Marie Kondo Monday- Girls New Desk and Home Office

 Marie Kondo Monday today, we are going to talk about office spaces. Home offices comes in all shapes and sizes. There is not a one-size fits all, because we all work so differently. A home offices is not even like a bedroom where everyone has a bed, not everyone has a desk. So we are going to share a couple of simple tips to keep your home office in order. No matter what it looks like. 

Marie Kondo Home Office Organizing Tips-

• Remove everything first! Do not start to organize one drawer at a time- do the entire office at once. 
• Start sorting by #1- Books, #2- Paper, #3- Stationery and #4- All other items. Following this method make the process easier by starting with the most important things first. 
• Store papers vertically (if you can) just how Marie Kondo suggests folding and sorting clothes vertically. Do the same with paper. When you stack paper on top of each other the bottom papers get lost and forgotten. 
• Eliminate as much paper coming into your home as you can. Go online and get on the do not mail list
• Scan what you can! Do not hold onto unnecessary papers and manuals.
• Have a spot for incoming papers- keep a “pending box” or file for action items 
• Create an organized junk drawer
• Use a label maker for everything. This helps to find things and also to be able to put it all back!

Kids Home Office Solutions-

Living in 1100 square feet, we don’t have a lot of space for a large home office. So we create a lot of mini home office spaces. My girls love to color, draw, write more than play with stuffed animals and doll houses. Ella had asked if I could get her a bigger desk, which I was happy to do since I knew that she was using the mini desk all the time that she had. We also have a small writing desk in our upstairs family room that she used often. So it was a worthwhile investment! 

I ordered two of THESE old school desks for both of my girls. I knew the black didn’t really match and the veneer top, they were around $50 each so I didn’t have a problem getting them and then painting them to work for our style. I used Rust-Oleum Sea Mist for Ella and Rust-Oleum Champagne Pink for Lola. I painted the top with Rust-Oleum Linen White Chalk Paint, it went on so easily and adhered (I recommend putting this wax sealer on top). No prep work. They can keep their paper in here and all their markers. It is the perfect mini home office for our girls. 

I did the Magic Light Trick above each desk with THESE sconces and sprayed them in Rust-oleum Champagne Mist.

I had two older fur stools that I ended up using for their chairs, they said they are super comfy! (You can find similar stools at the end of this post!)

I put small little bins inside each of the opening so they can keep some of their supplies organized. Ella has all of her markers on top of her desk just in simple wide mouth Ball jars! 

They have spent a lot more time up at their desks and that makes me so happy that they love them! 

Storage Solutions-

Another spot that I guess would be considered a junk drawer is this cabinet in our kitchen (it is older Pottery Barn). We keep tape, markers, batteries, cards, ribbon, scissors here. I organize all of the markers, crayons etc. in wide mouth Ball jars. I have to say my friend, Denise was onto something before I heard about Marie Kondo. Denise came to stay with us once and helped me organize all my crayons and markers. I was just tossing the broken ones and she was going thru and only picking out the best brands! We only kept the crayons that really my kids kept going to because they were the best and brought them the most joy. Rather than keeping 1,000 crayons! We also only keep pencils that have erasers, I immediately toss them if the eraser is worn down. Little things! 

Storage Solutions-

We do not really have any other main office space. We have gotten creative with our storage. We have THIS storage cabinet in our entry that holds paper, coloring books, piano music, cards and more. When there are smaller items in here I use drawer dividers. 

Important Paper Storage- 

All of our paper is in the bottom part of the bookcase in our living room. We have a fire safe file box for all the important papers, and I have a little bin for each child. This is where I put sentimental papers and art projects from the year. Then at the end of the year I will turn them into a book. I do stack the art and papers because it is not something I sort thru, only once at the end of the school year.

You can read more about our paper storage solutions HERE.

I asked my friend Annie, from Most Lovely Things to share her home office, inspired by Marie Kondo!

Most Lovely Things- Marie Kondo Inspired Home Office- 

This is a very shallow desk drawer. Too shallow for a drawer organizer that you buy… so I created one using tops and bottoms of all different size old gift boxes from jewelry etc. Together they create tiny boxes that keeps everything in its place! 

Think outside the box! We have a very small closet in the office, so like it to look nice if the door is left open. The bottom half holds a small file cabinet with a printer. We have shelves that I treated as if it was an open bookcase and added a piece of art and nice storage boxes. 

Above is a new Ikea shelf  (I think is part of their garage storage). I used the vintage card catalog I found at Mongers Market (vintage shop in Connecticut) on the top shelf. On the bottom I used La Jolla baskets to store my camera equipment. 

My husband and I both use the office at different times, so we keep the desk clear of clutter! And stick to all the spaces for storage that I shared above. 

Thanks Annie! You can follow Annie on Instagram HERE

Hope this post was helpful and gave you some ideas for keeping your home office organized! 

This post is helpful if you are looking for ways to simplify all the papers!!!

Check out the past Marie Kondo Monday Blog Posts HERE

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