Tag Archives: home office

Organizing your Home Office

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The key to an organized home office is to reduce clutter.

Maintaining a neat and orderly home office can be a challenge. A home office can easily become a catch-all for the rest of your home’s clutter. Next thing you know, you can’t find that bill that must be paid, or last year’s tax returns. But with these simple tips and a little effort, you can create and maintain a neat and orderly home office.

Create a System

Come up with a way to deal with your workflow. Get an inbox to use for incoming work, an outbox for things that have been dealt with and are to be filed or thrown away and a filing system for keeping track of it all once it leaves your desk.

Clean Your Desk

You spend most of your time in your home office at your desk, so this is a logical place to start. Is it buried under stacks of paper, pens, business cards or other debris? Go through it and separate everything into piles based on what you need to keep, what needs looking over later, and what needs to be thrown away (put this pile straight into the trash can).

Get a Filing Cabinet

A four-drawer file cabinet is useful for storing last year’s tax returns, client info and other things you need to get to that would be in your way if it was piled on your desk.

Cut the Cords

Keep your cords dusted and out of sight behind your desk, or replace your keyboard, mouse and printer with wireless peripherals.

When in Doubt, Throw it Out

Be honest. If that catalog that’s been on your desk since January is still there, you’re probably not going to order anything from it. Throw it away. If there is anything you have acted on but are required to keep, file it. And if you have hard copies of anything that you can access readily online, toss it.

Photo credit: iStockphoto/poligonchik

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Turn Your Home Office Into a Functional Storage Space

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Whether you live in an apartment with lots of space or in a 1930s house like mine with little space, you should never ignore your home office. We all know your home office’s function is to keep your life organized, as well as allow you to have a place to get your work done, but this can also serve as extra storage for your apartment. With a few simple steps, you’ll have your place organized in no time. If you’re wondering how to make the most of your space without sacrificing your work area, check out these storage solutions every renter needs to know.

1. Have dedicated shelving from the ceiling down. If you have it, use it. Sometimes your home doesn’t come with a lot of storage. Take advantage of all the vertical space that you can for storage. An easy way to do this is to add floating shelving from above the desk all the way to the ceiling. Find inexpensive shelving units, such as Elfa shelving from the Container Store, which has limited wall damage – a plus for renters! With the shelves, create an organization system so your things don’t look cluttered. Invest in matched boxes for a cohesive look, but remember that not everything has to be in a box.

2. Invest in storage furniture. Storage furniture is functional, as it serves two purposes. This is a must, especially for small spaces. When I pick out furniture for a space, I ask myself, “Is this piece working hard for the right to be here?” For your home office, pick furniture that packs a one-two punch, like coffee tables, ottomans or benches.

3. Oz-Style Storage. Create an illusion in your home office while keeping your items stored – behind a curtain just like the Wizard of Oz! Pick a wall in your office and hang a curtain rod from the ceiling, approximately a foot away from the wall. Choose any pattern or color that you want for the curtain. This creates an amazing space solution, as it becomes a “soft” or faux wall that hides an extra foot of space. The possibilities of what you can store behind this curtain are endless; you can store your bike, cleaning supplies and miscellaneous office supplies behind it, and no one will ever have to see it. Not only is this useful for storage, but it’s a great opportunity to get color in your white box of a space.

This article was written by TV host and design expert Kim Myles, who partnered with Apartment Guide for the 2012 “Your Picks. Your Place.” sweepstakes. Kim Myles won the HGTV reality series “Design Star 2” and hosts HGTV’s “Myles of Style.”

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Improve Your Work Ethic with New Office Décor

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Organize and decorate your home office to be more productive.

How your home office is designed can affect the amount and quality of work you complete in it. If you decorate the room with productivity in mind, chances are you’ll be successful in it.

 

First, consider the location of your home office in your house. Place it as far away from distractive or noisy areas, such as the kitchen and family room, as you can. Try to not place it near the master bedroom, as you’ll want the two to be separate living spaces entirely.

Once you have selected the space for your home office, choose a wall color that is calming and encourages thinking and organization. Clean neutrals such as cream, off-white and light taupe create a perfect nearly blank canvas for you to think in. Cool blues, sage green and gray are pleasing to the eye and enhance perception. Even darker or brighter blues encourage concentration, and browns and more neutral, less bold orange shades provide a sense of calm.

Next, select the furniture and décor for your home office and decide where they will go in the room. Keep art and accessories simple and uncluttered, as they’ll be a major distraction otherwise. Add a couple of plants in the room to encourage clearer air in which to think.  If you don’t know where to start, here are home office décor suggestions for the major pieces:

Desks

Select lightweight furniture that meets the needs of the room and serves the purpose of what you will use the desk for.

  • If you can’t dedicate an entire room to a home office, select an all-in-one desk, a hutch and, if space allows, a wall unit for your storage needs, such as the Birmingham Executive Desk with Hutch from Target ($299.99).
  • For work that leans more toward the creative, such as woodworking, sewing and jewelry making, you’ll love a simple, flat work space and table like the Venture Horizon Mobile Wood Work Center ($126.99), with a hideaway mobile desk and craft table.
  • For simple computer and writing work, the lightweight Sauder Edge Water Computer Desk ($129.99) is ideal.

Lamps

Keep home office lighting soft and calming with two lamps with no more than 60-watt bulbs.

