Evaluate, Eliminate and Integrate: A Home Office

When the kids lived at home, this L-shaped desk area served its purpose. It was the perfect place for them to do homework and play computer games. But with them gone it became the catch-all corner. In this photo it is serving as a sorting area for an upcoming yard sale.

The yard sale prompted the owner to evaluate how the space was used. She eliminated the left desk and integrated the things she wanted to keep. With the desk removed - and when the neatly stacked items awaiting the yard sale are gone - this room will have a lot more floor space, perfect for when the adult kids come to visit.

rePURPOSING Things: Legos

Renee is a busy working mom. She was frustrated wasting time looking for a pen and paper when she had to take a note near her phone.  Looking at her kids' Legos she got the idea to make this:

She was able to customize all the compartments she needs with bricks by the cup from the Lego store. You could easily make this using one small brick bucket, about $7. A large bucket is $14.99.  Or just commandeer your kids' Legos.

His Side of the Closet

This closet does not look that bad but what the camera didn't capture are the open cardboard boxes sagging under unruly piles of computer cables.

A single plastic storage box with a hinged lid took the place of the two cardboard ones and created a solid space for stacking other storage. Then we could get more stuff up off the floor.  Now it is more inviting for him to choose his clothes, don't you think?

rePURPOSING Things: Mints Tins Hold iStuff

If you like green tea buy these mints at Trader Joes and then keep the tin.

The label peels off easily leaving no residue and making the perfect size, see-through, stackable storage container for earbuds, usb and firewire cables. Tuck them in a drawer and easily retrieve the correct connections with no tangles and no mistakes. Antioxidants for your clutter!

Office Closet Overhaul

This client is very lucky to have a large closet outfitted with shelves and drawers in her home office. She had so much space that she never tossed anything; she just kept loading up the shelves. Consequently, she lost track of what she had in there and was storing things that she no longer needed. The surplus was spilling out on the floor blocking her access to some of the shelves.

We started by evaluating, eliminating and integrating her books, putting like with like.  We shelved the travel books together, the special interest books together and the novels together. By the time we were done we had boxed and bagged tk# of books to donate.

Next we tackled the binders and papers from her many projects, presentations and conferences. After emptying and saving the best binders for future use, we filled her entire  tk recycling bin with outdated reports, research papers  and brochures. In the process we found numerous conference tote bags to donate.

Then we clustered the electronics, office supplies and current projects and found she had ample space to hide items from the rest of her office in the closet. But now it looks so good it is a shame to close the doors!

Discovering the Desk

No one in this family used this dusty desk. It was covered with faded photos and obsolete computer accessories. We began our full office clean up here. The client was so inspired she went on to finish the room, letting go of outdated projects that would not be completed, purging and re-vamping her filing system and taking an entire box of cables and connections to eWaste recycling.

Now she has an inviting space to work and write.

Amy’s Office

"Before"

Amy won my basic two-hour assessment at an auction. She is a minister and wanted to rearrange her office to add some privacy and comfort when she met with her parishioners. In our two hours together she learned how to evaluate, eliminate and integrate her office furnishings.

We began by reviewing the plan for furniture rearrangement she created with room design software on her computer. I explained a few of the how to’s for organizing and design, made suggestions for improving her layout. She had many bookshelves scattered around the room. I suggested she group them into a single wall unit. We decided she could live without the return L portion of her desk which would free up a lot of room and give her more flexibility in where she could place her desk. We switched a few chairs with another church office so that hers all had complementary upholstery and planned for them to be grouped in a comfortable conversation area. And then we dug in and began the massive job of sorting and reducing her paperwork and library so that she could get to the fun part - moving the furniture.

Luckily, the church was having a yard sale that very day so we had a convenient and instant place to recycle books and possessions she no longer needed. I suggested ways she could free her office from years worth of thank you tokens from her congregation and still keep the sentiment of those special gifts. We started by removing the inscribed flyleaf from a book - a book she would never read again – and putting the sweet note in a scrapbook. Then the book went into a box of things to pass on.

I gave her permission to let go of other gifts she had been given. A gift is given to you. It is yours. You can do what you want with it. Even though the green movement has made re-gifting acceptable, there are things that are still hard to part with. To remember them she could take photo of it before she passed the item on, or use it in a different room or for a different purpose than it was intended.

By the end of our session Amy had specific boxes for:

· Things to file

· Things to return or re-gift

· Trash

· Recycle

· Yard sale

She also had a plan of what to do next and the momentum to it:

· Continue to evaluate every single item in the room

· Clear out her flies to make room for the current files

· Arrange for help moving her furniture

· Hang a curtain rod over her large window with curtains that can be closed for a private consultation

I went back this Sunday to see how she has progressed.

She still has more work to do but this is huge improvement. She gained more floor space by removing the desk L. She moved her desk under her windows so she can enjoy the courtyard view and see who is coming. The conversation area is much more cozy and the books are all in one spot. With just a few more discards, filing, and hanging some artwork she is done!

"After" - mostly. Just a bit more work to complete it.