In my opinion, home offices can be such a waste of space. Since I have a laptop, my office can be the dining room table, the living room couch, or my favorite, bed! I have always wanted an organized control center for home, auto, life documents/manuals/tax info/mail/etc., though, and as my life has changed over the course of the last 6 months a home office started sounding more and more appealing.
Our home is not grandiose in size, but it’s spacious enough for the roomie, pup, and I. Ryan’s office (that he actually uses) takes up half the basement, but I don’t need that much space—and we don’t have it to spare. So, I decided to take my late grandma’s beautiful wicker desk and set up camp in one section of what we call our bonus room. As this room comes together, I’ll share pictures and an explanation of this catch-all room, but for now just know that my office is in one corner of a room with many purposes.
Creating this space in my home took some time. I started with my grandma’s desk and this IKEA shelf, but then took my time shopping for pieces that felt right for me. I was really mindful when creating filing systems I’ll use for years to come, too.
My advice, if you want it, is to take your time with a functional space like this one. I tried out some of the organizational pieces, then returned some and bought more of others when I found what worked for me. It’s definitely a process!
These pieces are working hard in my office right now:
- 4 gold patterned photo boxes from Hobby Lobby (got them for so cheap!)
- 2 pretty gold and white office storage boxes from the Container Store
- 3 heavy-duty white magazine holders also from the Container Store
- 3 skinny white file boxes that are light enough that I can pull them out nonstop
- 4 gold letter trays from Target
While I already owned some of the gold accents, others came from HomeGoods, Target, and Walmart. I had such awesome luck at Walmart, you guys. You need to hit their candle/home section and check out their gold pieces (like this one!) from the BH&G line. I’m obsessed.
I was also really cheap about some parts of this office. Instead of just buying the gold wall grids from Target, I bought these $3 grid cubby panels online and spray painted them gold. I also pulled an antique lamp from my basement and spray painted its (non-antique) shade gold. Instead of buying vase fillers, which I secretly hate, I filled my containers with items I’ll use—like a million Life Savers mints and tons of gold paper clips from Hobby Lobby’s clearance section.
Adding in greenery pulled my office together and made it feel like an inviting place to actually sit and crank out some work. The little bonsai tree my brother gifted me after high school graduation (she’s still living!!!!) and some viney plants that weren’t reaching their full potential in the pot I previously had them in seal the deal for me.
So tell me, do you have a home office? And if you do, do you sit down and work there? If I had more $$ to spend on this space, I’d have loved to get myself an iMac desktop. That would anchor me to my chair even more than having everything organized around me. Who knows what the future holds!
Definitely using the idea to use the chubby panels rather than buying the expensive ones at Target! I’ve been wanting to get them for a long time but haven’t because of the price. Thanks for the tip!