  • Go old-school with the Realspace Pharmacy Lamp ($34.99) in brushed steel, which complements any décor style and adjusts the light to your desired height.
  • The soothing colors and cotton-linen drum shade of the pleasant Eva Colored Glass Table Lamp ($99)comes in amber, jade and clear, so you can pick the color that best accents your home office.
  • Add a touch of soothing grey-blue to your home office with the Classic Blue Task Lamp ($50), which is sized just right for desks.

Organization

Think outside the filing cabinet when it comes to home office organization, and incorporate neatness and function into your design. Ideas include filing papers in colorful, sturdy manila envelopes hung side-by-side on a bulletin board or replacing shabby drawers in old desks with tweed- or canvas-lined bins.

  • Crafty types will love the price and style of Crate & Barrel’s Lock Up Jars with Lids, which come in large, medium and small. They’re perfect for storing nails, beads, clasps, buttons, paper clips and push pins.
  • Organize to-dos, photos or memos on the Mesh Silver Bulletin Board ($34.95), which includes 12 push pins and 12 magnets.
  • The Pandan Desktop File ($39.99), whether in woven brown or black, looks great on the desktop and quietly stores letter-size hanging files.
  • This Cubby Organizer ($129) from Pottery Barn is crafted of solid mahogany, and each of the 25 cubbies has a hand-painted number for easy storage. Each cubby is 5 inches by 5 inches.
  • Know what your day, week and month look like in an instant with the Daily System, which – depending on how big you want it to be or what your needs are – can include a magnetic whiteboard calendar, linen pinboard, chalkboard, letter bin, office organizer, corkboard and magnetic canisters, to get clutter off the desk and neatly on the wall.

Photo Credit: iStockphoto/Elhenyo

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Create a Reading Nook in Your Apartment

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window seat

With the right lighting, seating and books, create the perfect reading nook in your home.

At the end of a long day, curl up with a good book to relax and take your mind off your troubles. If the weather’s too cold or hot to read in a sunny spot outdoors, you’ll love having a reading nook indoors to retreat to. Creating a reading nook isn’t expensive or hard if you use existing or secondhand furniture and follow the steps below.

Select a corner with lots of natural light. A nook, by definition, is a “secluded and obscure corner,” according to Dictionary.com. You want your reading nook to feel secluded from the noisier spots of the house, such as the kitchen and the room where the biggest television is. If you have an office, section off a corner near the window. Sun rooms and “spare rooms” also make great places to put your reading spot.

Take a load off. Move a comfy chair with good back support to your nook, or recover one you purchase from the thrift store. Make sure it has enough back support and seat padding to support your sitting in it for a long time – you never know when you may become totally lost in a book and sit there for hours.

Furnish and decorate your new space. When you’re reading, you might frequently have a steaming cup of tea or a big glass of water, so add a small end table or accent stand ($49.99) to your nook, and place a coaster or two on top of it to prevent moisture ring from developing on your furniture. Add a couple of magazines in a basket under the table, a throw pillow and an afghan to make it cozy.

Provide good lighting. Even if your nook is by a window, you’ll need a lamp to light your book if you read past sunset. Plus, having a lamp nearby just makes the area look peaceful and inviting. If you don’t have a lot of space, consider installing this silver wall reading lamp from IKEA ($29.99) or this swing-arm floor lamp from Target ($31.99).

Improvise. If you have small rooms or just don’t have the extra space for your reading corner, rearrange your existing furniture to create a nook. In the living room, if you have a chair, place it in the corner and arrange your other living room furniture around that – just turn off the TV when you’re ready to settle into your chair.

Purchase or check out books. If you’re not a member of your county library already, what are you waiting for? Check out a large selection of new and classic books (and TV shows and movies, while you’re at it) for free. Or, purchase secondhand books from Amazon.com,  Half.com and 2ndhandbooks.com for much cheaper than buying them new.

Photo Credit: iStockphoto/jsnover

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Make a Study Space in Your Home

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Tools for an effective study space

Gathering the proper tools to help you study is one component of building a study space.

Photo Credit: iStock Photo/LdF

A study space needs to have the perfect location and encourage relaxation and thought. Does your study space meet those requirements? If it doesn’t, or if you don’t have a designated space for studying at all, you can easily create one in your home. A quiet, organized corner may just be the ticket to earning better grades this semester.

First, find a section of your apartment or house that is away from combined living spaces. If you have an extra bedroom, that would be the perfect place to study. If not, clear out a corner of your own bedroom that’s on a wall farthest from the noise of the kitchen or living room television.

Next, free that space from distractions. If you have a television in your room, move it so your back is to it while you’re in your study space. Move busy posters to another wall.

You may want to paint your room a color that encourages you to concentrate or relax. Cool colors like blue, purple and green promote peacefulness and balance, unlike “active” colors like yellow, red or orange.

Of course, if you’re going to have a good study space, you’ll need a desk, and you’ll probably be limited by the size of your study area. Consider a wall-mounted desk ($273), a fold-out desk ($419), a simple desk with a wall-mounted hutch ($182) or a lightweight desk with a drawer ($99).

Make your study area a place you’ll want to be. Purchase a mouse pad with a wrist rest, and consider a wrist rest for your keyboard. Make sure the height of your desk aligns well with your chair, and try to find a comfortable used desk chair (as they can be quite expensive).

Stock your desk with the items you’ll need, but don’t clutter it. Just a few pens, pencils, a notepad, dictionary, thesaurus and calculator are probably all you need. You may also want to purchase an anti-glare screen filter, which reduces glare and eyestrain.

Finally, turn off the television, and vow to check social media pages once an hour to avoid distraction. Now you’re ready to make all As.

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