Better right?
Here's what I realized : Before our "office" was a home office. Like the kind of place were you keep your computer and all your books. The place that you work in after you come home from your real job. Totally great. Except that this is my real job. Our home office needed to function as the place where our computers are stored but also as the place that I run a business out of. And for about $110 I made it do that.
I adore the new space.
BIG CHANGES :
- bought a new peg board to hang ribbon, tools, stickers, packing tape and book cloth tape.
- moved the tall bookcase that was filled with Paul's medicine books and my scrapbooks into our bedroom and it is now actually finishing off a extra nook we had in there nicely.
- bought a new expedit bookcase from Ikea to take it's place.
- bought six new storage boxes from Ikea.
- moved my fiction/non-business books out of the horizontal bookshelf and into the closet (which became empty when I took out my sewing machine, fabric and baskets of minibooks)
- moved the little white bookshelf over to my desk area and it now holds stuff that I need to keep within reach (mailing labels, stamps, notecards, pens, receipt box, etc.)
RESULTS :
- SO MUCH MORE SPACE TO WORK
- packing materials are not on the floor
- boxes and storage cubbies for in-process projects (no more piles!)
- better sorting and storage for my inventory and paper/envelope collection
- easier to clean/organize and more space to grow
- it feels so much more REAL a.k.a "this is my job space."
The two bookshelves now hold almost all the "business" stuff. (You can click to enlarge and see what is what.) I filled in my pegboard a bit more and so far am loving the set up.
On the other wall, my personal craft stuff is stored an Ikea kitchen island (I could not find a link) that I use as a desk. The boxes hold current projects (25 to do book, holiday book, fall book) as well as art supplies and rubber stamps. The three baskets on the bottom shelf hold my mini book collection.
On top of the table is my new paper trimmer. I finally bought a "professional" paper cutter and I can't say enough good stuff about it. It was expensive, but worth it for the ridiculous amount of trimming I do.
P and I still share a desk and a printer and that works out well. I added the little white bookshelf to the side to keep extra stuff within easy reach but not have it cluttering the table. The bulletin board right next to my computer is super helpful too.
And that's that! Thanks for touring. Please let me know if you have any questions - I'll be answering them in the comments.