organized office

When we first moved into our home 4 years ago, I set up one of the bedrooms as our home office. We had a spot for our computer and miscellaneous office supplies, but what we really needed was a "multi-purpose room". For example, I wanted a craft area, a sewing area, a gift wrapping area, a project area with tools, etc. etc. My husband wanted an area for his school paper, books, and bags; and an area to watch TV, read, grade papers, etc.

So I had the challenge of turning a TINY 9'x10' area into a room for all our needs...and here is what a little creativity, $27.00 worth of yard sale furniture, and LOTS of paint can do!

A computer desk was a must, and I found this one for $5.00 and painted it black. The drawers house our office supplies (envelopes, stamps, pens, paper, blank CD's etc.) To the right of the desk is a large basket for Dave's school bags and books.

The frame above the desk was purchased for $3.00 from Hobby Lobby (95% clearance b/c it had no glass!). I painted it and put chicken wire in it...and now it has multiple uses. During the holidays, we display all our cards, pictures, and letters. During the school year, we use it to hang schedules, notes, pictures, cards that we need to send, etc.


The next part was a bit trickier because I needed a spot for craft and sewing supplies. I don't do a ton of either activity, but I do enough that I want the basic supplies on hand and easily accessible.

A few more yard sale finds solved my problems.






The yellow armoire ($7.00 + paint) hides all my sewing supplies and the larger craft supplies. I store fabric scraps in the large black box, cards and other craft papers in the 2 blue boxes and all my sewing supplies are front and center for easy access.

The armoire also provides a nice place to "hide" our printer, paper shredder, and the TV (per my husband's request).


The small white cabinet ($10.00+paint) holds smaller craft supplies in the drawer and the the wood crate below.
We also use the lower part of this cabinet to store binders with information for the many committees we are part of.






Now, for the closet!
We have a very small closet in our office but I've managed to create 3 distinct zones in this one closet. You can click on the above link to see how I created a gift wrapping zone, a paper filing zone, and a tool zone to round out our "multi-purpose" room. (oh, and the filing cabinet was FREE on the side of the road!)




All we needed was a big comfy chair for reading and watching TV. I found this one on Craig's List...and while it is not part of my $27.00 office make-over, I did get it for only $40.00 and it's a Rowe brand from Klingman's ...so I think I did a pretty good job!







So there it is, 90 sq. feet of space, $27.00 of furniture, a $40.00 chair, lots of paint, and we have a room that fits all our needs.