xavitos: My Office Makeover

The aftermath of Hurricane Me is finally cleaned up. My office is finally organized! It felt like it took forever, but it was worth it. It may not look like much from the pictures, but a lot of work went into organizing this space. If you only knew how much craft goodies I own, you'd understand.

It is morphing into a space I love. Seeing as I spend most of my time in this room, I've really invested a lot into making it mine. When we first bought the house, here is what it looked like:

It was nice and neutral, but as I posted before we even bought the house, I wanted a pale pink on the walls. I felt it would give the room a soft feminine look, making it undeniable that it was my space.

Before taking these pictures, I considered staging my office space a bit more by putting fresh flowers on the desk and hiding the objects that didn't match my poppy pink + pale pink + gold scheme. However, I decided it would be cheating my office out of what it really is - a work space. This is where PaperLark Studio lives and thrives. This is where the posts you read on this blog are written and given life.

When I'm working, is my desk covered with pink hydrangeas and gold office supplies? Heck no! It's covered in order forms and business receipts with pens scattered everywhere. That's not say I didn't clean it up for ya'll though! It's just a real, functioning work space which is now organized.

Let me share how I did it!

My desk is the Expedit Workstation from Ikea. I absolutely love it! It's not only home to my computer and office supplies, but also houses my Project Life supplies. All of which are appropriately labeled, of course!

What editions do I own? Currently, I'm using the Seafoam Edition for my 2013 album you see here. I use the Olive Edition for special vacation pages and am saving that Midnight Edition which I got on sale for our 2014 album.

Can I just say spray paint is amazing? My file rack and desk caddy were black until a $3 can of metallic gold spray paint rocked my world. If I could have spray painted my computer, I probably would have.

A closer look at the storage beside the desk:

The magazine and copy paper holders are also from Ikea. I've had these since college and they've held up pretty decent. The labels are from Tickled Peach Studio and are free! You can find them here. If there wasn't a pre-made label for what I needed, I used my labeler to print one out.

Once again, the gold spray paint scores another victory for its revamp of my hot glue gun container.

Where did this container come from? BJ's. It's the container my Cascade dish washing pellets came in. Ha!

All I did was remove the stickers with some Goo Gone and spray painted that sucker. Now, it houses my glue gun and an abundance of glue sticks.

I organized a lot of my craft goodies into this rolling plastic drawer thing which I have also had since college. You can find these at Walmart. I also had a green one of these which I have since spray painted white. Today, it houses my fabric and sewing supplies in the sewing corner of my office (which is not yet complete). Once again, spray paint wins.

I love the wheels on it because I can pull it to where ever I am in the room working. The categories I have on it are: Stamps and Adhesives, Craft Supplies and Stencils and Paint.

Above my desk, is my inspiration board.

In my opinion, every office or craft room should have an inspiration board. It helps me to stay focused on my goals, reminds me of high points in the past and where I want to be going. Not to mention, who doesn't want a picture of a cute, little puppy poking out of a box to look at while you're working?!

On the opposite wall of my desk, I have an old TV stand sitting by the office door. I use it for office supply storage and of course, some craft storage. Mostly, I store my ribbon and buttons here.

Those little bottles are spray painted saline bottles. Perfect for holding buttons ya'll. I would say something about how awesome spray paint is, but...you get the idea!

Bella would be very unhappy with me if I did not share her favorite spot of the office with you all. Between my desk and sewing corner, Bella has her own little napping nook complete with her pillow and favorite blanket.