Pepper Design Blog

Office Makeover: Organizing the Bookshelves

My office is now in functioning form. It’s not finished but it’s an open space for me to disappear to every day to log hours and to finish both work and fun projects.

I love having my own space! It’s wonderful. Every detail has been so liberating – from organizing my file structure and having a place to store work materials (my 9-5 job), to finding a home for every little craft object that participates in the clutter of everyday life around here.

Here’s a sneak peek at my organizing in action, please ignore those crazy wires (need to find a solution for those soon):

That’s a new curtain, too! I created that for this project early last year and realized very recently how perfect it was color-wise for this space – it’s Cassandra Seaspray and it can be found here. The french doors between the kitchen and office are glass so it can be difficult  to ‘disappear’ when Liv’s nanny is over to help play with her while I’m working. Plus, guests get a little privacy in the room.

Here’s the desk – clean and clear. Knowing me that won’t last long.

I used a combination of Target and One Kings Lane fabric boxes, See Jane Work brown portfolio boxes and metal baskets, and West Elm white lacquer magazine butlers and file cabinets to outfit the shelves. The look I’m hoping to achieve is organic – plenty of mixed textures and naturals colors.

I’ve learned an important lesson after having a few work spaces: you must love your organizational tools and the way your office looks when tidy, or you’ll never aspire to it at the end of a long day.

That big gap there on the left is where the printer will sit. It’s nice and close – none of this wireless business that would *sometimes* allow the computer to communicate with the printer on its own free will.

Here’s an angle of the desk and left bookshelf. I have to soak in as much clean and clear desk as I can now… it may be a while after my organized desktop chaos takes over.

Treasures include an estate sale yellow glass candy jar that doubles as nook to stash rolls of ribbon, a wax bird from West Elm (on sale) a See Jane Work metal basket that houses fabric remnants I’m currently working with (the rest are sorted by color in the big OKL fabric boxes at the bottom of the shelf) and a favorite photo of Liv and I printed on glass (have you heard of Fracture? I discovered it through a Groupon). I still need to take some time to label all of the boxes. Labeling, labeling is awesome.

I brought this ceramic urn back with me after our trip to Iowa for RAGBRAI. I found it at a little garden shop in Woodward, IA and managed to stuff it in my suitcase. Now it’s home to paint swatches that we frequently pull out when working on the house.

All the while I was working on this particular afternoon, Liv gleefully watched on from her chair in the kitchen. Moms have got to take full advantage of nap and meal times!

Ordering all of the office organizational supplies can be a daunting task, and I find that having a clear layout where each and every object will go is helpful. I made this rough sketch before purchasing supplies and it helped to determine how many of what was actually needed.

I deviated from plan a bit, but all in all I’m less distracted and more on target with a careful plan laid out in advance.

Man this is a tough room to photograph – too narrow! But here’s one last shot before all the techy stuff is added back in:

PS I need a camera expert – what’s the ideal setting for indoor photos? What a steep learning curve this new SLR camera is! Indoor photos especially…

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: wall collage part 1, fabric bulletin board inspiration, (new) inspiration board, new lamps, wallpapering open shelves, finding the perfect credenza, new trim, dining table-to-desk, a new desk & bookshelves, installing remnant carpeting, grasscloth wallpaper, painting the office nook, finding carpet for the office, chocolate brown wall ideas, plastering progress,  inspiration for a diy desk, back in action!, desking hunting for under $300, bookcases under $300,inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.

New E-Zine on the Scene: House of Fifty

Congrats to Janell of Isabella & Max Rooms on launching her new online magazine, House of Fifty!

It’s full of beautiful images and creative ideas – and you have to love an entire section on organizing tips.

For all you shabby chic/all white decor lovers out there, this photoshoot is dreamy:

House of Fifty features fashion, food and decorating inspiration as well.

Check it all out here.

Office Makeover: Desks Under $300

I’m back on the hunt for the future work space! Earlier this week I posted a round up of ideal bookcases under $300 to fit the new office. Now it’s on to the desk… There are so many great options out there that I’ve found it easiest to narrow the selection down based on the ideal size, color and design.

A bit more on the criteria…

Size: The standard desk is about 44-48″ wide and 18-22″ deep, but my ideal desk would be either wider or deeper than this so that I can stretch out multiple projects and still feel organized.

Color & Design: I’d like the material/color of the desk to be different from the bookcases (so that we don’t get too matchy matchy over here) while still complimenting each other. And you know, if one is more French-inspired (with the ‘x’, for example) it would be nice if the other was a different design, say more modern or more rustic.

I took this dilemma to Craigslist hoping for an awesome makeover project that would be perfect for the space. Alas, no results to be found. So, here’s my favorite resource round up for desks under $300!

That first one is near an exact copy of the inspiration board desk I used for San Diego Magazine’s Office Organization article. I mentioned how much I lovvvveedd the Layla & Grayce option but loathed the $2,000+ price. And now there’s a $200 option!

This  round up includes options from JC Penny’s, Home Decorators Collection, Ikea, West Elm & World Market. I’d throw in a few from Overstock as well (always a great resource) but I couldn’t find any that I loved that beat the prices of these stores, the above range being from $99-$299.

Some these are a bit smaller than I’d prefer, but I’m going to pair them up with the bookcase round up from Tuesday and see if I can’t find a good set nonetheless. There may be more options for extra storage to make up for the lack of desk space…

Back to the drawing board I go.

For more Office Makeover posts, check out: bookcases under $300, inspirational rooms, room layout options, demo part 1 & demo part 2.