a *simply* organized home office

besides the kitchen (and laundry room, and playroom, and bathroom - we are potty training!), it seems as if the office is where i spend most of my free time. the office is where i work on the blog as well as my (non-existant) scrapbooking projects and other (have no time for) hobbies. i love to have a bright, open, clean and tidy space for working and this room in the rental house fits the bill. it's actually a bedroom, but my brilliant husband suggested i use it as an office because it has a door that locks. there's even a bathroom in here. so, i guess i'm ready to move in...as long as someone occasionally shoves some food and coffee through the door for me.

:-)

the beauty of living in a rental home is that you have the ability to make any space in the house work for you. whether it's a long term rental or temporary (like us), anything goes. this bedroom happens to make a great little office.

first, i'll show you around...and then i'll share all of the simple organization solutions i've created in this space.

the room is next door to the master bedroom...

that little door on the right? that's the bathroom i was talking about...

the room has a beautiful window that brings in a ton of natural light...

there's a high ceiling, which also helps with taking naturally lit photos...

as far as what sits around the perimeter of the room, we have a corner desk (pottery barn bedford collection) that sits perfectly in this spot...

mom and dad's computer is in the corner...

when our old mac reached age 8, we had it re-configured for the kids. this is where they sit to do any computer work...right next to us, where we can keep a close eye...

i love how much light pours in while i sit here to work...

if you remember our previous office - i was pretty dark, even with the 3 large windows in the space. this room is great because the sun hits it all day long. the huge window has been a welcome change!

moving left, i have a small project table and a 5-shelf rack...

and here you can see one of the two closets...

the opposite wall is empty. the folding table you see is my larger project table...

here you can see the door to the room and the second closet. this closet faces the door to the bathroom...

now that you are familiar with the landscape, let's move on to my favorite part...a closer look into how i organized the office!

here's the desk breakdown...

i'm going to share an even closer look, but if you're interested in knowing more about how i created these solutions, click on the link above each photo. most of these solutions were put to work in our previous home. and i can happily share that they easily transferred to this new space and still work very well for us.

hanging files are in the 2 drawers on the far left...

my blog binder and move binder sit between the printer and computer for easy grabbing...

we recently treated ourselves to a new printer...

love it! our old printer was over 10 years old. wow, have printers changed in the last decade. directly below the printer i stow away our supply of paper and replacement ink...

on the far right, i have my weekly post-it calendar propped up against the wall...

the drawers below are organized using recycled materials...old checkbook boxes, an old cupcake decorating box, empty yogurt containers and more...

why pay for drawer organizers when you may have them in your pantry or fridge? i love re-purposing materials to make life less-wasteful and more organized...

on my small project table, i have a white board turned mini command center...

on this board i keep our school calendar, a file pocket that holds important school papers, and a file pocket that holds important church papers. the file pockets are from martha stewart. any free spots on the board must be brightened with kids art work. :-)

on the 5-shelf rack...

i have 2 hanging baskets that hold our supply of tape and our box top sheets, my coupon binder, laminator, a basket for holding anything that needs to be sorted or put away, a scrapbook collection box (for a book i am currently working on) along with some misc scrapbooking supplies, and the rack is topped off with 5 magazine file boxes that i use for various papers...

the 5 are labeled for me, my husband, blog reference, action and to scan or file. this serves as my action center...where papers are sorted until i'm able to get to them.

here is a view into the first of two closets...

when i was packing up the house for the move to the rental, i was pretty rigid about what was going to come here and what would be stored away. 6 -7 months is a long time, but i didn't need everything either. during the course of one day i went through everything in the old office and sorted it into 2 sections - what i would need in those few months and what i wouldn't need for a long time.

in this closet i have a few scrapbooks that i'll work on (if time is available), all of our photo boxes (i didn't want the photos stored away in the garage where the temperature will fluctuate quite a bit between now and july), party supplies (we will celebrate 3 birthdays before we move), greeting cards, bins for holding the kids school artwork, and my supply of items for selling on e-bay.

regarding the kids artwork, i have one large plastic bin for each of the boys...

and an old land of nod box for holding our daughter's artwork...

i'm still working on a plan for how to organize the kids artwork. this is one area i struggle with because i know i can't keep everything, but what do i keep and what do i....*gulp*...toss? i've decided this issue will be tackled once we have moved into our new, permanent california home.

now a peek into the second closet...

again, i really worked hard to keep this to only items i knew we would need or want in 6-7 months time.

top shelf: any software supplies and manuals we might need.

2nd shelf: archival photo boxes, tooth fairy kits, school memory binders, greeting card binders, DIY desk caddies...

3rd shelf: red caddies that hold medium sized office supplies, 3 gray boxes that hold photos to be sorted and booked, cards to be sorted and put into card binders, and the last one holds gift wrapping supplies...

4th shelf: shallow baskets that hold items like resume paper and sheet protector pages, camera supplies, label maker and supplies, and laminating machine supplies. there is also our external hard drive and a bin for holding warranties and manuals for the kid products in our home...

5th shelf: a warranty and manual bin for home items or things for mom and dad, misc office paper supplies, a cord organizer, a receipt organizer, my little things organizers, and travel camera bags...

on the floor is just a bin of gift wrapping rolls and gift bags.

in a perfect world, i would love to have all of the bins and caddies match. but living in a temporary home, i am not willing to invest in items that may not fit in our next home. for now, this is doing just fine! there's a place for everything and i know where everything is. and that is what matters.

what is important to share is how easy it was to unpack everything on this end. having all of these supplies already sorted into bins, caddies and boxes made this office move almost no work at all. instead of packing up a zillion individual items, then unwrapping and finding a home for them here...all i had to do was load the bins into moving boxes and then pull them out and shelve them on this end. sure, there was some quick re-organizing to do in the case that anything shifted...but it took me no more than 1-2 hours to unpack and completely move into this space.

that, my friends, is my home office. sharing this tour with you allowed me to look back over the simple projects i've completed in an effort to get this household more organized. i'm amazed how much i've been able to accomplish over the last year. i hope, if you're a new reader, you were able to catch up or grab some new ideas to implement in your own home. personally, when it comes to the organization solutions in our home, i find that simple and easy is best.

have a great day!

(i linked up with i heart organizing, house of hepworths, liz marie blog)