pieces into place. In the mean time please enjoy our other wonderful blog:

http://buttonsbowsbling.blogspot.com


In the mean time, to keep from missing the first few post once we are all set up, please subscribe to this blog on the far right.

Thank you!

The Staff @
Create. Upcycle. Decorate. Organize.