Well, we made it through the first phase of the office: de-cluttering. We found 2 1/2 bags worth of trash to toss, a few items to donate, and a small pile of things to re-locate elsewhere in the house. We also found a good bit of items to sell, so I currently have a decent-sized "inventory" on Craigslist!
Don't take that to mean that the room is now organized...it actually now appears more messy! Since we removed a couple storage pieces (a dresser and a bookshelf that was falling apart), some things are currently residing on the floor, and it's certainly not looking any better. I read an organizing book that suggested containing these groups of items in boxes so that it at least appears neat while your work is in progress. However, without a supply of empty boxes handy, I'm just going to leave those piles out in the open. Maybe it'll be encouragement to finish the project faster. :-)
Don't take that to mean that the room is now organized...it actually now appears more messy! Since we removed a couple storage pieces (a dresser and a bookshelf that was falling apart), some things are currently residing on the floor, and it's certainly not looking any better. I read an organizing book that suggested containing these groups of items in boxes so that it at least appears neat while your work is in progress. However, without a supply of empty boxes handy, I'm just going to leave those piles out in the open. Maybe it'll be encouragement to finish the project faster. :-)
This brings us to the hard part - figuring out where everything should go. I had the idea to rearrange the furniture, so we did some shuffling last weekend, and I think it's a big improvement.
Aside from the layout, I think that rearranging will also take away any stigma about where things "usually" are. When re-assembling the room and storing things, it might be more tempting to put something where it's always been, for convenience, even if that's not really the best place. Rearranging the layout of the room will force us to come up with a new place to store everything, so we can start fresh.
So, where to begin? Now that we've tried out the furniture arrangement and are liking it, I think this weekend we'll start working on how we want to store everything. I'm also on the lookout for a larger desk (or table) that the two of us can share. Slowly but surely, it's getting there! Props go to my wonderful boyfriend who is very willingly helping me through this project. :-)
Aside from the layout, I think that rearranging will also take away any stigma about where things "usually" are. When re-assembling the room and storing things, it might be more tempting to put something where it's always been, for convenience, even if that's not really the best place. Rearranging the layout of the room will force us to come up with a new place to store everything, so we can start fresh.
So, where to begin? Now that we've tried out the furniture arrangement and are liking it, I think this weekend we'll start working on how we want to store everything. I'm also on the lookout for a larger desk (or table) that the two of us can share. Slowly but surely, it's getting there! Props go to my wonderful boyfriend who is very willingly helping me through this project. :-)
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We shared my large Ikea desk for awhile after I moved in with Sam. Actually for well over a year. And it worked pretty well, even with both of our computers. Eventually I got fed up with constantly fighting for space though, so we nixed the "guest room" part of the office/guest room/cat room and sold my bed, replacing it with Sam's old desk that had been gathering dust. Perhaps if our space had been larger, it would have worked longer. It's a nice set-up, if you can make it work, so happy furniture hunting!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see before/after pictures of this project. :) Hopefully it will inspire me (as I sit among piles and think about the boxes that need to be sorted through).
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