A tour of my new home office

We use to live in a house without an office.

We have a decent amount of space, but between bedrooms, a guestroom, my craft closet, exercise equipment, a play room, and everything else in between, it didn't leave us with a place for an office. It can get pretty frustrating not having a space for all of the paperwork that comes in and out of our house, plus all of the random odds and ends that belong in an office space.

I've always loved the idea of having a command center on a wall in our dining room. It was a blank canvas across from our dining room table that we pass often. It in the perfect space for my mock office space.

Now the question came about what to put there.

Primarily it had to be fairly inexpensive, or at least well worth the cost. So, I scoured Craigslist, my go to resource for all things furniture related.

I looked at desks, I looked at buffets, I looked at dressers, I looked daily.

When I saw the piece I wanted, I knew it instantly. It was perfect.



I really like the style, but I also like the amount of storage it can potentially give me.


I started out by placing a couple of baskets on the top shelf. One holds receipts, and the other currently holds household remodeling items we've been collecting and want to keep together.


The next shelf holds a couple of really important items for us. These are our junk mail boxes. My husband has one, I have one. Any mail or paperwork that enters our house that doesn't immediately get shredded goes in to these large boxes. They hold quite a bit and when I have papers I'm not quite sure what to do with at the moment, they just get hidden away here until I have a plan.

The green plant container in the middle is where we currently toss our loose change.

The bottom shelf is still pretty naked.

Obviously our telephone sits there and our charging station for our cell phones. I have a couple of ideas for what else I need in this space, but since I haven't found it exactly, at the price I'm willing to pay, it remains empty.

I do want a filing shelf or holder for action items. A place where items that need to be addressed soon will live. Bills that need paid or filed, forms that need to be completed and returned, etc. I'm thinking The Container Store has some pretty cute items I may need to consider:
They even have cute matching pencil cups!



Continuing on with my new "office" the drawers are big and deep, things have a tendency to get tossed in there and lost. I've bought some dividers and have really worked purposefully to give items their own place. This is where we keep all of our office items from staplers, to pens, to paperclips... lots of little items. I definitely need to figure out how to store the little things within these drawers better.


I also labeled one drawer our "tool" drawer. Of course these aren't our only tools, but these are the ones we seem to need frequently, or that I use on occasion. I also housed our flashlights in there so I'll know where to find them if I ever need them.

Finally, the underneath cabinets are also useful. Unfortunately there is a shelf that does not allow for a file folder system to be placed in there, which would be ideal. I've considered removing the shelf, but that hasn't happened yet and may not.

Currently I have my coupon binder, my coupon insert file system, and my household notebook on one shelf. It's great to have a place to put these items away when I'm not using them! In the past they have just stayed out on the table, on the kitchen counter, or in a pile on the floor.

I've also claimed a spot for reams of paper, newspapers, and my husband's items inside the bottom cabinets. It just gives us a place to keep things hidden from sight, which makes me much happier!

I hope you've enjoyed the tour of my new office. If you don't have your own space and maybe suffer from uncontrolled office clutter because of it, I hope this inspires you to get creative!